Womaneater (1959)

I love this movie so much

Simply Perfect

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

For those of you wondering whether Pittsburgh-born beauty Marpessa Dawn ever made another film besides 1959's classic "Black Orpheus," here is your answer. She appeared two years earlier, as an Amazonian native at the opening of "Womaneater," being sacrificed to a carnivorous tree. That tree is stolen by English scientist George Coulouris, who finds it necessary to keep this houseplant well fed with curvaceous lassies in order to harvest the tree's life-giving sap. Things get a bit complicated, however, when he falls in love with his new housekeeper, Vera Day... This picture is certainly pretty bad, objectively speaking, but I've gotta tell you, I've seen a lot worse. The film looks like it cost around 200 pounds to make (although it probably cost twice as much!), and has a tawdry, sleazy aura hanging over it, but the acting isn't all that atrocious, the script doesn't waste our time with unnecessaries (the whole thing is a scant 70 minutes long), and Vera Day, almost looking here like a poor man's Anne Francis, is pretty good as the bird in distress. The killer plant itself is certainly nowhere near as scary as those apple trees in "The Wizard of Oz," however. IMDb viewers looking for a better killer-plant flick should investigate "Day of the Triffids" (1963); even the hilarious 1960 "Little Shop of Horrors" offers more shocks and entertainment value. "Womaneater" (you've gotta love that title!) is decidedly a bargain basement affair; I suppose the producer's name, Guido Coen (!), should have tipped me off. And speaking of tips, potential viewers should know that this picture DOES offer two salient high points: Vera Day looks absolutely smashing in her 1950s-style bullet bra!

I suppose it is a banal observation that movies both reflect and perpetuated stereotypes.And we do have stereotypes here, as with all of this era and kind.But watching this reminded me of a more subtle and interesting phenomenon. The political dialog in the US (and likely elsewhere) is dominated by the successful party's mastery of the cinematic narrative. We just cannot help ourselves; we like to be shown that the world is so.But once you start that locomotive going, you inherit ALL the baggage of the cinematic narrative, Vincent Price comes uninvited with your John Wayne. This has nothing at all to do with conservative values; it is just a result of adopting the movie world as the basis for your beliefs.This is the purest example I know of a huge class of similar movies. In this movie, the scientist is a madman whose "science" has no resemble to real science. Instead, he has stolen a ritual and plant from Africa, with the unavoidable association with the dark race and inexplicable VooDoo.This scientist doesn't mind a bit "saving life by taking life," a catchphrase that is in my newspapers every day. And it is all driven by sex: he is replacing his aged mistress by a younger model. A torpedo bra of course and chirpy British accent denote that she really is dumb. But get this, she was an "exotic dancer" at a carnival. She, in fact, would be representative of the over half of the US population that believes in astrology and nearly half that believes in creationism.I can understand this thread of influence and consequence when it applies to nuclear energy: the US makes and uses a bomb, many, many movies are made showing the evil side. And we end up with a public that has an unnatural fear of all things radioactive.But this thread is more interesting and profound and has stifled stem cell research in the US.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

This is an enjoyable British 50's sci-fi film. More knowledgeable buffs have exhausted the actor references, so let me suffice to say that this film is slow, even by 50's standards, and a tad disjointed. But if you're interested in that good old quaint 50's vision of horror, then it's definitely worth a gander. Funny carnival scenes and several London street scenes from that era, including double decker buses advertising cream crackers and Van Heusen shirts. The whole intro in the jungle is almost needless, as it is never quite explained that the doctor brings back the native with him, who willingly stays with him for years even though we learn later (minor SPOILER) that he's not really all that fond of him. Seems kind of a long playout for a joke, to me. And the scenes of the girls being hypnotized by the wild and uneven bongo playing of said heathen were hard to swallow, especially as they seem to wake up right before they are pushed into the "Womaneater" and start screaming and resisting. And of course there's the silly looking Womaneater tree, comparable to the invading pickle in "It conquered the World." (Hence my catchy title.) So - although most of you won't find this little ditty at your local 'grope and mope'(Blockbuster), if you do run into it, AND you like 50's movies for what they were - BY ALL MEANS watch this movie.

Ever seen an exciting film about people-eating trees? Well this is not it. The carnivorous tree doesn't really perform the title action very often and looks like a ratty leftover from some high-school production of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Lots of talk takes up the 71-minute running time and makes a good idea into a real drag of a film.