Customer Reviews

Single Room Furnished [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There is something poignant about watching Jayne Mansfield in her last film role. There is also something prophetic as well, for Jayne Mansfield would never be remembered as a Grande Dame of screen dramatics. Perhaps her admirable attempt coupled with the reality of her untimely passing make watching her performance even more fascinating. What Mansfield brings to this role is a mixed bag of hysterics and brood. But we never forget, not even during a dramatic scene in which Mansfield (with shabby Bronx accent) admits to being "in the family way", that we are watching an icon of a bygone era attempting to inhabit the skin of something "mod". SINGLE ROOM FURNISHED almost plays like a cautionary tale for the bombshells of the future. Yet that was surely not the original intent.

I first saw this picture decades ago on home video. The source for that video was so faded and tattered. For years I recalled the "faded glory" aspect of the print. Watching this wonderful DVD master was eye-opening. The colors are beautiful and the widescreen presentation shows little to no wear from the source print (except for the dates soundtrack which is the weak link here). An absolutely stellar remastering on the video level. Watching SINGLE ROOM FURNISHED 2 decades later was a revelation to me and a delight. But in the final analysis, this low-budger affair is far from perfect. But perhaps that is the essence of Jayne Mansfield's legacy.

Single Room Furnished was, as everyone knows, Jayne's last completed film before her untimely death. Jayne plays three characters of a struggling misfit that never was given a fair chance in life. Until the end is revealed, movie goers find that her characters were describing one lady all along. " Eileen " was a mystery to anyone that knew her and her world was in a dark place never to find happiness.
Being a " Mansfield Fan", I truly was questioning my purchase of the film because of her outstanding performances given to The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?....Now looking back over them all, it was evident that Jayne was a very
good actress and even though the film was low budget, she truly shined in this film. Give it a chance and you will see what I mean. Jayne could have been so much more and she proves it in this film.

Movie was released after Ms. Mansfield's death in 1968. Jayne's last husband Matt Cimber directs the movie. Jayne looks young in the opening scene as a young girl who is soon deserted by her husband. Then, she darkens her hair and becomes pregnant and later one assumes she aborts the baby. Then, we are left with a boring segment about a late middle-aged couple who are trying to date. Movie was not completed when Jayne died, so I guess this was thrown in to piece movie together, boring. Lastly, we see Jayne as a mentally unbalanced prostitute who drives another unbalanced guy to suicide. Favorite line by Jayne in movie "Monkey" Even though, this is a low budget movie, it is a great final movie of Jayne's. I would give movie more stars if it had better quality of co-stars and better budget.

I bought this movie because of the description. I thought it would be a tale of an envious neighbor who is jealous of idol Jayne Mansfield. A fun, yummy script full of wit and fashion. Someone had said it is what "Single White Female" had been based on. NOT EVEN!

What I found was you need an attention span longer than the great wall of china if you want to have a chance at enjoying this movie. That and you shouldn't be a fan of Mansfield, since she is hardly IN IT! The only good scene is the end, and then surprisingly, just when it gets half-good, it stops. It ends.

In one word: BORING
In one phrase: The description (on the cover) is OVERRATED.

Disclaimer: The version of the film that I watched was included in the Big Screen Bombshells Collection, and as such, I cannot comment on the quality of the DVD package offered here. My review is concerned with the entertainment value of the film only.

Jayne Mansfield, in her last screen role, is the central figure in this determined-to-emote screen adaptation of Gerald Sandford's play, a sketch-work examination of love and morals in late sixties New York. Full of weighted movements and freighted relationships, Ms. Mansfield tries her hand at three incarnations of the same woman - Johnnie, a young, soon-to-be abandoned bride; Mae, a girl alone and in trouble; and Eileen, a street walker who has lost touch with reality - and it's her story that loops its way through the lives of the rest of the residents in her New York walk-up. Tying the narrative together is Pops, the building manager, who tells Johnnie/Mae/Eileen's story as a warning to another young woman, one who is desperate to get away from the guiding influence of her immigrant mother - but not yet experienced enough to know what she might be getting into.

