Lorna (1964)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Absolutely the worst movie.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

After finding co- Writer/director/cinematography/editor/co-producer auteur Russ Meyer's fake "Mondo" doc Europe In The Raw to be a painfully slow movie to watch,I started to have serious regrets about having picked up a boxset of Meyer's films in the Christmas sales.Thankfully,a few days ago two fellow IMDb'ers started to tell me that I had something very special to look forward to in Meyer's next movie,which lead to me,initially half-heartedly,decide to take a special visit and meet Russ Meyer's Lorna.The plot:Trying to create a romantic mood on the night before their first wedding anniversary,Lorna asks her husband Jim if he can put his study books down,and instead get into bed with her.Putting the book down,Jim gets into bed and starts to tell Lorna about what he is expecting tomorrow to be like,when he goes back to work in the salt mines.Feeling that Jim is completely missing her hints,Lorna pushes him for some romance,which ends up making her feel more depressed then ever,due to the "action" only lasting 5 minutes!!.Waving goodbye to Jim as he sets off to work with two friends,Lorna decides to go for a calming walk in the woods,where she is suddenly grabbed by a stranger who slams her on the ground,and starts to pull her clothes off.Initially shocked with what is taking place,Lorna soon finds herself getting very excited due to the stranger showing her more passion than Jim has done all year.Feeling extremely lustful,Lorna takes the stranger to her house so that they can continue their passions there,whilst,after getting endlessly teased over how he is not having any "sleepless nights" from his two work buddies,Jim decides to finish work early,so that he can give the wife who he deeply loves an anniversary that she will never forget.View on the film:Shooting the film in crisp black & white,Russ Meyer unveils an astonishing new confidence and sense of pace which had only been previously hinted at,in his earlier silent films.Soaking the movie in a deep Film Noir atmosphere,Meyer uses Jim's salt mine workplace to create a feeling that the entire town is based in the middle of an isolated desert,whilst also using a number of well handled,long pov tracking shots to put the viewer right into the quick sand that all of the characters find themselves unwittingly trapped.Teaming up with another writer for the first time since his debut film,co-writer James Griffth (who also composed the movie's great rumbling score and plays the spooky "Man of God") creates a winning partnership with Meyer in striking an excellent balance between sharp Comedy moments,and murky Film Noir.Banned from being seen in the UK from 1965 until 1998,Meyer and James delightfully make almost every single character be entirely unlikeable,from Jim's two workmates attempting to get a girl agree to a "fun time",to Lorna being an icy dame who loves the feel of being near something dangerous and deadly.Whilst Meyer and James do treat,what is initially an assault on Lorna on a non-comedic way,the writers smartly use the ribbing that Jim gets from his work mates to give the movie some fine Comedy moments,whilst also unexpectedly using the comedic scenes as a way to really hit their brilliantly down beat ending at full force.Backed by a rugged performance from Mark Bradley as the stranger and a real "aw shucks" performance from James Rucker,the vivacious and sultry voiced Lorna Maitland gives a splendid performance as Femme Fatale Lorna.Looking beautiful naked against Meyer's B&W cinematography,Maitland shows herself to be far more than just a pretty face,by giving the character a reckless Film Noir edge,that goes from Lorna's eyes being lit up over doing something dangerous,to screaming in shock,as Lorna discovers that living on the wild side of Film Noir does not come without a deep cost.

Top notch Meyer with magnificent b/w photography, assured and vigorous editing and a super effective soundtrack. The presence of Lorna Maitland does nothing to distract but this is a movie about much more than DD breasts. It is far more about the very nature of man and woman. It is uncomfortable stuff with men delighting in humiliating and fighting each other and the possibility of getting the woman of their dreams. The rapes, both non consensual and vaguely consensual, turning romantic, are difficult but intrinsic to the flimsy, but oh so basic and believable storyline. The soothsayer and rather melodramatic ending may be a little over the top but this is a fine well told tale of human animals lusting and being lusted over. Sex, eating and dying, just about sums this up and it strikes such a basic chord, one is in awe at how simple Meyer has made it look.

Exploitative tale of rape, betrayal, and murder set in sordid shacks of the modern South. Incredibly endowed Lorna (Maitland) is wedded to straight-laced CPA-wannabe, but in the legal sense only. She meets up with an escaped convict (Hooper) who rapes her and makes her like it, but she eventually trots back to her man and receives some harsh treatment at the hands of misused garden tools. It all sounds pretty extreme, and it is, and carried off with unique style but sometimes hasty direction. Some lovely shots, brutal violence, and sexy Lorna add up to a cheezy, trashy feast. Not quite as good as the similar "Mudhoney", but much better than most of Meyer's 70s product.

Lorna Maitland was one of Meyer's rare "finds." Physically stunning but as easily engaged as was the earlier Monroe, one easily fantasizes a personal encounter with her. The river bathing scene, partially obscured by tree branches, makes you her willing voyeur; her eventual passionate response to the convict escapee who rapes her, tells you that you might also have your way with her should you ever somehow meet.I found the violence in the film to be gratuitous albeit realistic and disturbing; as in Cherry, Harry, and Raquel, a later Meyer (color) film, the viewer is torn from (his) fantasy of passion and plunged into anger and terror. Why Meyer felt he had to mix the two escapes me, but therefore, his films are doubly memorable; along with the river scene, the shotgun blast from under the hood of the old car is equally etched.Lorna Maitland, like Roberta Pedon of another genre, had a short stay in the limelight; with their early passing, they share a unique, cult-like icon status.