Teenage Devil Dolls

Teenage Devil Dolls (released in theaters as One Way Ticket to Hell)[1] is a 1955 American black and white teen crime drama film produced, written and directed by Bamlet L. Price, Jr. The film was made in a quasi-documentary style that has no dialogue, just sound effects and music by Robert Drasnin. The movie is narrated by Kurt Martell, as Police Lieutenant David Jason, but the part of the Lieutenant is portrayed by actor Robert A. Sherry in the film. Price borrowed $4000 from his then-wife Anne Francis to make the film.[3]

Teenage Devil Dolls
Directed byBamlet L. Price, Jr.
Produced byBamlet L. Price, Jr.
Written byBamlet L. Price, Jr.
StarringBarbara Marks
Robert A. Sherry
Narrated byKurt Martell[1]
Music byRobert Drasnin[2]
CinematographyWilliam R. Lieb
S. David Saxon
Edited byBamlet L. Price, Jr.
Release date
  • 1955 (1955)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Pert, pretty high-schooler Cassandra Leigh opts for the easy life of a pot-smoking biker to avoid the demands of her neurotic mother. When Cassandra's grades slip, destroying her college plans, she marries a love-smitten swain. But soon the bored young bride looks up her old thrill-seeking buddies, and splits from home.

Soon Cassandra is peddling dope on the streets to finance her growing list of addictions. A young Mexican eventually makes her his partner, in crime and otherwise. With the police on their heels, the young lovers are forced to ditch a stolen car in the desert and take refuge in a shallow cave. As the posse closes in, he abandons her and the deputies nab her when she's semi-conscious. The court sends her to a Federal Narcotics Hospital.

Cast
  • Barbara Marks as Cassandra Leigh
  • Kurt Martell as the Narrator, Lt. David Jason
  • Robert A. Sherry as Lieutenant David Jason
  • Bamlet Lawrence Price, Jr. as Miguel 'Cholo' Martinez
  • Lucille Price as Cassandra's Mother
  • Bamlet Lawrence Price, Sr. as Cassandra's Current Stepfather
  • William Kendell as Russell Packard
  • Robert Norman as Johnny Adams
  • Elaine Lindenbaum as Margo Rossi
  • Joel Climenhaga as Sven Bergman
  • Joe Popavich as Al Stutzman
  • Anthony Gorsline as Jimmy Sanchez
  • Victor Schwartz as Sergeant Schwartz

Reviews

The New York Times (December 8, 1955) was highly critical in their review of the film writing: "The sensationalism implicit in the title of One-Way Ticket to Hell is hardly evident in this depiction of drug addiction and narcotics traffic...a case history of a young girl's descent into enslavement to the habit, this obviously serious attempt to illustrate and warn against the disastrous effects of the evil emerges largely as an unimaginative cops-and-robbers-type melodrama. Although its intentions are undoubtedly noble this latter-day parable is crude and without force...there is no dialogue, the story is related in "voice-of-doom" fashion by...the off-screen narrator - it affords its cast little opportunity to develop character. Bamlet L. Price Jr...plays Cholo Martinez, one of the villains who leads the heroine astray, may be listed as an ambitious and busy man. Nothing more. Barbara Marks only occasionally rises to the emotional levels called for in the role of the disturbed lass who drifts from a broken home to an eventually broken marriage, to marijuana, sleeping pills and heroin. The other members of the cast are not effective. Neither is One-Way Ticket to Hell."[4]

Steven Pulchaski's review in his book, Slimetime: A Guide to Sleazy, Mindless Movies, was devastating, writing - "this is an obscure, anti-drug, anti-juvenile delinquent anti-rebellion morality story, all told in not-so-glorious Dragnet style narration...it's overwrought, paranoid, fearmongering, and totally idiotic...basically, this is drug-paranoia propaganda at its bleakest and least entertaining, with grainy black and white photography, static direction...it just drones on for sixty-or-so minutes, and though the plot tries to be controversial and hard-hitting, the flick is actually so unsleazy that it never gets off the ground".[5]

Leonard Maltin rated the movie D saying it was "Yet another entry in the Reefer Madness school of filmmaking, about an insecure, discontented teen girl's descent into drug addiction and crime. Presented as a case history and without dialogue; there's only narration and sound effects."[6]

End credits

The film ends with a cautionary message:

Today, there are more than 60,000 drug addicts in the United States, supporting an illicit drug traffic amounting to $220,000,000 annually. Ten years ago addicts under the age of 21 were almost unknown. Today, they are being committed to hospitals and correctinal institutions in alarming numbers. The records of our two federal narcotic hospitals show an increase of 2,000% during a recent four year period. (1) The great tragedy of the situation lies within the problem of rehabilitation. It is estimated that only 5 to 10 percent of those given medical treatment for narcotic addiction will receive permanent benefit. (1) The percentage of permanently cured heroin addicts is even smaller...less than 2 percent.

(1) The Preliminary Report of the Subcommittee on Narcotics, Assembly California State Legislature. (1952)

References
  1. Wagner, Laura (2011). Anne Francis: The Life and Career. McFarland. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-7864-8600-7.
  2. Lentz III, Harris M. (2016). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2015. McFarland. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-7864-7667-1.
  3. Wagner, Laura (2011). Anne Francis: The Life and Career. McFarland. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-7864-8600-7.
  4. A. W. (December 8, 1955). "A Case History of Drug Addiction". The New York Times.
  5. Puchalski, Steven (2002). Slimetime: A Guide to Sleazy, Mindless Movies. Headpress/Critical Vision. p. 215. ISBN 9781900486217.
  6. One Way Ticket to Hell at the TCM Movie Database
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