The Green-Eyed Blonde

I used to catch this film fairly regularly back in the days when local TV stations ran the Late Show, the Late-Late Show, the Omigosh Are YOU Still Up? Show etc. instead of infomercials (**sigh...**) "Gone With the Wind" it's not, but I found it surprisingly memorable anyway and would like to find it on VHS or DVD someday. a lot of the movies I saw in those days--well, I don't remember having seen them until I see them again on AMC or Turner, or on the bargain-basement video rack at Wal-Mart. for some reason, "The Green-Eyed Blonde" stuck (I can even remember the downbeat theme music!) I've never seen it in any company's video catalog, though... (***SIGH...***)

Susan Oliver's movie debut has her in a reform school, where the Jean Inness character is convinced that she and the other women in charge are just going through the motions, while Sally Brophy thinks they have to do something to save these young women. Meanwhile, we watch the young women in a script that pitches itself halfway between MADCHEN IN UNIFORM and LADY IN A CAGE, but without any sexuality or overt violence.

The script by Dalton Trumbo and Sally Stubblefield (who had worked in a reform school) makes the point that the inmates are still essentially children, even if they are hiding and caring for one of their babies. There's something unengaged about the performances, that distance the real issues. That may be deliberate, intended to reflect that the young women do not view the reform school as more than a waiting time, and they will re-enter the world with no change. If so, that makes this a tragedy, but it also means that there is no change, and hence no story.

The title to this film is odd, as it's NOT the story of one girl but of a group of teens who are incarcerated in a juvenile residential home. The title character is played by Susan Oliver....a 'teen' who was 25 at the time the film was released!

The story is an odd one as at first it seems like an exploitation film (the scene with 'Cuckoo' and the window is classic exploitation fodder) and then backs off from this. And, overall, I am not exactly sure what the message really was in this film. In fact, that there is no message...no moral...that does make the film unique...but also unsatisfying as well. An odd little film.

There is so much to say about this movie: that it is focused on teen pregnancy in a frank way that was never done in 1950s film or literature and portrays the teens in a respectful way, that it has black actresses treated as equal to everyone else in terms of character and a strong, positive black father character, that it addresses the mental health challenges of "troubled" teen girls, that it includes statutory rape by step fathers and on and on. Yes, it's a B movie and has all that comes with that: exaggerated performances, low rent production values and lots of stereotypes. The parents of the main character are almost too horrible and extreme to be believed - unless you are a social worker or teacher and then, yeah, you know these kind of people really do exist, even now (leaving a baby in the back seat of a car, referring to the baby as "it", and on and on). But it's extraordinarily thoughtful for 1957 - that is probably thanks to Dalton Trumbo. Not sure about the title, as this is Betsy's story, not "Green Eyes". Buddy's mom aversion to her son isn't condemned the way it would be in a movie now. The guide to infant care that the girls read from is hilarious - it always has an answer to every question! But be prepared for very, very disturbing behavior by "cuckoo" - if you are horrified by even the mention of animal abuse, don't watch this. As for the ending... no spoilers, but WHAT THE HELL?!?!

Provocative-for-the-time B-film, with a memorable performance by winsome Susan Oliver as a tough young woman in a woman's prison. This film is more watchable than most B/W B-films of the 1950s, and concludes with a gripping, shocking climax. Watch this on video as a fun escape/indulgence on a rainy Saturday afternoon with a steaming cup of Suisse Mocha...