Good intentions pave the way for this particular hour-and-a-half road to hell. First time director Matt Cimber (credited with his real name of Matteo Ottaviano) obviously tried to turn in an earnest effort, and the film was well-photographed by László Kovács - even Ms. Mansfield was credible if not entirely convincing in her role. But it's the melodramatic style of the production that ends up being squirm-inducing - anyone who has seen the Coens eviscerate this kind of phoney drama in 'Barton Fink' will immediately pick up on its presence in 'Single Room Furnished'. Perhaps this sort of tripe resonates on the stage, but it's painful to watch as filmed.

There is one startling image in this film, though, one that I still have in my head days later. It's a simple scene with no dialog, and only lasts for a few seconds, but is repeated right before the closing credits - Ms. Mansfield, in her street-walker persona, is leaving the bar she frequents and is walking home under the streetlamps past shops closed for the evening. The scene is shot from across the street, and there is something intangible about this attractive woman staring into the shop windows and walking under the night's lights that suggests an atmosphere of aching loneliness that the rest of the film desperately aspires to but, except for this brief scene, never achieves. This bit of cinematic excellence is small payback for sitting through the rest of the film, but I'm glad I saw it - although it doesn't amount to enough to recommend the entire picture for what amounts to probably less than ten seconds of screen time.

Doubtless there are some viewers who will still appreciate this film, despite what I consider it's overarching, portentous dialog and ham-fisted situations. From a technical standpoint, it matches up well with other films from the 'Hollywood as Royalty' era of the late sixties and earlier, and those films certainly have their fans. Unfortunately, its serious demeanor looks ridiculous today, despite some decent performances by Debra Keller and Fabian Dean in a subplot as later-in-life lovers, and the film comes across almost like a caricature of Arthur Miller or Eugene O'Neill - or else it's a spot-on imitation of those playwrights. I suppose it depends on what sort of esteem you hold O'Neill and Miller.

The audio and picture contained in the 'Bombshells' box set is actually quite nice - an anamorphic widescreen transfer with little or no defects in the print, or at least none that I noticed on one viewing. This OOP Rhino version is listed at a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, nor does imdb list any extras for this package, so for those who are interested in this film, it may pay to compare prices with Mill Creek's 'Bombshell' collection.

It's nice to see Jayne Mansfield in a dramatic role. This is an indie film made before the term "indie film" was coined.
Jayne is too old to play the young married woman on the fire escape, in the early part of the story. She looks like her husband's mother. However, her acting is very good in this film. Some of the supporting players are not very good while others are quite good.
This is a very low budget film and it really looks it.
I don't know if it has been digitally restored but the sound and picture are of very good quality.
If you are a Jayne Mansfield fan, it is very worthwhile having this film in your collection.

The movie starts out with a monologue explaining the greatness of Jayne Mansfield and how this movie was her finest dramatic roll. Jayne goes from housewife to prostitute giving us a view of her diverse acting skills. Billy M. Dean plays the landlord who reminded me of Grandpa from the Munsters. We have an Italian mom praying to a statue of the Virgin Mary for her daughter. The landlord tells young Mary the story of Jayne Mansfield. The dialouge was bad as was most of the acting. Sometimes the movie digresses to someone telling a story in a story. In a sea of bad acting, Jayne did manage to shine through, but it was like saying Will Ferrell is a great actor when he is in a movie with Steven Seagal and Steve Austin. For some reason Jayne changed her accent from character to character, even though they were the same person. Note that the music had no influence on how the go-go dancers movie.

The "R" rating is way too high by today's standards. No sex, nudity, or swearing.

