Any film with a name such as "Female Jungle," must be cheesy stuff. If you love camp, then this film could possibly be good for you.
The story is a murder mystery-a blond bombshell of a movie star Monica Madison (Eve Brent) is strangled on the street after leaving a nightclub. Who was responsible?
Two obligatory red herrings are trotted out. First tough guy in real life Laurence Tierney as Detective Sgt. Jack Stevens, intoxicated and present right before the murder takes place. Stevens doesn't even know if he did it or not having been so inebriated but convinces his supervisor to work the case after sobering up.
But Tierney's role takes a back seat to several other players who have more substantial parts in the proceedings.
Kathleen Crowley plays Peggy, a waitress at the club where Madison was last scene alive. She has a ne'er-do-well husband Alex (Burt Kaiser), a down and out sketch artist who freelances drawing caricatures for whomever will pay him.
Alex has been two-timing Peggy, going out with Candy (an apparent prostitute) played by Jayne Mansfield in her first film role.
Enter Red Herrring #2: gossip columnist Claude Almstead (an urbane John Carradine). Don't ask me why Peggy agrees to have a drink with him and return to his house in the middle of the night after having a bad argument with Alex.
Eventually it's revealed that Alex was blackmailing Madison and ends up cut down by the cops. The two red herrings are cleared. End of story.
The making of the film was more interesting than the film itself. The director and film crew had six days to shoot it. Crowley was late one day claiming she had been raped and a double had to be conscripted to fill in for some of the action scenes. The beneficiary was Mansfield who had her part expanded because of Crowley's absence.
Shot completely at night, Female Jungle decidedly falls under the appellation of film noir. The plot is a bit convoluted and cinematography indistinctive. The performances are a mixed bag, but I suppose worth viewing once as there are a few players of note in the cast.
The story is a murder mystery-a blond bombshell of a movie star Monica Madison (Eve Brent) is strangled on the street after leaving a nightclub. Who was responsible?
Two obligatory red herrings are trotted out. First tough guy in real life Laurence Tierney as Detective Sgt. Jack Stevens, intoxicated and present right before the murder takes place. Stevens doesn't even know if he did it or not having been so inebriated but convinces his supervisor to work the case after sobering up.
But Tierney's role takes a back seat to several other players who have more substantial parts in the proceedings.
Kathleen Crowley plays Peggy, a waitress at the club where Madison was last scene alive. She has a ne'er-do-well husband Alex (Burt Kaiser), a down and out sketch artist who freelances drawing caricatures for whomever will pay him.
Alex has been two-timing Peggy, going out with Candy (an apparent prostitute) played by Jayne Mansfield in her first film role.
Enter Red Herrring #2: gossip columnist Claude Almstead (an urbane John Carradine). Don't ask me why Peggy agrees to have a drink with him and return to his house in the middle of the night after having a bad argument with Alex.
Eventually it's revealed that Alex was blackmailing Madison and ends up cut down by the cops. The two red herrings are cleared. End of story.
The making of the film was more interesting than the film itself. The director and film crew had six days to shoot it. Crowley was late one day claiming she had been raped and a double had to be conscripted to fill in for some of the action scenes. The beneficiary was Mansfield who had her part expanded because of Crowley's absence.
Shot completely at night, Female Jungle decidedly falls under the appellation of film noir. The plot is a bit convoluted and cinematography indistinctive. The performances are a mixed bag, but I suppose worth viewing once as there are a few players of note in the cast.