Let's Discuss "Female On The Beach" (1955)

What an odd little film in Joan's later oeuvre this is! ***SPOILERS WITHIN***

1) Jeff Chandler is an odd one. Sometimes he looks devastatingly handsome, and other times he looks kind of funny looking. Is he an early example of ugly-beautiful? It doesn't usually apply to men... 2) What's with Joan's conversion from disliking him and being annoyed by him to getting herself into a state and being besotted by him in what seems like a matter of days? Some sort of clever metaphor for her own life? 3) Sometimes this film looks really good, and other times like a soap. The cinematography is odd. The boat/danger element made me think of [italic]Knife In The Water[/italic], although that came later of course. 4) If you didn't work out who the murderer was after that heavy-handed jealousy scene in the boat you'd have to be sub-mental. Jan Sterling is dreadful in this film. 5) Again, as I alluded to above, Joan's character is totally uneven in this film. Lyn Markham is a shit-kicker who's been around the block and drops bitchy one-liners around her house like Shake N Vac.. for the first 30 minutes. And then from nowhere she's turned into an unstable alcoholic who even though she knows this man is apparently dangerous and is a trickster, she can't wait until he calls again. 6) That ending is so rushed and cheap. B-movies used to have really abrupt endings in the past, didn't they? What are YOUR thoughts?
OP
Love it! Joan at the start of the film has some great lines.
I love Joan's '50's B-movies, just loopy. We're supposed to believe that JC, now hard-looking in her 40's with those inexplicable caterpillar eyebrows (who's idea was that??) is supposed to be the object of lust of all these young hotties. I guess her fading clout got these greenlighted, and some of them do have their moments. I wonder how many aging hausfraus said, "Oh look Marge, Joan has a new pic-cha at the Bijou. Let's have lunch at Woolworth's and make a day of it?"
Jeff Chandler was a rugged, manly hunk. He wasn't a pretty boy. And this movie is a campfest. "I wouldn't have you if you were hung with diamonds upside down." "You're about as friendly as a suction pump."
Isn't Mrs. Howe the neighbor's wife? Beware of Fast Friends!!! Love how Joan C. just ends up with an oceanfront home. The missing boat part. Oh My!
Love the scene where she rubs her ass while talking on the phone. She never wears the same set of PJs twice--sleeps alone in these elaborate outfits. Love the reply to "how do you like your coffee?" This film is being shown Thursday at Hedda Lettuce Chelsea Classics, and is finally coming to DVD in June in a TCM Women In Danger box set. It's Joan's only Universal film, thus a slightly different look. Love the tagline "he was the kind of man her kind of woman can't resist!"
Joan bump.
Someone please explain her hair in that movie.
"Sudden Fear" was also a Universal Picture if I'm not mistaken.
I'm curious if bodybuilder Ed Fury was balling Joan Crawford during the filming in late 1954. He had a bit part in the movie at the end. I understand he was doing 61 year old Mae West at about that time. 26 year old Ed is the type 50 year old nympho Joan would go after. She had been involved with costar 36 year old Jeff Chandler in the past, but Ed was better looking and had a better body. I know in early 1955 when she filmed her next movie, "Queen Bee", she was having a fling with costar John Ireland. This while she was being courted by Pepsi Vice President Alfred Steele. She would marry Steele that Spring.
Professor Moriarty
My favorite part is one I'm shocked got by the censors. On the morning of their honeymoon only one of their twin beds has been slept in.
The 2 old neighbours are amazing - dear old Cecil Kellaway and Natalie Trundy play Osbert and Queenie, who pimp young studs to lonely rich women like Joan and the woman who had the apartment before her. Then they bring Ed Fury around when Joan is in't biting their latest bait, Jeff. Jan Sterling is terrific as usual too .... and I wonder is Jeff eyeing up Joan's outfits and wondering how they would fit him ? Its as good as Torch Song, Autumn Leaves, or of course Johnny Guitar. Joans 50s films are certainly better and more fun than Bettes, whereas Bette's 60s ones are better than Joan's - I suppose Straitjacket and Berserk have their admirers, but give me Dead Ringers or The Anniversary any time.