Jayne did a good job here. As often happens, an unusual gem of a movie gets overlooked because it doesn't please the masses. I rated it 4 stars just because it was unusual and because Jayne is in it. We only have her films,her books and her photos, so of course this movie is valuable as a reminder of this amazing woman.She was very complex.
I have it interesting to read about her as much as possible and to watch all her films.
This film is spooky in a very odd way, when you watch it and remember how Jayne eventually did pass on. There are strange echoes here. Also, if I recall the last scene when she walks away away at night, I just felt it had a poignancy. Jayne walking away in this film looks like it happened yesterday. And isn't dying like walking away ?
There she went, in the night alone down a sidewalk. It just reminded me of the end of her life that night when she passed away.., going away down a road instead of a sidewalk. This woman had talent. Jayne was very unique and I was surprised that this film is not better known.

After watching about 20 times (I have been a Jayne Mansfield fan since 1977),i have studied it enough to make the claim that this is (in my opinion) an Art-Film.
First of all it starts with great credits and music.The Walter Winchell introduction is just about as eery as Bela Lugosi's in Ed Wood's 'Glen Or Glenda'.The film is VERY obviously a puzzle pieced together,to make a movie(and a fast buck for her last husband,who did not have the courage to put his real name in the credits) that would have some sense,since Jayne had not finished her scenes.However,it is surprisingly coherent,even if the subplot with the 2 loser-lovers finding love ends up sounding preachy and moralistic,if compared to the mess Jayne's character has made of her life.It takes a couple of viewing of the movie to get over the cheap sets,the horrible wigs(mostly first AND second) Jayne wears.I find the first part when we see Jayne,very average.The second part,when she is in family way,REALLY bad (but also sad in a pathetic way),but the BEST is the last scene with the sailor.Miss Thing was bitter there,real bitter,and my little finger,and years of research,lead me to think that this was the REAL Jayne speaking there(that was 1966,a year before her death).She had it with Hollywood,the mockeries,the crappy movies she was offered,the bad jokes,the dead-beat husbands/lovers,and life in general.She knew she was doomed,finished,and it shows in her eyes as she is playing that last scene.AND THE BEST is when she open her eyes wide and says...''Love you ?? MONKEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY'.I have watched that scene about 50 times,finding it so powerful,and fierce !.The cheapness of the sets make the film look like a play,which is good thing(All the scenes with Jayne,basically).Also as one reviewer stated the quality of this DVD is much better than the lower quality VHS that i also have watched.
Conclusion:Jayne was NEVER an actress,but a personality.She played herself in every movie she appeared,but this time she is fed up with the Battle to be the 'Super-Monroe' that she was groomed to be,and it is an appropriate ''LAST FILM''.
So to non-fans of Jayne,it is an awful movie,but to her loyal fans,it is almost an autobiographical statement of how she really felt at the end of her sad life.Very sad

The movie is not good but a lot can be learned by watching it through, even though it drags. The 1950s 'babe' played by Jayne is a period piece, but having lived in Las vegas for the past five years, I can tell the readers of this review that the type is alive and well in this city. The film is about a certain niche, created by men and probably by religion too, and into this niche women step and become stigmatized. The whore or babe is like the witch in the medieval period - something demonic and devilish. I assure you, the values in the film are not out-of-date. The movie also is an interesting source of info about ethnicity and regionalism - espec. Italian and the NYC area. And you see in this a connection to Las Vegas too. The film, if it teaches anything, teaches us that we are far less emancipated, liberated, rational, liberal, etc. in regard to sex and to women than we thought we were. Again the parallel to witchcraft is a good one: naive liberals thought the witch-hunting was over in the early 1700s. In fact, witches were burned in all major European ocuntries into the late 1700s. And 1950s babes a la Mansfield are not only the adult identity of many, especially in Las Vegas, in the year 2000, but are probably the role-models of 6 and 7 year olds. .... the movie in another sense is an epigone of Italian neo-realism. I am adding this last bit just so poeple will be more inclined to accept the savvi-ness of the first part of my review.