Female Jungle
| Female Jungle | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster by Albert Kallis
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| Directed by | Bruno VeSota |
| Produced by | Burt Kaiser |
| Screenplay by | Burt Kaiser Bruno VeSota |
| Story by | Burt Kaiser |
| Starring |
Lawrence Tierney Kathleen Crowley John Carradine Jayne Mansfield Burt Kaiser |
| Music by | Nicholas Carras |
| Cinematography | Elwood Bredell |
| Edited by | Carl Pingitore |
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Production
company |
Bert Kaiser Productions
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| Distributed by | American Releasing Corporation (ARC) |
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Release date
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Running time
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73 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $49,000 |
Female Jungle is a 1955 black-and-white film noir directed by Bruno VeSota, featuring Lawrence Tierney, Kathleen Crowley, John Carradine, Jayne Mansfield, and Burt Kaiser. The production is notable for being Jayne Mansfield's first film; one of Lawrence Tierney's last before his comeback and the only American International Pictures entry into film noir.
A cop (Tierney) is suspected of killing a gorgeous film star. Since he was extremely drunk at the time, even he suspects that he did it.
The investigation leads him to Candy, an artist's mistress (Mansfield), as well as to a slimy Laura-type gossip columnist (John Carradine) who spent time with the woman that night and becomes the main suspect. But he also becomes a red herring when a third man is finally found to be the real killer.
Producer Burt Kaiser and director Bruno VeSota (directing his first film), both have roles in the film. In 1954, Kaiser unsuccessfully tried to sell the distribution rights to Paramount Pictures and Allied Artists before it was picked up by American Releasing Corporation (ARC), which later became American International Pictures.
It is rumored that Mansfield was paid $150 USD for her role in the film.
The movie was shot in six days. Kathleen Crowley was the lead; one day with half the film to finish she turned up to filming three hours late claiming she had been raped. The script was rewritten to build up the role played by Jayne Mansfield and additional scenes were shot involving a double for Crowley.
The movie was shown as a double feature with Roger Corman's The Oklahoma Woman in 1956 to ride on Mansfield's popularity which had risen dramatically due to her 20th Century Fox films released at the time.
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Wikipedia