Un pugno di fango

Warner Bros had a brigade of young contact stars and in fact their is a pic of J L Warner with most of them: Connie Stevens, Dorothy Provine, Van Williams,, Clint Walker , Natalie Wood, Edd Byrnes, Peter Brown, Ty Hardin among the many.

Diane McBain was a beautiful young actress with a penchant of getting in the gossip columns. Diane beat out a truly fine actress Shirley Knight - another WB star!-for the lead role in this film shot in black and white. WB stars Chad Everett, Robert Logan, and Robert Colbert were also in the cast. Diane plays it well as a Southern girl out to put the make on men.

Diane McBain made a few more movies such as Troy Donahue's Parrish which has Diane's opening scene sensational as the rolls out of a car and those magnetic eyes of Diane's mesmerizing! , and Raoul Walsh's A Distant Trumpet with Troy Donahue and Suzy Pleshette, with Debbie Reynolds in Mary, Mary, but left the studio rather than play a small part in WB''s big budget Sex And The Single Girl with Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall and Mel Ferrer directed by Richard Quine. Richard Quine fell in love with Kim Novak and his films with Kim such as Bell Book And Candle, Strangers When We Meet, Notorious Landlady reveal l Kim at her most lush beauty. Diane should have done Sex And The Sungle Girl with Quine; He may have made her a great star as he did Kim.

Potboiler from Erskine Caldwell's novel about a Southern sharecropper's daughter, broken-hearted after being rejected by her soldier-fiancé, turning from timid girl to tramp in order to even the score. Producer-screenwriter Leonard Freeman is rather timid himself within this potentially sweaty and sinful scenario; we're never sure just how far our heroine is going sexually with the drooling males in town--or if she's just a tease (had the film been made only a few years later, it might've been a more salacious melodrama). Diane McBain is well-cast as Claudelle Inglish, and she gives a good performance, but restrictions of the era prevent her and director Gordon Douglas from exploring the character with any depth. As a result, the finale doesn't provide the emotional punch Freeman or Douglas probably hoped for. Instead of being a classic tragic figure, Claudelle merely seems guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. **1/2 from ****

This movie is sometimes described as sleazy, but it was the advertising emphasizing the girl gone bad theme that is sleazy. She had a lot of help on the road to perdition. Constance Ford as her unhappy frustrated mother is terrific, and is a major force driving her daughter to accept gifts for her favors. Her well meaning father is no help to her or her mother, he is content being a share cropper, living in a house with no running water. Reviews rarely mention Frank Overton,and appears to be a minor character in the beginning. Starting on Broadway, he has a wonderful voice. But in this film it's his eyes that tell everything. He goes from innocuous small town shopkeeper to husband cheating with Claudel , and anguished father of a dead son. Multiple peoples bad choices lead to the destruction of 2families, not just Claudel.

FYI, Ford Rainy appears in this film as well as Last Mile, as did Frank Overton, only the roles are reversed. Watch both films for some powerful acting and a lot of anguish.

DIANE McBAIN has only one claim to movie fame besides her good looks. It is her deep-down excellent portrayal of Claudelle Inglish in this strange and sensational movie that is both dime novel trash and classic drama.

The best and most powerful subject for a grab-you movie in my opinion is the power of intense love; that power which can bring joy and true happiness. Take away (or betray) that love and a person can be turned-on-a-dime into an adrenaline-filled force of self destruction. If I told you what happens in the movie you would not believe it; but I saw this near-exact drama play out in my own neighborhood some 15 years after this movie.

Too bad my 10 star rating is virtually pointless. The critics trashed this film when it came out and Warner Bros were clueless of its merits. I have no idea how you could get a copy and see it.

"Claudelle Inglish" is a well made movie but it's also rather dark and depressing. This isn't so much a complaint--I'm just trying to let you know in case you are thinking about watching it.

Diane McBain stars as the title character, an innocent and nice young lady. However, she quickly transforms from this to a 'bad girl' in her small home town after she is jilted by her jerk of a fiancé. Now she uses men and cares little about them--in her odd attempt to punish men in general for her stupid fiancé. Since the film was made in the early 60s, it's really unclear whether Claudelle is sleeping around or if she's just a tease--but it is clear that she uses men to get what she wants. How will this ultimately lead to disaster? See the film.

The acting is very good here--particularly by Arthur Kennedy who plays Claudelle's father. Well worth seeing and very unique...but also a tad unpleasant.