Single Room Furnished

Also three stories united in one, originally. "Miss Negligee"(Jayne Mansfield) could really play and even very good, this film proves it fully. She plays here 3 different roles and she plays them with a lot of talent, she is credible, convincing. And those are roles of depth, not the dumb blonde as she had been advised to play in all her other films. The other actors are also very good, especially Dorothy Keller, in a role in the spirit of Giulietta Masina in "The Nights of Cabiria".

The answer is yes. The question: Could Jayne act? She did in this one, and was surprisingly good at it too. I saw this movie more out of morbid curiosity than anything else, not really expecting much. I'd read lots of reviews of it, most of them on the negative side. I admit to being a big Mansfield fan so I did have a bit of a bias. And surprise, surprise I did enjoy it. For the most part! I liked her a lot more than the movie tho. I can understand why this wouldn't have been a box-office hit. It's a bit slow at times, and strays off course. The secondary plot involving Charley and Flo confused me. While the actors did a fine job, after a few minutes I felt like I was watching another movie altogether. Their first scene together was WAY too long, and I began to wonder who they were and why were they there in the first place. But after reading that Jayne died before the film completed it made sense. The producers didn't have enough completed film at that point, so it made sense to beef up the secondary roles the characters play, and pad the length of the film to a reasonable length. Not that the actors were bad, they weren't, but I felt that they were out of place here, and that they should have had a whole film of their own. Jayne does a good job here, though admittedly she's no Bette Davis. She was compelling enough to carry the movie. For a while I actually forgot I was watching Jayne Mansfield, and got caught up in the characters she was playing. She was talented. She could act. And while this isn't a great movie it does show a really good actress in the making. It's tempting to speculate where her career might have led if she'd lived. All in all, this is a good if not great movie. You be the judge.

Matt Cimber's "Single Room Furnished" is a dark, atmospheric film about destroyed lives and desperation. It is a wonder that this 60's gem is not a cult classic, as it features an outrageous jazz score, along with the legendary cult icon Jayne Mansfield, in three different roles. The story is amazingly lurid, following Jayne's character 'Eileen' on her downward spiral, through failed relationships, unwanted pregnancies, abandonment, leading her to a sad life of prostitution. The film possesses a hypnotic quality. The cheap, tawdry sets and tacky costumes, along with watching Mansfield move dreamily about her surroundings makes for a surreal viewing experience. I was moved by the operatically sad stories of these people. Because Mansfield died before films completion, an extra storyline was added in to bring the film up to feature length running time. Unlike some other viewers, I found the side story with Charlie and Flo thoroughly enjoyable, and those two had some hilarious lines. The scene where the middle aged Flo gets herself all "gussied up" to meet the beer drinking slob Charlie, in what has to be the most tacky bar/restaurant ever captured on film, only to pull a rotten fish out of her purse, and later snatch off her hairpiece; classic stuff. When watching this, one gets the feeling that they are seeing something very rare indeed. As mentioned earlier, the rousing 60's jazz soundtrack is memorable, and fetches over $100 whenever an old LP soundtrack of the movie pops up on ebay. The production carries a distinct feeling of "nostalgia", a shadowy look into a time now gone. And Jayne Mansfield has undeniable screen presence, and for those wondering, she actually could act, and "Single Room Furnished" is proof. The film is exploitation to be sure, capitalizing on Jaynes name, and her tragic life. But it is not degrading to the star for a moment. There is no nudity, and she is given the chance that she most likely always wanted, to play parts other than "sex kitten". The final scenes of 'Eileen' and her sailor, as she confesses her sordid life to him, and to the audience, are among the most beautiful and haunting images to grace the silver screen. For fans of cult or weird 60's films, and definitely for fans of Jayne Mansfield, this is required viewing. Surprisingly there is a great DVD edition of this obscure title, featuring a beautiful widescreen print. It would make a nice double feature with "Who Killed Teddy Bear," starring Sal Mineo. Also recommended is "The Wayward Bus," another obscure one featuring Jayne in a serious role.

I thoroughly enjoyed `Single Room Furnished,' a beautiful film about quiet desperation. The cinematic equivalent to a Graham Greene novel, this darkly daring film centers on Maria, an irrepressible girl in her teens played by the very catching Terri Messina (who looks a bit like Marlo Thomas and Mary Tyler Moore, only hotter) and the desolate trifecta character of Johnnie / Mae / Eilene, played by Jayne Mansfield.

Pop (Billy M. Greene) tells Maria the story of Johnnie's lowly life, as if it were one of Hilaire Belloc's `Cautionary Tales for Children,' against a backdrop of real, unadorned people in their real, drab existence. Director Matt Cimber, in his debut feature film, illustrates the ruthlessness and dreariness of life and how it gleefully pulverizes people who never had a chance. It's not a satirical film, just a bleak soul-shriveler of the cruelest kind. Throughout, Mansfield conceals a depth of softness and vulnerability, hinting that there's always a hopefulness hidden under her sobs and disappointment. The feel-good film of the year this isn't (Mansfield even died before the movie was completed)! But, if you're looking for a quiet tale about human nature and want to see how the majority of American people feel, definitely watch this one!

Simple minded persons such as moonspinner55 do not try to distinguish the 3 different accents from 3 different cultures that Jayne Mansfield uses in Single Room Furnished. In my helping Jayne Mansfield master the 3 different accents it took the two of us 2 hours on how her saying the word "monkey" alone. Each of her 3 accents of Single Room Furnished were very different from her normal way of speaking. Add on that she used a different way of speaking in every movie and stage play that she was in shows, to at least me, that she had an brightness in her mind to even attempt Single Room Furnished. Another friend of mind said of Jayne Mansfield "genius"- John F Kennedy, President Of The United States.