''The Devil's Sleep'' is a 1949
exploitation film
An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...
directed by
W. Merle Connell and produced by
George Weiss. Connell had previously directed a number of
American burlesque
American burlesque is a genre of variety show derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows. Burlesque became popular in America in the late 1860s and slowly evolved to feature ribald comedy and female nudity. By th ...
films.
[pp.267-268 Shteir, Rachel ''Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show'' Oxford University Press, USA 1 Nov 2004-] The film looks at
juvenile delinquency, phony women's health gyms, and the pushing of narcotics to teenagers. Using many of the same cast and crew as ''
Test Tube Babies
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) f ...
'', the film is the first of
Timothy Farrell's "Umberto Scalli" trilogy.
Plot
Umberto Scalli has returned from a prison sentence with two lucrative enterprises: a women's health spa that gives the women
Dinitrophenol
Dinitrophenols are chemical compounds which are nitro derivatives of phenol.
There are six isomers of dinitrophenol:
* 2,3-Dinitrophenol
* 2,4-Dinitrophenol
* 2,5-Dinitrophenol
* 2,6-Dinitrophenol
* 3,4-Dinitrophenol
* 3,5-Dinitrophenol
Din ...
tablets that reduce weight but may have dangerous side effects; and selling
Benzedrine
Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used a ...
to teenagers through a young man who provides them through swinging parties held at a house Scalli owns. Some of the teenagers attempt to pay for their drugs by committing burglaries. Judge Rosalind Ballentine and Police Detective Sergeant Dave Kerrigan unite to end the menace, but Scalli attempts to blackmail the judge with photographs of her daughter Margie willfully drugged and nude at one of the parties.
Cast
*
Lita Grey
Lita Grey (born Lillita Louise MacMurray, April 15, 1908 – December 29, 1995), who was known for most of her life as Lita Grey Chaplin, was an American actress and the second wife of Charlie Chaplin.
Background
She was born in Hollywood, Cali ...
... Judge Rosalind Ballentine
* William Thomason ... Detective Sergeant Dave Kerrigan
* Will Charles ... Inspector Darnell
*
Timothy Farrell ... Umberto Scalli
* Fred Smith ... Tony Donardi
* Muriel Gardner ... Ruby McKenzie
* Jim Tyde ... Bob Winter
* Stan Freed ... Hal Holmes
* Tracy Lynne ... Margie Ballantine
*
John Mitchum
John Mitchum (September 6, 1919 – November 29, 2001) was an American actor from the 1940s to the 1970s in film and television. The younger brother of the actor Robert Mitchum, he was credited as Jack Mitchum early in his career.
Early years ...
... Intern
*
George Eiferman as Himself
See also
*
List of films in the public domain in the United States
Most films are subject to copyright, but those listed here are believed to be in the public domain in the United States. This means that no government, organization, or individual owns any copyright over the work, and as such it is common property ...
References
External links
*
1949 films
American black-and-white films
1949 crime drama films
1940s exploitation films
American teen drama films
1940s teen drama films
American crime drama films
American exploitation films
1940s English-language films
1940s American films
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