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Femmes devant le désir

Original title: The Female Animal
  • 1958
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 24m
IMDb RATING
6.1/10
708
YOUR RATING
Hedy Lamarr, Jane Powell, and George Nader in Femmes devant le désir (1958)
Film NoirDramaRomance

An aging film star and her alcoholic daughter compete for a handsome extra.An aging film star and her alcoholic daughter compete for a handsome extra.An aging film star and her alcoholic daughter compete for a handsome extra.

  • Director
    • Harry Keller
  • Writers
    • Robert Hill
    • Albert Zugsmith
  • Stars
    • Hedy Lamarr
    • Jane Powell
    • Jan Sterling
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.1/10
    708
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Harry Keller
    • Writers
      • Robert Hill
      • Albert Zugsmith
    • Stars
      • Hedy Lamarr
      • Jane Powell
      • Jan Sterling
    • 34User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos8

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    Top cast34

    Edit
    Hedy Lamarr
    Hedy Lamarr
    • Vanessa Windsor
    Jane Powell
    Jane Powell
    • Penny Windsor
    Jan Sterling
    Jan Sterling
    • Lily Frayne
    George Nader
    George Nader
    • Chris Farley
    Jerry Paris
    Jerry Paris
    • Hank Galvez (not Lopez)
    Gregg Palmer
    Gregg Palmer
    • Piggy
    Mabel Albertson
    Mabel Albertson
    • Irma Jones
    James Gleason
    James Gleason
    • Tom Maloney
    Richard H. Cutting
    Richard H. Cutting
    • Dr. John Ramsay
    Ann Doran
    Ann Doran
    • Nurse
    Yvonne Peattie
    • Hairdresser
    Max Showalter
    Max Showalter
    • Charlie Grant
    • (as Casey Adams)
    Douglas Evans
    Douglas Evans
    • Al The Director
    Aram Katcher
    Aram Katcher
    • Mischa Boroff
    Gertrude Astor
    Gertrude Astor
    • Actress on Movie Set
    • (uncredited)
    Richard Avonde
    Richard Avonde
    • Pepe, Lily's Gigolo
    • (uncredited)
    Al Bain
    Al Bain
    • Crew Member
    • (uncredited)
    Gail Bonney
    Gail Bonney
    • Vanessa Windsor's Maid
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Harry Keller
    • Writers
      • Robert Hill
      • Albert Zugsmith
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews34

    6.1708
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    Featured reviews

    7jjnxn-1

    Watch out Hedy's in Crawford Country!

    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.
    7cloudberries

    Badly cast

    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.
    6dinky-4

    A couple of blocks from "Sunset Boulevard"

    What Douglas Sirk, and a better chosen cast, could have done with this material!

    Hedy Lamarr plays "Vanessa Windsor," an aging movie queen who falls hard for a handsome extra named "Chris" played by George Nader. Chris feels himself genuinely drawn to Vanessa but fears becoming nothing more than a "kept" man. Vanessa's adopted daughter Penny, played by Jane Powell, enters the scene. Penny suffers the usual problems experienced as the child of a famous, rarely-present person and has drifted into alcoholism and promiscuous behavior. She also falls for Chris and he feels himself attracted to her though he tries to keep Vanessa from learning this fact. The movie soon becomes a question of (1) what will Vanessa do when she finds out the truth, and (2) which woman will Chris wind up with?

    Miscasting weakens this movie which isn't quite flamboyant enough to be "camp." Hedy Lamarr fits easily into her role but Jane Powell seems about 10 years too old to be the adopted daughter. Similarly George Nader's part might have been better filled by an actor 10 years his junior. Like Robert Mitchum, Nader usually declined to shave off his chest hair but he obviously made an exception here for his various shirtless scenes. Perhaps he felt this would make him look younger in a "beachboy" sort of way.

    Jan Sterling receives third billing and wanders into and out of the plot but her character isn't well integrated into the story. (She's the counterpart to Ruth Roman in "Love Has Many Faces.") Like the other performers, her "smart, sophisticated" lines generally fall flat. The plot also suffers a bit from a flashback device which kicks in shortly after the start of the movie but which is presented in such an off-hand way that some viewers may not realize that a flashback is now in progress.

    As for the ending, it appears to have been decided upon by a committee anxious to please as many people as possible. As a result, it'll probably please no one and its ambiguity is more annoying than stimulating.

    George Nader's quiet, dignified performance -- and he isn't given much to work with -- almost holds the movie together. It's good to see him with his shirt off but one can't help feeling a bit sorry that he's sometimes relegated to just being a slab of "beefcake." Those viewers familiar with Nader's private life will appreciate the fact that his character is given the sexually-ambiguous name of "Chris."
    7grahamclarke

    A lot of meat for film buffs - not much for regulars

    Were a regular movie watcher to dismiss "The Female Animal" as cheap trash, they would not be wrong. However, for movie buffs there's much enjoyment to be had, despite the glaring weaknesses

    It's certainly not the plot that holds our interest, nor the dialog, though there are a couple of memorable lines; it's simply the somewhat miscast headliners Hedy Lamarr, George Nader and Jane Powell - whose ages hardly approximate the characters they portray. One needs to have some awareness of their personal lives and careers in order to perceive the added layers of meaning their very presence lends to the film.

