Adam Baran

In anticipation of Jinx! screening at the LA Shorts Film Festival (screening Thursday, September 6th at 3:15PM www.lashortsfest.com) I thought I would present a bunch of short clips from movies that spring to mind whenever I think of LA. Come to think of it - once you watch these clips, you might understand why I’m so nervous about going!

My main view of LA seems to be formed by 60’s exploitation/drug freakout movies, none more rich, strange, and completely beyond camp as the absurd Lana Turner melodrama The Big Cube. I first saw this movie after reading that Charles Busch used this film for inspiration for the scene in Die Mommie Die where Angela’s kids dose her with acid to find out the truth about her identity. But that film, with all it’s poison laced suppositories, flying scissors, and Jason Priestley’s gay sex scene, is nowhere near as absurd as The Big Cube, which has a plot that goes like this: Lana Turner is a famous actress, Adriana Roman, who marries a rich guy with a Swedish (I think) daughter, Bibi. When the husband dies, Bibi blames Lana, and when she meets a nefarious lowlife LSD dealer (George Chakiris), the two cook up a plan to spike (or “dose,” as was the lingo) Lana’s tea, sending her into freakouts so severe that she eventually goes insane, leaving them with access to her inherited fortune.

In the scene below we have the daughter’s first introduction to the Acid club, and a subsequent bit where a guy does his rival’s drink with LSD.

Here’s the scene where Bibi’s friends come over and put on an impromptu strip show - don’t you feel bad for the poor queen who can’t even finish his act???

I always expect to see stuff like this when I go to LA, though it’s usually way more sedate, unfortunately. Who knows - maybe this time will be the time?

I should mention that things get even weirder later on in The Big Cube, when daughter Bibi regrets sending Lana’s character to the nutbarn, and initiates a plan to help her regain her sanity. This involves casting Lana as herself in a play that’s actually based on the events that made Lana crazy, so that she can repeat her past experiences, and this can jog her memory, and she can regain her sanity! It freaks me out too!!!

The film was Lana’s follow up to the equally melodramatic Madame X, and shows her towards the end of her Hollywood run. She made few Hollywood films after that, perhaps sensing that the new wave that would soon emerge in the early 70’s in Hollywood wouldn’t have much room for her two special talents. Lana does her best, but, you can tell she sorta had to take what she could at this point - ten years after her triumph in Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life. In any case, the film wasn’t available on VHS or DVD for many years, until finally it came out this year included in the Cult Camp Classics Volume 2 DVD collection (along with Trog! and Caged). You can also buy it just on it’s own, but it’s a good value for those two other camp delights.

Buy It Here!

Stay Tuned for Part 2!