Jail Bait (1954)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Pretty Good

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

'Jail Bait' is somewhat lesser known Ed Wood 's movie. Probably because it is slightly better than his most famous works. The dialogue is ridiculously written and actors chewing themselves through the silly lines thus destroying acting with every scene. Weird jump cuts in an inappropriate moments that doesn't add anything to scene but just demolishing the flow of it. 'Jail Bait' has much more coherent story line and consistent script than we are used from Ed Wood movie. That can be associated to co-writer Alex Gordon (who also produced couple of Roger Corman's movies). Thanks to tight writing 'Jail Bait' is more serious in tone and offers less unintentional comedy and as that it just stays a badly made film-noir, but stands as 'best' film directed by infamous Ed Wood.The film's score with its pseudo flamenco guitar and obnoxious piano pounding takes off lot of tension from several scenes and adds some weird atmosphere to the movie. The mood of otherworldly is enhanced by that, that all the action takes place at night time and we see California without sunshine - dark and murky place instead of bright scenery we are used to.'Jail Bait' has its charm and it is entertaining to watch wooden actors sleepwalking through bad dialogue and unbelievable procedures (plastic surgery done on the living room sofa without almost no medical equipment). The viewer also gets awarded with nice ending twist. Not quite Ed Wood at his best, but more at his 'best'.

Yes. 1954's "Jail Bait" (with its cardboard sets, its poverty-row production values, its cheap atmosphere, etc., etc.) is a perfect example of cinematic ineptitude like no other - But, hey, that's because it's an Ed Wood picture (which, pretty much, explains everything). And being an Ed Wood production, I don't think that it could (or should) be any other way.Apparently inspired by the TV show "Dragnet", within the first 10 minutes of Jail Bait's dry and clumsy story of murder, robbery and plastic surgery miracles, you'll be glad to know that this film's running time is only a mere 70 minutes. So having to endure the unbearable is over soon enough.One notable detail about Jail Bait is that it co-starred the 28-year-old "Mr. Universe", bodybuilder Steve Reeves, as Lt. Bob Lawrence, in one of his first screen-roles. 4 years later Reeves would go on to star as Hercules and instantly become one of filmdom's most famous bronzed gods.All-in-all - Regardless of this film's low, 3-star rating (which is all it deserves), I still think it's worth a view purely from a nostalgic standpoint.

None of Ed Wood Jnr's movies are not what I deem great, however I also don't consider any of them among the worst movies of all time or him the worst director. There are better written, made and acted movies out there, but no matter how bad they are they are kind of like guilty pleasures. I do prefer Plan 9 from Outer Space, Bride of the Monster and Glen and Glenda over Jail Bait, but Jail Bait is at least better than Night of the Ghouls, Orgy of the Dead and especially The Sinister Urge. That is my opinion of course. The ending is huge fun, obvious but it does have to be seen to be believed. Jail Bait while having a lot of continuity errors is also one of Wood's better-looking movies, the camera work is not as static and the sets not as wobbly. There is much that is really terrible though, especially the music which is very repetitive and cheesy, it also gets far too much very quickly. The dialogue is truly horrendous as well, though I admit I did bust a gut from laughing at some of the howlers. The story is thankfully more coherent than the likes of Orgy of the Dead and also not as deadly dull as The Sinister Urge, however it is rather sluggish and often illogical, the ending is the highlight and where things really liven up. The acting is really amateurish as well, the best is Herbert Rawlinson while the rest are as stiff as a robot. Steve Reeves does have sex appeal, but it doesn't disguise his very bland acting or that his shirtless scene felt out of place. In conclusion, terrible but somewhat entertaining. Even more entertaining actually is the facts behind the movie, they make for a fascinating read. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Once upon a time we could take for granted the comforting homilies surrounding the wretched career of Edward D. Wood, Jr. In the 70s, his ghost wore the Golden Turkey crown unchallenged.Fast forward 30 or so years. The emergence of Home Video has literally thrown thousands of movies produced on similar budgets from that same time period in our lap. In comparison to his contemporaries, Ed's work doesn't look bad. Viewing Jail Bait from a pristine DVD transfer: the camera work, the lighting, editing, sound, script structure, blocking, use of location shooting - nothing glaringly inept about any of it. It is, in fact, above average for it's budget. Bride of the Monster would show even more improvement.Jail Bait is certainly not as inspired as Plan 9 or Glen or Glenda, but it is more technically assured than similar genre efforts directed by Hollywood veterans like William Beaudine for Monogram. It can sit on par with a decent television drama of the day and is more entertaining than the claptrap MGM released that year.As for the Cotton Watts and Chick sequence - this looks like it may have been some footage hacked from a completely different production that no one wanted. Ed probably acquired it for free and edited it in to pad the running time. It was common for budget-minded producers to chop-in all kinds of stock footage and even create subplots out of garbage swept from the cutting room floor.