I've never this but I do love all of Joan's later movies. Are there any passion scenes in this movie where Jeff is grimacing at the thought of having sex with Joan? Because it wouldn't be Crawford B-movie without a young man looking more feminine than Joan herself.
This Crawford in the 50s box set is a MUST OWN
http://shop.tcm.com/joan-crawford-in-the-fifties-dvd/detail.php%3Fp%3D378230%26v%3Dtcm_vault-collection
Doug%20%22Video%22%20Savant
[R12] It's Natalie Schaeffer, not Trundy. It's Mrs. Lovey Howell!
Anyone have a copy of that amazing book by the Hollywood Kids, "Bad Movies We Love"? The article on this film is great! Talking about classic 50's JC, and how her co-stars kiss up to her, referring to her as "a girl" although she's way into her late 40's, with "sour milk lips". And the scene when she's on the phone, rubbing her bum is properly noted as well.
Go away, OP. Back to your little FaceBook page. Nobody called you back here. Troll.
WHET The Hollywood Kids?
Count me as one of those who loves STRAIT-JACKET. It's a pretty good thriller and IMNTBHO Joan is wonderful in it. She plays the softer scenes beautifully and, of course, knocks the camp scenes out of the park. She really runs the gamut and plays it with no less conviction than she would an A pic.
Lucy%20Harbin
R17 is unhinged. I started this thread months ago and someone else has bumped it. YOU run along. Shoo! I have seen so many Joan movies now, do I get some sort of gay medal?
OP
I have that book, R16. It's not written by the Hollywood Kids it's by Stephen Rebello and Edward Margulies, two editors at MOVIELINE magazine who used to write the 'Bad Movies We Love' column there. That book was my bible for a long time. Her costumes in this film are hilarious. I love the scene where Chandler chases her onto the beach and she collapses to the sand with her skirt hiked up to her waist to show off her still stunning legs. A friend of mine who saw the film recently noted how Crawford holds her head in this film. She is carefully moving her head to avoid any neck waddle being seen. She does a great job at it too. Crawford was even in her drunken later performances, a master technician of film acting. I love that in STRAIT JACKET she's just as committed as she was at Metro being directed by Cukor and starring opposite Gable.
[quote] Jeff Chandler is an odd one. Sometimes he looks devastatingly handsome, and other times he looks kind of funny looking. Is he an early example of ugly-beautiful? Are you under the impression that this phenomenon begain the 1950's? People have looked this way for centuries, and have acknowledged the phenomenon for almost as long.
With hindsight, R22, it was perhaps a silly assertion of mine, quite right.
OP%2C%20Oh%20dear-ing%20at%20himself
Jeff Chandler was a rugged, manly JEWISH hunk. He wasn't a pretty boy. Wasn't Joanie going exclusively with chick by the 1950s? I mean aside from her fat rich husband.
A sleazy film and love it because of it. Old couple blackmailing and pimping hunky men into servicing lonely customers (we can assume men as well).
"I have a long list of dislikes and it's getting LONGER"!
My fave line from Joan in this flick
It was originally a play. Detective: "The previous owner took a swan dive off a bottle of brandy and is dead." Joan: "Dead?" "Yes. Any comment?" Joan: "Yes, I'm getting a new real estate agent!" "The Tingler" star Evelyn Keyes is good in this, too.
The saxophone heavy score is good, clearly influenced Bernard Herrman's "Taxi Driver". Although the same riff is repeated endlessly.
[quote]She is carefully moving her head to avoid any neck waddle being seen. It's 'wattle' not 'waddle.' For Christ's sake, Joan had a turkey's neck not a duck's ass!
Bette%20D
[R29] Oh Bette, you're still such a bitch! We love you!
I'm sure the title looked titillating on a marquee (esp. if you were boy passing by). But probably a disappointment once the lights went down. The ad people were crafty, though: "Co-starring Jan Sterling"
http://cdn102.iofferphoto.com/img/item/203/720/376/female-on-the-beach-joan-crawford-1955-jeff-chandler-a622e.jpg
"Female on the Beach" reminds me of the ending of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"
Shortly before the film was made, Joan Crawford was dating the president of Universal Pictures, who offered her the role. She also was given her choice of leading man, and she selected Jeff Chandler.
Offscreen, she and Chandler shared a wardrobe - designed by Jean Louis.
Esther%20Williams