The Female Animal

The Female Animal is a 1958 American CinemaScope film noir drama film directed by Harry Keller starring Hedy Lamarr, Jane Powell, Jan Sterling and George Nader.

Although she lived until 2000, this was Lamarr's final film in a Hollywood career of nearly 30 years.

Plot

Movie star Vanessa Windsor is nearly struck by a camera on the set, saved at the last second by Chris Farley, a handsome extra. A cut on his arm is attended to and Vanessa invites him to dinner at her Malibu beach home, where she clearly has designs on him for a night of romance.

Their evening is interrupted by a message that Vanessa's grown daughter, Penny, is sick. Vanessa rushes to her only to find that Penny is drunk, not ill. A hostile Penny accuses her mother of adopting her simply for the publicity.

Vanessa decides to offer Chris a job as caretaker at the beach house. He is considering an offer from a friend, Hank Lopez, to shoot a film in Mexico, but the job pays nothing, so Chris accepts Vanessa's offer instead. In time, they become lovers as well.

Not knowing who she is, Chris comes upon Penny being physically manhandled by a date. Chris punches the man and takes a tipsy Penny back to the beach house. She doesn't indicate any recognition of the home as her mother's. Penny is so drunk that Chris places her under a shower, whereupon she kisses him.

Vanessa begins having Chris as her escort in public, but endures disapproving looks as well as snide remarks from Lily Frayne, another aging actress out with a younger man. Chris resents being a kept man and Vanessa buying him a half-dozen new suits. He decides to do the film in Mexico, but by now, after Penny reveals her true identity, he ends up having a fling with her and becomes unsure what to do.

A jealous Vanessa catches him speaking with Penny and sarcastically congratulates him on landing both mother and daughter. A depressed Vanessa later tries to kill herself. Chris rescues her again and she assures him that she will not try it again, but once he leaves, she sobs into her pillow.

Cast

• Hedy Lamarr as Vanessa Windsor
• Jane Powell as Penny Windsor
• Jan Sterling as Lily Frayne
• George Nader as Chris Farley
• Jerry Paris as Hank Galvez (not Lopez)
• Gregg Palmer as Piggy
• Mabel Albertson as Irma Jones
• James Gleason as Tom Maloney
• Richard H. Cutting as Mr. John Ramsay
• Ann Doran as Nurse
• Yvonne Peattie as Hairdresser
• Max Showalter as Charlie Grant (as Casey Adams)
• Douglas Evans as Al The Director
• Aram Katcher as Mischa Boroff

Trivia

The Female Animal was the "A" picture that was distributed as a double-bill with the "B" picture being Orson Welles's Touch of Evil.

External links

• The Female Animal on IMDb
• The Female Animal at TCMDB