The Female Animal

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Matthew D Hedy Lamarr's final film is glorious, glamorous, and romantic! Director Harry Keller's romance drama film noir The Female Animal (1958) is quite charming. Keller's captivating direction whisks the audience away into the world of Hollywood stars and perilous love triangles. Russell Metty's beautiful black and white cinematography is lovely with steady panning shots and alluring close-ups of Hedy Lamarr. It's shot cascaded in shadows like all film noir classics. The black silhouettes look as stylish as the shadowy corners of every room. Editor Milton Carruth's slick cuts keep The Female Animal ravishing for 84 brief minutes. Writer Albert Zugsmith's story and screenwriter Robert Hill' script is wonderful and quite similar to Joy House (1964) with Alain Delon. The sudden romance born out of an accidental hero is intriguing. I found the lonely actress as the star, a compelling heroine. Their writing wonders at what attracts men and what keeps you loyal. Austrian actress and brilliant inventor Hedy Lamarr is dazzling as movie starlet Vanessa Windsor. She gets to be forlorn and flirty in a mesmerizing last performance before she retires. Hedy has that Audrey Hepburn innocent charm and Grace Kelly refined glamour all at once. She can be as seductive and serious as Marlene Dietrich. Hedy Lamarr is now one of my favorite Old Hollywood stars and she's wonderful, elegant, and captivating in The Female Animal. There's shots here where Hedy looks identical to Vivien Leigh or Elizabeth Taylor at their peak beauty. She is dramatically compelling and sympathetic. How can you not fall for Hedy Lamarr in The Female Animal? Jane Powell is excellent as Hedy's cute and seducing daughter Penny Windsor. She's a real tough tomboy and troublemaker that's a fun foil for Hedy. Jan Sterling is lovely as the other woman named Lily Frayne. George Nader is pretty great as the romantic hero hilariously named Chris Farley. He is charming and sincere with a seriousness about him. Jerry Paris is solid as Hank Galvez. Gregg Palmer is sleazy as Piggy, who is trying to get Penny drunk. Douglas Evans is great as Al The Director. Aram Katcher is humorous as Finnish director Mischa Boroff. Art directors Robert Clatworthy and Alexander Golitzen cast shadows everywhere to make the blacks more stark and the whites pop. The darker aesthetics of film noir always look amazing. The lavish home sets are extravagant. Set decorators Ruby R. Levitt, Russell A. Gausman, and Julia Heron put fancy furniture in Hedy's heavenly Hollywood home. Composer Hans J. Salter brings exciting jazz and moody notes for The Female Animal's flirtatious film noir atmosphere. Sound designers Glenn E. Anderson, Leslie I. Carey, Frank H. Wilkinson, John Oliver, and Perry Devore record clear voices and bursting noises. Costume designer Bill Thomas gives Hedy the most dazzling, fitted gowns worthy of her star power. Makeup artists Bud Westmore, Nick Marcellino, and Vincent Romaine give these actresses the most striking facial makeup. Hairstylist Lillian Burkhart does Hedy's hair up with cute bangs, slicked sides, and curly in the back in classic 50's fashion. In all, The Female Animal is really awesome. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/01/23 Full Review Audience Member In her final film appearance, Hedy Lamarr plays an aging movie star (she was only 42 at the time of filming) who is nearly killed by a freak accident on set, but is saved by handsome extra, George Nader, who is oddly named, for modern audiences, Chris Farley. Lamarr falls in love with Nader, but so does her adopted daughter, Jane Powell, who hides the fact from Nader that she's Lamarr's daughter. Maybe there was something in this tawdry material that Douglas Sirk could have salvaged, adding a subtext about class and conformity as he did with "All That Heaven Allows," but director director Harry Keller is no Sirk and the film ends up being a waste of Lamarr's talents and a sad coda for her film career. There's a rather poignant moment near the end of the film when a nurse tells Lamarr's character she always felt she was a better actress than the movies she was given, which is sadly true for Lamarr's own film career. FUN FACT! The Female Animal was the "A" picture that was distributed as a double-bill with the "B" picture being Orson Welles's "Touch of Evil." Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Female Animal

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