    Forty-four-year-old Hedy Lamarr still lovely to behold, apparently much aided by various surgeries, was coming to the end of her career, so playing an older movie actress in what seem to be B movies adds much resonance. Her beauty is legendary, but alas not her acting talent which was always a couple of notches below her contemporaries. However she turns in one of her better performances in what would be her last screen role. In the final scene, a nurse tending to her says, "Maybe I shouldn't say this, but I've always thought you were a much better actress than the roles they gave you." It's hardly a line you would expect from the character but clearly something probably Lamarr herself wanted aired. She thanks her and the nurse goes on: "Because the one great thing you have on the screen is believability". She then turns out the light and exits. Hedy rolls over and says, "Believability; I certainly hope so". Hedy's swan song.

    George Nader was one of the hunks from the Universal stable. It's widely rumoured that he left Hollywood after being outed by the notorious Confidential magazine in some sort of deal the studios made to save Rock Hudson, his lifelong friend, from the same fate. Some sources claim it was to save Rory Calhoun's career. However in later years Nader emphatically denied all that, though he did say "every month when Confidential came out, our stomachs began to turn. Which of us would be in it?" Whatever the case, he realised he wasn't making much headway in Hollywood and turned to Europe where he enjoyed much success in a series of German films. He was a fairly competent actor and an extremely good-looking one. Physically he was at his very prime at this particular point in his career. He spends much screen time bare-chested, uncharacteristically waxed. Other scenes show him off in elegant evening wear and an extremely tight T-shirt. All in all, his film career was hardly a distinguished one and "The Female Animal" is certainly one of his better moments.

    Former MGM star Jane Powell totally discards her effervescent girl-next-door image and plunges into fifties misunderstood daughter a la Rebel Without a Cause, acting out, boozing it up and flinging herself at men. You get the picture. A brave move for Powell, sometimes bordering on the ludicrous.

    Jan Sterling in a bit part with some delightful lines also deserves special mention.

    What gives "The Female Animal" a certain veneer of class is the work of master cameraman Russel Metty, Douglas Sirks favorite DP. Even someone of lesser talent could hardly go wrong with the likes of Lamarr, Nader and Powell, but Metty, as always, makes them luminous.

    Put your critical faculties on hold and join this somewhat odd ride, one I find I enjoy more and more each time I take it.
    7planktonrules

    Trashy and overwrought....but enjoyable and well performed and written.

    The 1950s brought to Hollywood a new sort of movie...the trashy soap opera film. The movies were quite salacious for their day and subtlety is NOT something you associate with the movies. Lana Turner and Susan Hayward made a bunch of these films. In this case, Hedy Lamarr tries her hand at the genre...and soon retired from acting! It's not that it's a bad film...it just isn't exactly artistic or something you might feel proud for having appeared in it.

    The film finds aging actress Vanessa Windsor (Lamarr) falling for a gorgeous young hunk, Chris (George Nader). At the same time, Vanessa's daughter, Penny (Jane Powell*), is a mess....a drunk party girl who is on the road to destruction. When Penny learns that mom loves Chris, she makes her next task to seduce the handsome stud. Not surprisingly, this results in bad stuff...heart ache, hysteria and more.

    Through the course of this movie, just about every lady throws herself at handsome Chris...which is ironic considering Nader soon left Hollywood after he was outed for being gay. Regardless, he really was the best thing about the movie...solid, an excellent actor and incredibly handsome. And, it was nice to see women chasing the guy this time! Overall, a trashy but thoroughly enjoyable soaper. Not for everyone's taste...but a film lovers of the genre will no doubt enjoy.

    *This film was a very huge departure for Powell. Previously, she mostly played sweet roles or young girl parts. Here, however, she is thoroughly screwy...and mesmerizing.

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Final film of Hedy Lamarr although she would live until 2000.
    • Goofs
      Chris Farley (George Nader) suffers a nasty cut on his right arm after saving Vanessa Windsor (Hedy Lamarr) from a falling light. Shortly afterward on their first date, while having a moonlight swim, the cut is nowhere to be seen. Then, days later, Vanessa visits Chris at his bungalow court apartment. and he has a very visible bandage and tape covering the cut on his arm.
    • Quotes

      Lily Frayne: [Lily Frayne and her date, Pepe, are at the restaurant bar; Pepe looks troubled as he examines a bracelet on his wrist] I don't know why you're objecting to that slave bracelet. I buy one for all my friends. I used to wear two or three of them myself around my ankle in the old days. Everybody wears them.

      Pepe, Lily's Gigolo: Mon cher, please, I'm bored hearing about "The Stone Age."

      Lily Frayne: [shakes her diamond-covered hand at Pepe] That's where these rocks came from, lover, and don't forget it.

      [turns to Bartender]

      Lily Frayne: Darling, give Lily a shot for her bronchitis.

      Bartender: Of course, Miss Frayne.

      Lily Frayne: It's the sea air. I don't know why I live here.

      Bartender: I thought you liked the beach.

      Lily Frayne: Oh, I do, darling, I do.

      [glances at Pepe]

      Lily Frayne: But it's so boring. Nothing to do night or day but go to bed.

      Bartender: Why don't you make another picture, Miss Frayne? I thought you were great in "Salammbô."

      Lily Frayne: Lubitsch did, too, darling. Lubitsch did, too. We were giants in those days. Now you could put the whole bunch under a card table and nobody'd muss a hair.

      [glances at Pepe]

      Lily Frayne: Did you ever see me in "Salammbô," darling?

      Pepe, Lily's Gigolo: Sorry, I wasn't born then.

      Lily Frayne: [angry] Well, I was only eleven myself! They called me "Little Lily Frayne." I was the first child star ever to be chased around a desk.

    • Connections
      Referenced in The Hollywood Miss Sapientia: Hedy Lamarr, Actress-Inventor (2012)

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    FAQ14

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • September 5, 1958 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The Female Animal
    • Filming locations
      • Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Universal Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 24m(84 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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