The Girl in Black Stockings (1957)

A party girl is murdered, and everyone at a Utah motel is a suspect.

Director:

Howard W. Koch

Writers:

Richard H. Landau (screenplay) (as Richard Landau), Peter Godfrey (story "Wanton Murder")

Stars:

Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, Mamie Van Doren

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lex Barker	...	David Hewson
Anne Bancroft	...	Beth Dixon
Mamie Van Doren	...	Harriet Ames
Ron Randell	...	Edmund Parry
Marie Windsor	...	Julia Parry
John Dehner	...	Sheriff Jess Holmes
John Holland	...	Norman Grant
Diana Van der Vlis	...	Louise Miles (as Diana Vandervlis)
Richard H. Cutting	...	Dr. John Aitkin (as Richard Cutting)
Larry Chance	...	Indian Joe
Gene O'Donnell	...	Joseph Felton
Gerald Frank	...	Frankie Pierce
Karl MacDonald	...	Deputy Fred
Norman Leavitt	...	Amos
Stuart Whitman	...	Prentiss

Storyline

Near a small Utah town, visiting lawyer David Hewson finds the slashed body of party girl Marcia Morgan, his fellow tenant at Parry Lodge. Sheriff Jess Holmes considers everyone at the motel a suspect, even owner Edmund Parry, a woman hater who is quadriplegic...or is he? While Holmes investigates and the suspects try to hide mutual fears, the killer strikes again...

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Plot Keywords:

serial murder | psychotronic film | blonde woman | woman wears fishnet stockings | motel | 

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Taglines:

One Will Die Tonight!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Completed in 1956, but not released until September 1957.

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Goofs

Felton says he's still on eastern time, 3 hours ahead. Utah is in mountain time, just 2 hours behind eastern.

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Quotes

Edmund Parry: Leave it on, Holmes. Be brief and to the point.
Sheriff Jess Holmes: Folks around say I couldn't talk less without being dead.
Edmund Parry: Well that's a consummation devoutly to be wished. I'll vote for it at the next election.

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Connections

Featured in Bikers, Blondes and Blood (1993)

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Soundtracks

Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550
(uncredited)
1st Movement (Molto Allegro)
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

User Reviews

One Of a Kind

This late fifties whodunit has some interesting credits. It was directed by the able and eclectic Howard Koch, and features three quite different actresses in major roles,--Mamie Van Doren, Anne Bancroft and Marie Windsor. Suave character man John Dehner is cast as the local lawman; ex-Tarzan Lex Barker is the male lead; Stuart Whitman and Dan Blocker have small roles; and Barker wrote the music score. This is the only movie I have ever seen that features a murder suspect who is a bitter, woman-hating man, psychosomatically paralyzed from the neck down, who can't even pour his own drinks or light his own cigarettes. Ron Randell plays him marvelously, and had the film been directed by Ingmar Bergman would surely have won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. I wouldn't quite call this movie trashy, but it has a trashy feel to it, as it comes across in some ways as a sort of Southwest version of Peyton Place crossed maybe with Anatomy Of a Murder, the small-town black and white mood of which it strangely anticipates. Everyone in this movie has a secret. The question is, whose secret is murder? The pacing isn't strong here, and the dialog is variable. William Margulies' photography is excellent, however; and the settings,--the motel resort and small desert town--are perfectly realized. There is a nice feeling for people whose lives have fallen just short of the big time, and who are angry about it. As a result, more than in most movies, everyone seems more than capable of being a killer. I especially like the sense of isolation in the film, and with it the edge of danger. As with so many crime pictures of its era, it seems to be trying to say something about American life, and how materialism and ambition are destroying it. With its acerbic invalid in one corner, and its muslceman in the other, and all the beautiful women gallivanting about and making life miserable for everyone, this one, with sharper writing and a sense of the absurd, might really have risen and become an Antonioni-like commentary on the American Dream. As it stands, it doesn't come close, though some of its characters and images linger in the mind long after its over.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 September 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Black Stockings

Filming Locations:

Kanab, Utah, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bel-Air Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1