THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER

US, 1956, 93 minutes, Colour.
Jane Russell, Agnes Moorhead, Richard Egan, Joan Leslie.
Directed by Raoul Walsh.

The Revolt of Mamie Stover is an entertaining but slight Jane Russell vehicle of the '50s. It is reminiscent of From Here to Eternity. However, the film indicates the censorship questions of the '50s - the plot is quite bowdlerised. Mamie Stover becomes an innocent dance hostess rather than a prostitute. The film highlights the problems of treating some subjects realistically at that period.

The film has lavish 20th. century Fox production values, Hawaiian settings, Cinemascope. The film was directed by Raoul Walsh - a veteran of action films from the silent period to many Warner Bros. actioners of the '30s and '40s.

1. An entertaining '50s story? The memories of World War Two? American style - dreams. money success? Money and morality? Romance?

2. Production values: Cinemascope photography, San Francisco, Hawaiian locations? The impact of the Pearl Harbor attack (more successful than in most films)? The sleazy atmosphere of Mamie Stover's world? Musical score? Jane Russell's songs?

3. The title and the focus on Mamie Stover, good-time girl, kicked out of San Francisco, on the move. her background in the South? Her work ad a dance-hall hostess - and the indications of euphemisms for prostitute? Her life at the bar? Dance-hall hostess? Her dream for money, relationship with Jim and its ups and downs, with Bertha. her success and failure? Her stances against those who impose themselves on her?

4. The portrait of Mamie Stover - good-time girl, on the boat, her hopes, going to her friend, working for Bertha and Harry, the routines of the bar, the friendship with Jimmy? The war and her buying up property, her decision to stay with Bertha and the money coming in, letters to Jimmy. the break-up of their relationship? The help from the military and her becoming high society? Her decision to return to San Francisco - and giving her money away? Her songs, glamour?

5. Jimmy as a writer, on the boat, his girlfriend. house on the hill, not wanting to meet Mamie, going to her, fascinated, offering her alternatives, his joining the army, Pearl Harbor, being wounded, the return and his disillusionment, letting her go?

6. Harry as the tough, his brutality with the girls, the attack on Mamie. the military fighting him, his being dismissed by Bertha?

7. A blonde Agnes Moorehead as tough Bertha, her memories, suspicions, running the bar, the rules, the deals with Mamie, profit?

8. The aristocratic world represented by Jim's girlfriend. country clubs, golf clubs? The contrast with the girls at the bar? Their regimented life?

9. The outbreak of the war, the impact of Pearl Harbor, money speculations and deals, soldiers away from home with the girls?

10. A credible resolution of the film? Mamie's return? Giving the money away? The moral stances of the '50s?