Author Archive: Retro

Hypnosis In the tradition of “Mated”, these thinly disguised medical/educational films deal with the frank subject of sex and childbith form a clincal, yet revealing viewpoint.

A newspaper reporter investigates a strange cult living in the American Southwest who worship pain. Supposedly based on a fact. Actual footage of Penitentes – a sect of Catholic religious fanatics who engage in self-flagellation

With the exception of the vastly superior Caged, Columbia’s Women’s Prison was the quintessential “babes behind bars” drama of the 1950s. Ida Lupino (who else?) stars as Amelia VanZant, the sadistic supervisor of the titular prison. Unable to establish any sort of relationship with a man, Amelia takes it out on her long-suffering inmates. When prison psychiatrist Clark (Howard Duff) tries to improve conditions for the women, he too is targetted for destruction by the vituperous Ms. VanZant. The cast includes such perennial “hard-boiled dames” as Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter, Phyllis Thaxter, Gertrude Michael and Mae Clarke. Not taken very seriously in the first place, Women’s Prison was elevated to the level of “high camp” by youthful film buffs of the 1960s and 1970s.

Wayward girl grows up to become a juvenile judge and meets up with the child she gave up for adoption, now a teenage punk. Dir. Nick Grinde

This action adventure features the skill of one amazing hero.

A white gorilla is snubbed by black gorillas because he is the wrong color. Cut off from his tribe he becomes lonely and angry. After troubling hunters and natives, the white gorilla fights the king of the black gorillas while we are told by a narrator that the fate of Africa hangs in the balance. The movie was made by editing some 1947 acting into footage from a 1927 silent serial, Perils of the Jungle, starring Frank Merrill the fifth screen Tarzan.

Life at a 1950s women’s maximum security prison where the warden and the guards are as brutal as the inmates.

Federally funded propaganda film unintentionally riotous fun. Jack Webb narrates the tale of an ordinary American town and its life as a Communist satellite, with everyone becoming emotionless automations. AKA The Commies Are Coming, the Commies Are Coming.