Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

blanche-2 "The Girl in the Black Stockings" is a B movie, and I don't give it the tremendous historical significance one of the other reviewers did. It's obviously made cheaply, and the story is awkward. Directed by Howard Koch, it has a surprising lack of pace. The stars are Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, John Dehner, Ron Randell, Marie Windsor and Mamie Van Doren. The plot concerns murders at a resort - in fact, the film begins with the discovery of a dead body, and several more follow. Dehner plays the sheriff. The resort is owned by a man with hysterical paralysis (Randell) and his sister (Windsor), who takes care of him. There's a Barrymore-type actor preparing for a comeback with the help of a va-va-va-voom blonde (Van Doren), and several guests, including Barker and Bancroft, who apparently have some sort of history together.The acting is okay with the exception of a very young Bancroft, who smartly underplays what could have been an extremely over the top character. Barker was very handsome and fit, but after reading that Lana Turner threw him out when she learned he was abusing her daughter Cheryl, it's hard to watch him. Most of the characters really aren't fleshed out enough to give the actors something to work with. Stuart Whitman has a small part, as does Dan Blocker, who plays a bartender.Not great.

Poseidon-3 Notable for its eclectic cast and authentic setting, this odd little murder mystery has entertainment value in spite of itself. Set at (and filmed on location at) the Parry Lodge in Utah, it stars Barker as a handsome and tan ladies man who finds himself investigating the people around him when a young woman is found brutally slain. Before the murderer is caught, several others wind up six feet under. A particularly oddball batch of characters make up the list of suspects including Bancroft as Barker's mousy girlfriend, Randell as a paraplegic with a strong resentment towards loose women, Windsor as his overprotective sister and Holland as a somewhat lecherous movie producer. Other faces include Van Doren as a platinum blonde starlet, Dehner as the local sheriff, Van der Vlis as a fellow motel guest and Chance as a stone-faced, heavy-drinking Indian. The story is as pat and tawdry as any pulp paperback novel, though the murders and the sex all take place offscreen. The film is aided immeasurably by the location shooting around a real motel that is still in operation today (and was the favorite boarding choice of many old time Hollywood stars and crews who were using the surrounding terrain when filming movies.) Barker, a former Tarzan, is bronzed and strong, offering several glimpses of his physique in and around the pool. His acting is adequate and unspectacular. Bancroft gives a pretty tightly reined and low-key performance through most of the film. Randell is the exact opposite. Sporting a truly bizarre accent and over-acting horrendously at every opportunity, despite (or maybe even due to) his character's disability, he is frequently a source of unintentional giggles. Windsor fares better in her clichéd role of the loving sister, devoting herself to his every need. Dehner does a nice job as the ineffectual lawman while Van Doren camps it up in tight dresses and dark lips with her white hair cascading to one side. Chance is another one who creates laughter with his robotic, off-center portrayal of a man with a low station in life. Small roles are played by future stars Whitman as a concerned husband and Blocker as the lodge's bartender. There's nothing life-changing about this rather run-of-the-mill movie, but it offers some decent black and white photography and an intriguing assortment of actors, along with an ending that may surprise some viewers. All of this is only partially tarnished by what appears to be a never-ending tribute to some of the ugliest wallpaper in film history! Costumes are by The Pink Pussycat, a retail store located right there at the lodge! Incidentally, the title of the film has little or nothing to do with the plot or characters as they exist in the finished product.

Ripshin Frankly, this a lame "B" flick, with hilarious dialogue, great locations and uneven performances.To even utter the phrase "film noir," in conjunction with this film, is ludicrous. Some of the comparisons found in previous posts are mind-boggling.Disposable characters, inane conversations and an annoying soundtrack are buffered by a wonderful setting - a kitschy, picture-perfect motel, straight out of a retro-fanatic's dream. Man, I want to stay at the "Parry Lodge" for a weekend!!Every time actor Ron Randell opens his mouth, you know you're in for some scenery-chewing, par none. Lex Barker is, well, Lex Barker. "Sheriff" John Dehner comes across the least scathed, although as a previous comment did point out, he appears to have wandered in from another movie set.All in all, worth a viewing, just to see what it meant to stay in a "motel" before Holiday Inn and Ramada ruined the experience.UPDATE: Lodge is still up and running - see parrylodge.com!

bmacv What can you say about a movie whose three female stars are Anne Bancroft, Marie Windsor and Mamie Van Doren? Well, that none of them is used at anywhere near her full potential (except maybe Van Doren, the sum of whose potential is exhausted at first glimpse). And that's basically the problem with this little tailfins-era whodunit about a serial killer at a Utah mountain lodge. Its very real potential is never delivered. The characters and plot strands are handled perfunctorily, mechanically; they're interesting and offbeat but not satisfyingly developed, so the solution comes as a bad surprise and something of a cheat. Owner of the lodge, Ron Randell, is a psychosomatically paralyzed woman-hater nursed by his doting sister (Windsor). Les Barker (not to be confused with Les Baxter, who wrote the score!) loses no opportunity to display his physique poolside as a vacationing L.A. attorney who's wooing the diffident Bancroft. Van Doren does her platinum-blonde bombshell shtik and John Dehner, as the sheriff, seems to have wandered in from a Western shooting nearby. The movie looks good, in a simplified, populuxe way, and winds up like a better-than-average TV drama from circa 1957. Too bad: The Girl in Black Stockings had all the makings of a more interesting movie.