Femmes devant le désir

Director Harry Keller and cameraman Rusell Metty were both fresh from working on 'Touch of Evil' for producer Albert Zugsmith (for which Keller had directed additional scenes) when Zugsmith reunited them on this shameless rehash of 'Sunset Boulevard', which in turn anticipates 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane' and 'Mommie Dearest'.

Although still a handsome woman at only 42, Hedy Lamarr in her screen swansong suffered the added indignity of being given a grown-up adopted daughter played by Jane Powell (herself nearly thirty although supposedly playing "a rebellious kid trying to find out about life"); while Jan Sterling completes this trio of feisty femmes as a poisonous former child star who has had her fill of "local, sunburned pseudo-virile types". Like George Nader. After Nader left Hollywood he was perfectly open about his homosexuality, which may have been an in-joke on Zugsmith's part, as well as enabling him to keep his head amid such alluring company (as when vamped in one scene by Powell in a polka dot swimsuit).

THE FEMALE ANIMAL is unabashed melodrama, as if some afternoon soap opera were fashioned out of SUNSET BOULEVARD... BUT there is a big BUT. Despite the idiocies of her character and the milieu in which it is established, the wondrous surprise is Hedy Lamarr's performance. She had done good work in the past when given half a chance, but that wasn't often. Here, as her career was sadly waning, she offers a sensitive and truthful portrayal of a fading film queen. Only in the worst of the soap opera moments is she unable to rise above the situation. I've seen criticism of Jane Powell's work, but it is not bad at all, thwarted by that same Wagnerian plot line. She gives it a good try. George Nader looks good but has the most ill-defined role of all. He, too, tries. And, then, there is the marvelous Jan Sterling, here in a bitchy role that, if better written, could have merited her professional attention. Jan, we miss you. Keller's direction is somewhat okay, with unobtrusive camera work and backed with clean cinematography. THE FEMALE ANIMAL is not a waste of time when one watches glorious Hedy showing what she can done, and with the underlying wonderment of how a good script could have taken these four performers to great heights.

This was not cast well at all. Hedy Lamarr was 44 and still ravishingly beautiful; her daughter is played by 29-year-old Jane Powell who does NOT look like a teenager with her bleached blonde hair and worldly air. George Nader at age 37 looks totally appropriate for Hedy! He does not look like a "boy toy" as the role calls for. He looks mature, weathered, tan, sort of like a Marlboro Man.

Since Jane's character is supposed to be a teenager, he is way too old for her! He looks like a teenager's dad!! The script is meant to make us think the boy toy character is more appropriate as a teenager's love interest, but the casting is wrong.

Hedy does what she can with the script and always seems warm and loving. Jane's character does not have any charm. It's hard to see why the male lead would be torn between the two.

Poor George Nader is also very wooden. When his agent says "You can't act yourself out of a paper bag" it's easy to believe, but we should believe the MAN in this role even if we couldn't believe him as an ACTOR. His face and voice are without variety. The role must have been cast by just asking actors to take their shirts off.

At one point in the film, a character professes to Hedy Lamarr, who plays an actress: "I always thought you were a better actress than the roles they gave you." The character might as well have been speaking about Lamarr herself, because this film typifies the substandard material that the actress was handed throughout most of her career.

While there were some highlights in Lamarr's career, such as the wonderful H.M. Pulham, Esq., The Strange Woman, and Dishonored Lady, there was also a lot of fluff. It seems Lamarr was always treated as a glamorous beauty rather than a great actress, although she was smart and talented.

The Female Animal was one of those fading star vehicles that Universal seemed to specialize in at the time (others included Female on the Beach with Joan Crawford, and The Price of Fear with Merle Oberon). By 1958, Lamarr had not been the leading actress in a film for a few years, but she was still youthful and beautiful. It's curious that she was not offered more roles, although back then the shelf-life of a glamorous star was even shorter than it is today.

The Female Animal is a somewhat trashy and sordid melodrama. It is perhaps the only film I have ever seen in which Hedy Lamarr was not the object of desire. Here she plays a more aggressive woman who is not ashamed to take in a house boy. The idea that Lamarr, even at the advanced age of 45 (*eye roll*), would need to pay for handsome male companionship is beyond absurd. She was still very sexy and could have probably had her pick of men. I agree with the other reviewer who said, to some effect: "Hedy past her prime was any other woman's peak." She is widely considered the most beautiful actress of all-time (interchangeably with Gene Tierney).

The film overall leans more toward camp classic than art house. You have drunk ladies, aging starlets out "hunting" for young studs, and of course glamorous Hedy, who has trouble speaking some of her lines. It's all kind of a mess, but it somehow hangs together, and it's a lot of fun. Jan Sterling is entertaining in a supporting role.

The ending redeems the film. Lamarr gives a rather poignant speech about determination, and we are reminded of what a remarkable actress she was. We think about how sad it is that her career was cut so short by...ageism.

Hedy's a star in crisis, at a crossroads in her career, too fond of the bottle and adrift without a man. Enter big strong George Nader who saves her from an onset accident and she's swept off her feet but there's trouble ahead especially in the personage of her daughter.

Sound familiar? If it doesn't you haven't seen many latter day Joan Crawford movies. Miss Lamaar's last feature is a low budget affair but that doesn't mean that it doesn't offer high grade fun for its target audience, namely people who enjoy sudsy melodrama with MOVIE STARS of a certain vintage.

Hedy looks great though it's obvious that she's either had a face-lift or some sort of surgical tape applied since her eyes are definitely different from her glory days. The real stretch of credibility comes in the casting of Jane Powell, also looking great, as Hedy's daughter. True they are 15 years apart in age so it's conceivable that they could be mother & daughter but at 44 and 29 respectively they look more like sisters plus Jane's character is clearly supposed to be much younger. She give an okay performance but she's miscast nonetheless.

As for the story it careens around not making a whole lot of sense, nor does it need to, but it's far more entertaining than many "good" films it would be considered inferior too.