The Moth

"The Moth" is a stupefyingly bad movie that fails on every level imaginable. Apparently written by a high school drama club, it contains some of the most severe overacting ever seen on the silver screen, and it is evident why this film has not been seen since its release.

As stated in the summary, "The Moth" is a female jewel thief but there is no plot twist or device here to interest anyone, cinephile or not. In fact, it is devoid of suspense and substance and it is hard to tell if it is just a poor drama or an unfunny comedy. I bought it from Alpha Video and it is not their fault it is an inferior motion picture. They probably have never seen it, and I wish I could say the same. With luck, this will be the only review ever posted for "The Moth". Hate to think someone else got stuck with this dog of a film. Little care was taken in the production of this picture and it spoils the viewers' enjoyment.

Heiress Sally O'Neil has spent so much money, trustee Wilfred Lucas tells her, she has only $300 for the rest of the year. In addition, her half-naked dancing at a party the police raided has hit the front pages of the tabloids. To lie low, she goes to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. On the train, she meets Rae Dagget, an exotic dancer also heading thither. Lucas has engineer Paul Page follow Miss O'Neil to keep an eye on her, and to generally annoy her. He makes friends with policeman Fred Kelsey, who's following Miss Dagget; apparently she does more than dance.

Miss O'Neil manages to speak with almost all of her Joisey City accent suppressed -- or perhaps I've been looking at too many Yolande Donlan movies recently -- and there is some nice footage of the Mardi Gras in progress. Fred Newmeyer's direction doesn't take much advantage of the situations to be funny, except for Lucas' harassed expressions. It loudly suggests that his credit as a director of Harold Lloyd comedies was more a matter of Lloyd's modesty than Newmeyer's abilities. The performers all do creditable jobs, but as in many a Poverty Row production, the result is more interesting for possibilities than the execution.

In "The Moth", Sally O'Neil plays Diana Wyman. Wyman is a spoiled brat living off an inheritance. However, instead of using the money slowly or with common sense, she blows it on booze, wild parties and the like. Because of this, she's out of money for the year--and she still has seven more months to go. So how does she deal with this? She goes off on a binge and is caught by the police doing some sort of lewd dance. Later, after stomping off and informing her guardian that she can 'take care of herself', she runs off to New Orleans to party at the Mardi Gras! Now all this is during the height of the Depression--and I wonder how audiences of the day felt as they watched this completely self- absorbed brat on her adventures.

On the way to New Orleans, Diana spots a man who is following her and she assumes he's a detective hired by her guardian. At the same time, a notorious criminal, 'the Moth', is being followed by a detective. The pair of women end up becoming friends and hang out together in New Orleans--and I really couldn't have cared less about their adventures or about Diana!

The film is not just badly written but it presents a leading lady so horrid that you didn't care about her budding romance later in the film- -you just wanted to see her run over by a bus! Not enjoyable in the least.