UNTAMED YOUTH

Mamie Van Doren, Jeanne Carmen, Lori Nelson

UNTAMED YOUTH (1957). Director: Howard W. Koch.

Two sisters heading for Hollywood -- Penny (Mamie Van Doren of The Girl in Black Stockings) and Jane (Lori Nelson) -- are arrested for vagrancy and sent to a work farm for thirty days by Judge Steele (Lurene Tuttle). The farm is owned by Russ Tropp (John Russell), whose housekeepers are girls who offer certain services in exchange for "special privileges." Tropp orders his latest "housekeeper," Lillibet (Jeanne Carmen) back to the barracks with the other girls, resulting in a catfight. The judge sends her son, Bob (Don Burnett), to work at the farm as a regular employee -- he doesn't know that his mother and Tropp are secretly married. And the judge doesn't know about the deplorable conditions at the farm ...

Cougar? The judge (Tuttle, right) hankers for Russell

Untamed Youth is a hoot. Wayward girls, handsome guys, Mamie Van Doren, John Russell, catfights, a female judge who's a cougar -- all this and the movie is a musical, too! Yes, there are several snappy if unmemorable rock 'n' roll numbers supposedly warbled by Van Doren, who zestily shows off her impressive figure when dancing all over the place. The matronly Tuttle and hunky Russell certainly make a comically mismatched pair, Carmen is vivid as Lillibet, and Burnett [Damon and Pythias] is appealing as the sensitive Bob, who falls for Jane.

Mother and son: Don Burnett and Lurene Tuttle

And then there's Mamie, in a role best suited for her talents. In this she's a good girl, not a slut, and she resists advances by Russell. Her performance is more than adequate and she has an out-sized personality that helped her get a minor foothold in Hollywood B movies. Lurene Tuttle gives the best performance as the middle-aged woman who falls in love not at all wisely but well. Wally Brown makes his mark as the deceptively sympathetic cook, Pinky (even if he feeds the kids dog food!) and Michael Emmet [Attack of the Giant Leeches] shows up as a kindly doctor who treats one ill-fated pregnant girl, Baby (Yvonne Lime of Dragstrip Riot).

With a better script Untamed Youth might have emerged a credible melodrama instead of the somewhat campy exploitation picture it is. But on that level, the movie is fun.

Verdict: Catch Mamie doing "Slimy as a Salamander!" **1/2. 

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959). Director: Bernard L. Kowalski.

A stiff, by- the-book game warden (Ken Clark) gets in dutch with his girlfriend (Jan Shepard) when they argue over how best to deal with a possibly deadly new species infesting the preserve: giant, blood-sucking leeches. Attack of the Giant Leeches isn't really a very good picture -- and rather slow in spots – but it has a certain atmospheric charm and weird authenticity. Bruno VeSota is the colossal husband of the trampy Yvette Vickers, who dallies with the hunky Cal (Michael Emmet). When Vesota forces them into the swamp at the point of his rifle, the leeches appear to grab them and drag them away, with the result that Vesota is arrested for their murders. The giant leeches – or rather leech men -- are played by stunt divers in costume and look creepy without being convincing. The actors are probably better than the picture deserves; Vickers is, as always, extremely vivid.

Verdict: Somehow the darn thing casts a certain cheesy spell. **1/2.

NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST

NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST (1958). Director: Bernard L. Kowalski.

This is yet another early horror/sci fi flick that was influential on the later Alien, while being influenced itself by such films as The Thing from Another World. In this the first man sent up into space in a satellite returns to Earth in his capsule, apparently dead. Later he comes back to life because his body is harvesting a host of alien organisms. A strange energy traps him and a team of scientists in their shabby mountain headquarters as a bizarre bear-like creature with a parrot head bursts in from time to time, and even decapitates the hapless doctor. This, of course, works against John the astronaut's (Michael Emmet) assurances that the alien monster means no harm. Sure. Kowalski also directed the better-known Attack of the Giant Leeches the following year, but this picture requires much more claustrophobic tension than he is able to deliver, although it's certainly watchable and has an interesting plot. The cast does quite well with this material, especially lead Michael Emmet and dependable co-star Ed Nelson. Emmet also played Cal, the rakish character who dallies with Yvette Vickers, in Leeches -- he was a good, versatile actor who did most of his work on television. Alexander Laszlo re-used most of his sometimes overwrought score for this film in Leeches.Six years earlier John Baer, here playing Steve Dunlap, starred on the TV show Terry and the Pirates as Terry Lee.

Verdict: Of interest to 50's creature feature fans and so on. **1/2.