A Cold Wind in August

Kael in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," Waters in (I think) "Crackpot." Ever since I saw Kael's comment (circa 1970), I've wanted to see this. I finally tracked down a DVD pirated from TBS. And it was worth the wait. Yes, it's florid and overstated, but so is opera, and this is the film equivalent of "Traviata": older, "experienced" woman, young man who can't deal with her experience. It reminded me of "Who Killed Teddy Bear?" in that it's another film that is much better than it should be. I can't really say that Albright gives a good performance, but it is a great one, at least in its impact. Her lack of depth feels right for this character, more right than a more subtle performance would have been. It's a paradox of this kind of film.

The film is also surprising frank for 1961. No euphemisms here. Even the boy's father understands what's going on, and is amazingly understanding about it. It's adult, not just in its subject matter, but in its refusal to be coy about it.

I do want to point out one problem with the film. Scott Marlowe's character is supposed to be 17, but Marlowe was about 29 when he made this. Albright was only 7 years older, so you don't get the effect of the age difference, and Marlowe just feels too old to be so innocent. But it's not a killer problem.

Lola Albriight had a way about her. Physically, she wasn't unlike the two other most intriguing second-string sex symbols of the period, Angie Dickinson and Sheree North. But what set Albright apart from all the rest was her humor. Humor in a woman is rarely considered as seductive a quality as it is in a man, with L.A., however, it happened to be the case. And what made her (and it) so truly special was that as an actress she made the audience see that it was a defense mechanism for her character as well - a protection against her deepest, darkest emotions.

This is what made her the most smoking hot of Hollywood's post-WW II actresses. And the most criminally under-utilized. And underrated.

Rating: The Movie gets a 6

In her best role: L.A.'s contribution is a 10 for all time.

Composite: 7.5

Lola, if you're out there, I hope you're listening.

I shall never forget my excitement at first viewing this probably never revived film. Scott Marlowe and Lola Albright were both excellent.There was a general feeling around New York that we were seeing the birth of a new star in Scott Marlowe and that Lola Albright was definitely moving out of TV detective films into a much higher bracket.Instead the director moved into a lifetime of steady but highly inconsistent popular TV productions and Marlowe made only one more film, which had virtually no distribution, before disappearing for over a decade.

I admit this low budget effort,at times,strives too hard for slice of life realism. There is a really awful scene with Albright, her older boyfriend and a neighbor where everybody tries so hard to make it look as if they were not acting that they don't.

But that is neither here nor there.I can not remember a Spring-September romance that carried more impact.That the gritty protagonists are an Italian-American street kid and a stripper adds to the incredible and unexpected poignancy of the situation.Too bad Marlowe and Albright weren't allowed to shoot five more when they were on a hot winning streak but they needed only one such performance to insure that some younger generation will feel the answering cord.This should do really well on DVD reissue and high time.

This is Lola Albright's all- time greatest work. It is in fact, a work of B-movie brilliance...an art masterpiece if there ever was one. Lola Albright gave the best performance of her career in this movie about the seduction of a younger man. She is at all times believable and convincing...a stripper who can be loving and kind one moment, and a pleasure-seeking, self-centered older woman the next. To be honest, when she is seen on stage in a devil's costume, I thought that the rug was pulled out from beneath me. Talk about provocative, alluring, and extremely beautiful, Lola Albright is "all of the above" and then some. This movie should go down as one of the very best B movies of the 20th century...a title that it justly deserves.

Losing herself in alcohol and New York City, sexy stripper Lola Albright (as Iris Hartford) gets hotter than hot after her air conditioner "craps out" in the middle of summer. When seventeen-year-old Scott Marlowe (as Vito Perugino), the superintendence's handsome Italian son, is sent to fix her busted switch, Ms. Albright seduces him with liquor and lipstick. The couple enjoy their "older woman, younger man" romance, but Albright keeps her "dirty" profession on the back burner. Mr. Marlowe thinks she's a model or actress. All goes well until Albright accepts a stripping job from one of her ex-husbands. Cued in by a streetwise pal, Marlowe goes to see his lover swivel her bikini-clad hips for a mob of horny old men...

The "strip show" makes Marlowe reconsider his feelings for Albright, but she wants to keep "going steady" with the younger man. This ridiculous story is strengthened by the fact that the co-stars play it straight. Albright is sexy and serious, even when exclaiming lines like, "I want him, I want my baby!" Marlowe is clearly too old for the part, but stays in character. The unbelievable "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" teenager Skip Young (as Al) actually makes Marlowe look younger. There are sensitive supporting performances from Herschel Bernardi as one of her castaways, and Joe DeSantis as his understanding papa. Debuting director Alexander Singer and cameraman Floyd Crosby give "A Cold Wind in August" a fresh look.

******* A Cold Wind in August (7/26/61) Alexander Singer ~ Lola Albright, Scott Marlowe, Herschel Bernardi, Joe DeSantis