Un pugno di fango

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.

I remember this film from the very early '60s. In those years we saw a lot of movies at the so-called "grind houses" on West 42nd Street (on both sides of Times Square); the deal, for us, was terrific: a double feature for "never more than 99 cents!" The first film to break that price barrier was Mercouri's NEVER ON Sunday. After her amazing bitchiness in A SUMMER PLACE, Constance Ford was again remarkable in this motion picture. I feel that this film, like too many others, is nearly forgotten today. But, when graduates, with a B.F.A. in Film, Theatre and Television, can look you in the eye and confess that they've "never heard of Marlene Dietrich", what can one expect?! Another one, a 2004 NYU grad, had never heard of THE GLASS MENAGERIE. Perhaps it's not the students but the schools that are failing!

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.

Diane McBain proved she can act in this film. It is too bad it wasn't a bigger and better film. She plays a good girl who finds out playing by the rules doesn't guarantee you happiness. So she says to hell with the rules.

Constance Ford is perfect as the mother who feels life has passed her by. She always excelled at tough, bitter roles.

The only big disappointment for me was the harsh ending, which I won't reveal. It was all too similar to other films made in the era with its double standards of "ultimate punishment" imposed on females but never males.