The Strange Awakening

The idea behind "Female Fiends" is pretty good, but unfortunately it's not nearly as good as it could be because of poor writing. Good idea--poorly written. That's pretty much the film.

Lex Barker plays a man who awakens to find he has no idea who he is. He's told that he's the rich heir to an estate and his memory lapse and injuries (he's in a cast) are the result of an accident. However, it's pretty obvious to the viewer that this is not true. But why?! Why would a bunch of people suddenly try to convince a guy he's a member of their family?! After a bit, Barker is suspicious and begins to dig. It's a nice idea--but it resolved almost immediately after Barker begins to dig!! The film is 68 minutes long and should have been at least 80 minutes. It seems quick--rushed even. And, as a result, it's only a time-passer and no more. Sad...as the idea was pretty good. Unfortunately, the film just doesn't do much with the idea.

If you watch the trailer on the Network disc you will save yourselves about 77 minutes of boredom.There is so little action.When it does come it is filmed at night.Now that was fine if you were watching it in a cinema,but watching it on tv means you are peering at the screen.In any event the plot is a variation on a very old chestnut.

Strange Awakening (1958)

First off: this is a bad B-movie with some fun quirks. That will thrill a few of you and chase the rest away. Good!

The plot, as improbable as it is, has some curious elements, the main one being, what would you do if you woke up and remembered nothing? And started to suspect that the people around you were creating a false history for you? And a few cracks in their story started to show? And you had two or even three attractive women loitering about? And there was a lot of money attached to it all? And your life was in danger?

Well, this movie comes at the nadir of Hollywood and British movie-making, and it's a horribly contrived formula movie that pales next to Twilight Zone and other B-movie dramas with psychological twists. Even the main character's last names are pushy: Friend and Chance, not to mention the burly Swede name Sven. The opening sequence where our hero picks up a hitchhiker and then gets whacked in the head by him is irrelevant, except for the whack. And the amnesia. Then the hospital scene, the mother (so-called) at bedside, and the realization that all is not right. But hey, there are those pretty girls, and one of them is bound to sympathize with you and fall into your arms, right?

And it's only an hour long. You might think of it as just an old t.v. episode where your expectations are different. It bustles along with mediocre acting, reasonable filming, crack editing, and some cool and brief montage effects (including an airplane propellor merging into a tabletop fan). And the original title, Female Fiends, is pretty good, though there are Male Fiends on hand, too (remember Sven).

Director Monty Tully isn't about to have a boxed set of his work, but it's great fun just to read the titles of all the movies he made this same singular year, 1958: The Diplomatic Corpse, The Electronic Monster, Female Fiends, Print of Death, Crime of Honour, The Crossroad Gallows, The Long Knife, Man with a Gun, and I Only Arsked! What a year.

Strange Awakening, here before you, isn't all bad!

But mostly. Enjoy it in proportion.

I saw this movie when it first came out and I was still a boy. As the IMDb has no information about the movie's plot or quality, I am appending a few thoughts although I remember very little about this film.

A man (Lex Barker) is driving a glamorous car in the south of France, and gives a lift to a stranger. When the stranger gets out, he does not close the car door and so the driver has to lean over to pull the door shut himself. As he does so, the hitchhiker clubs him with a cosh (or some such implement).

The man wakes up in a luxurious bed within a luxurious bedroom. A very good-looking girl (Lisa Gastoni) walks in and kisses him. He responds as any red-blooded man would but the girl pulls away, saying "That's no way to kiss your sister!" (or words to that effect). The man realises that he has lost his memory. He soon finds that he has an equally good-looking wife (Carole Matthews) and is the son of a rich man.

Although fifty years later I recall these scenes clearly, they are the only scenes I do remember about this movie, so "The Strange Awakening" is both memorable and forgettable!

(I apologise for the inadequacy of this review. If any other IMDb contributor submits a fuller appreciation, I will of course withdraw mine.)

A British B or quota movie. Some of these are not too bad but this one rates a Z rather than a B.

The acting was atrocious it was wordy there were holes every where in the plot. Production values couldn't have been cheaper except for the burning house at the end which was kind of neat.

A man with amnesia is spirited out of hospital with fake casts to take the place of an alcoholic playboy so 3 women can inherit a share of their teetotaler father's 2 million dollars.

I can't think of any thing good about this thing... but as another reviewer stated it wasn't bad enough to be funny it was just boring dull and irritating. Combine bad acting and talkiness and you've got a real lemon.

DO NOT RECOMMEND