TEENAGE DOLL (1957)
Director: Roger Corman
Image/Wade Williams Collection

This is director Roger Corman's early attempt at a "Juvenile Delinquent" (or J.D.) film, very popular with teen drive-in goers of the 50s. Financially aided by the infamous Woolner Brothers and written by Charles B. Griffith (BUCKET OF BLOOD, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS), this fast-paced hunk of sleaze was shot in under 10 days!

June Kenney plays Barbara, the "teenage doll" of the title. She's basically a good girl, but gets involved with a bunch of tough hoodlums. Barbara accidentally is suspected of murdering a female member of a gang called The Vandals, so Hel (Fay Spain) and her henchgirls chase her all around town. Barbara runs to her punk part-time boyfriend (John Brinkley)--who hides out with his pals under a car graveyard--for protection, setting the stage for the expected climactic rumble.

Running just over an hour, TEENAGE DOLL is filled with fascinating, rather trashy incidents that lead up to the finale, mainly concerning the girl gang member's home life. One girl's disehveled little sister is left in a dark messy kitchen with nothing to eat but crackers, another girl sees her degenerate father bringing home different adolescent chicks home every night ("This place looks like the revolving door of the ladies room at a bus station!"), and another girl is seen pinching her cop father's gun in the middle of the night, while he's snoozing away.

There are good performances by all, but look for a bevy of Corman regulars: WAR OF THE SATELITES star Richard Devon as a rain-coated detective who asks a suspect, "Alright what happened, why did ya kill her?"; Barboura Morris (THE TRIP) as an older working-class girl who sells out to her boss; and chunky Bruno VeSota as a sloshed murder witness.

Image's DVD of TEENAGE DOLL looks absolutely gorgeous for a cheap film of this vintage. The black and white transfer is crisp and clean, with great detail, and the mono sound also holds up very well. There are no extras (no liner notes) except for the original Allied Artists theatrical trailer ("Hellcats in tight pants, running in packs, hunting down any girl that dare defies their jungle code!"). Another winner from The Wade Williams Collection. (George R. Reis)

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