''Female Jungle'' is a 1955

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

film noir directed by Bruno VeSota and starring

Kathleen Crowley Kathleen Crowley (born Betty Jane Crowley; December 26, 1929 – April 23, 2017) was an American actress. She appeared more than 100 times in movies and television series in the 1950s and 1960s, almost always as a leading lady. Biography E ...

, Lawrence Tierney,

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later ...

and

Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...

. The production was Mansfield's first film, as well as the only

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

entry into film noir.

Plot

A cop (Tierney) is suspected of killing a gorgeous film star. Since he was extremely drunk at the time, even he suspects that he did it. The investigation leads him to Candy, an artist's mistress (Mansfield), as well as to a slimy '' Laura''-type gossip columnist (

) who spent time with the woman that night and becomes the main suspect. But he also becomes a red herring when a third man is finally found to be the real killer.

Cast

as Claude Almstead * Lawrence Tierney as Det. Sgt. Jack Stevens *

as Candy Price *

as Peggy Voe * Burt Kaiser as Alex Voe * Bruno VeSota as Frank * Eve Brent (billed as Jean Lewis) as Monica Madison

Production

Producer Burt Kaiser and director Bruno VeSota (directing his first film), both have roles in the film. In 1954, Kaiser unsuccessfully tried to sell the distribution rights to Paramount Pictures and Allied Artists before it was picked up by American Releasing Corporation (ARC), which later became

. It is rumored that Mansfield was paid $150 for her role in the film. The movie was shot in six days.

was the lead; one day with half the film to finish she turned up to filming three hours late claiming she had been raped. The script was rewritten to build up the role played by Jayne Mansfield and additional scenes were shot involving a double for Crowley.

Release

The movie was shown as a double feature with

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

's '' The Oklahoma Woman'' in 1956 to ride on Mansfield's popularity which had risen dramatically due to her

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

films released at the time.

Critical response

In ''Death on the Cheap'', Arthur Lyons writes that the film, although "shoddily written, produced and directed", is significant for several reasons, including "It was American International's only foray into film noir ... The film also marked a return to the screen of noir icon Lawrence Tierney, whose off-screen bar brawls and numerous arrests during the 1940s had made him persona non grata in Hollywood." Film critic Dennis Schwartz, gave the film a mixed review and discussed the film's problems. He wrote, "A muddled but diverting

B film A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

noir melodrama from cheapie American International Pictures. Future sex queen Jayne Mansfield, known as the blonde bombshell, made her acting debut, costarring as a nymphomaniac. Its attempts to be hard-boiled fall apart when it becomes apparent that writer Burt Kaiser couldn't get a handle on the plot line, and instead lets the narrative get mired in too much silliness. It also suffers from a weak directing effort by Bruno Ve Sota and cheesy production values."Schwartz, Dennis
''Ozus' World Movie Reviews'', April 19, 2005. Accessed: July 20, 2013.

References

External links

* * *
''Female Jungle''
informational site and DVD review at Digital Retribution * {{YouTube, kMineXOaf8s, ''Female Jungle'' film trailer 1955 films 1950s thriller films American International Pictures films American thriller films American black-and-white films Film noir 1955 directorial debut films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films