Roadhouse Girl

Gas station owner Leslie Dwyer hires drifter Maxwell Reed. He also mistreats his young wife, Sandra Dorne. Miss Dorne turns to Reed for comfort, but when Dwyer catches them together, there's an accident and Dwyer winds up dead.

Sounds like THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RING TWICE? Yes, it's very much that, if you can accept smarmy, pompadoured Reed in place of John Garfield. Certainly Miss Dorne is far trashier than Lana Turner seemed to me. The movie is hindered by its cheap production values -- the titles are displayed over a light concrete road, making them difficult to read. Geoffrey Faithfull's cinematography, though, is first rate.

Wolf Rilla made an extraordinary directorial debut with this nihilistic piece of low life which most commentators have compared to 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' but actually more resembles 'Ossessione'.

Leslie Dwyer is meaner and more dictatorial than the husband usually is, Sandra Dorne just a spoilt child with terrible taste in men; and no prizes for guessing which side Vida Hope bats for.

Directed and scripted by Wolf Rilla, who later came into his own with Village of the Damned. He clearly has not mastered either directing or writing at this point. Scenes are awkward and the script....well, the script. Rilla often has a character repeat the same line or idea multiple times. You never really see this in a film and it came off as amateurish at first. When i thought about it, it actually was quite realistic. That's how folks often speak "in real life". Now, was it planned? Who knows? Regardless, it's interesting.

The acting is questionable as well. Marilyn's maid (who appears to be in love with Marilyn) never raises her voice. It comes off as a bit odd....as does Tom's acting. Again, I'm not sure what to make of it.

If you're a big noir fan, it's worth a look. Otherwise, pass.

This low budget British film is a version of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, about adultery, passion, a love triangle, and murder, all set around that most British of locations, an independent garage. An interesting cast go through the motions here although it's fair to say that the constraints of the budget mean that the film never really excites or innovates and instead sort of just plods along.

It doesn't help that we've seen this age-old story play out time and again. Maxwell Reed (BLACKOUT) is the heartthrob hero, a drifter who finds employment at the hands of a bad-tempered mechanic (Leslie Dwyer, great but underutilised in a character role). He soon falls for the comely charms of Dwyer's wife, Sandra Dorne, who is a Diana Dors-alike and not a bad actress at all. You can guess the rest of the story, but fun is added from Ferdy Mayne's stalwart suitor and the chance to see Kenneth Connor in a bit part. Although MARILYN is entirely devoid of originality, it's a relatively watchable little piece with plenty of character work going on.

(1953) Marilyn/ Roadhouse Girl CRIME DRAMA

Written and directed by Wolf Rilla that has Tom Price (Maxwell Reed) looking for a job, and his boss, George Saunders (Leslie Dwyer) employs him as a mechanic. Meanwhile, George's trophy wife, Marilyn Saunders (Sandra Dorne) is dancing with Rosie inside the diner until her husband comes in and pulls the plug. It appears he not only owns the gas station but that he also the small diner that came along with it. George is also a penny pincher and controls even his own wife's finances, and during one of their arguments he even sends two two Quid to her dad each month. Blowing George's top is when Marilyn is seen dancing with George's new hire, Tom. And as a result he kicks everyone out of the cafe and closes it early before he scolds her some more. And when she expresses about traveling to London, he would either ignore and abandons her, leaving her and Tom to mingle some more. The situation becomes complicated is when Marilyn's husband, George comes home early, only catch his wife and Tom frolicking in his room, and he clocks him one as soon as her husband wants to put his hands on her.

If anyone were to watch this should be able to recognize the set up is almost identical to "The Postman Always Rings Twice" with the difference is that the older husband, George is kind of a control freak, extremely jealous and controlling of his own wife, Marilyn.