The Leech Woman (1960)

In this Universal Sci-Fi drama, Dr. Paul Talbot (Phillip Terry) is an endocrinologist that spends most of his time with his experiments; ignoring his wife June (Coleen Gray), since she no longer is young and beautiful. A very old African woman Mala (Estelle Hemsley) enters his office claiming she is over a hundred years old and knows the way to reverse the aging process. Talbot convinces his wife to take a trip to Africa, not knowing she is to be the subject of an ultimate experiment. The safari to the dark continent proves to be more dangerous than the doctor could imagine.This movie is based on a story by Francis Rosenwald and Ben Pivar; directed by Edward Dein. Other players include: Grant Williams, John Van Dreelen, Gloria Talbott and features Kim Hamilton as the young Mala.

The Leech Woman is a depressing and turgid low budget melodrama. It reminds me of a lot of English movies in the fact that none of the characters have any redeeming qualities whatsoever. Mala lures Doctor Paul and June with a sample of the precious "naipe" and fully intends to kill them after granting June one last night of beauty. Dr. Paul is a smug, callous creep who cons his aging, alcoholic and mentally unstable wife into not divorcing him so he can use her as his guinea pig. June has absolutely no moral qualms about killing men to get their even more precious pineal juice; the secret ingredient that keeps her young and desirable. Neil, their lawyer, is engaged to Sally, Dr. Paul's nurse, but he's instantly ready to dump her after getting a load of the rejuvenated June. Sally thinks that it's entirely appropriate to pull a gun on June and threaten her with her life in order to hold on to a man who apparently feels no real commitment to their looming marriage. And of course the hired African guide is all set to settle in with the restored June until she reverts to an aged nutball, upon which he flees and abandons her in the jungle. Sounds like a bunch you'd want to waste 90 minutes of your life with, eh? About the "special effects". Nifty? Not! There are puffs of dry ice smoke and Ms. Gray's old age make-up is a nylon stocking pulled over her head that creates wrinkles where it is bunched up around her neck! Estelle Hemsley as the ancient Mala looks like she's had oatmeal sprayed all over her face. Only the MST3K version is really worth a look.

*Spoiler/plot- 1960, An unhappy wife of an obsessed endocrinologist gets involved in his search for a youth drug when an 140 years old African woman seeks out the doctor to get money to return to her African home when she reveals her secret of youth. The doctor and wife go to Africa and learn the secret, but the wife kills her husband and multiple people to stay young when the widow comes home to the US.*Special Stars- Colleen Gray, Grant Wiliams *Theme- Be careful what you wish for, you might not like it.*Based on- Doctor Jeckle and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, Fountain of Youth myths *Trivia/location/goofs- ONLINE. This film is interesting in its attempt to take the story from urban US cities traveling into the 'darkest' remote parts of Africa and back. Continuity problem: The file footage shows several different well known African tribal dances of the era, but are unrelated tribes.*Emotion- A fun 50's B-movie romp from Universal Studios consisting of an interesting plot involving 50's cheesecake pin-up shots, some dramatic moral issues and interesting geographic location footage.

This movie has gotten a bad rap, I think mainly because of the inane title. It conjures up a ridiculous image of a giant leech with a purse and high heels on. This movie is actually pretty good, given it's low budget. Coleen Gray, a very pretty and capable actress in her day, gives a great performance as June Talbot, the alcoholic, middle aged woman married to Dr. Paul Talbott (portrayed as a total heel by Phillip Terry, better known as Joan Crawford's 4th husband). Dr. Talbott is a scientist who is trying to find a serum to counter aging and is willing to sacrifice his wife in order to find the answer. The performances by Gray and Terry are solid, as is Gloria Talbott who plays Dr. Talbott's assistant and Grant Williams, Dr. Talbott's lawyer and Gloria's boyfriend who falls under the spell of "The Leech Woman". Estelle Hemsley is also good as an old African woman who looks like a human prune and offers to show the good doctor the secret to turn back the effects of aging, for a very steep price, of course. I thought the make up of the Leech Woman was very affective, pretty scary stuff for it's day. Don't let the title of this movie keep you from watching...it's very entertaining, from start to finish.