Female on the Beach
Film poster by Reynold Brown
Directed byJoseph Pevney
Screenplay byRobert Hill
Richard Alan Simmons
Based onthe play The Besieged Heart
by Robert Hill
Produced byAlbert Zugsmith
StarringJoan Crawford
Jeff Chandler
CinematographyCharles Lang
Edited byRussell Schoengarth
Music byHeinz Roemheld
Herman Stein
(both not credited)
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • August 19, 1955 (1955-08-19) (New York City)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Female on the Beach is a 1955 American crime-drama film directed by Joseph Pevney starring Joan Crawford and Jeff Chandler in a story about a widow and her beach bum lover. The screenplay by Robert Hill and Richard Alan Simmons was based on the play The Besieged Heart by Robert Hill. The film was produced by Albert Zugsmith.[1]

Cast

Production

The script was based on an unproduced play by Bob Hill, The Besieged Heart.[2] Albert Zugsmith bought the rights and worked on the script with Bob Hill. He then sold the project to Universal who were looking for a vehicle for Joan Crawford. The studio also hired Zugsmith to produce, starting a relationship between him and Universal which lasted several years.[3]

Reception

Critical response

A review in Harrison's Reports said that the movie offered "a fairly interesting though somewhat seamy mixture of sex, murder and suspense."[4]

Film critic Bosley Crowther gave the film a mixed review, writing "Their progress is rendered no more fetching by the inanities of a hackneyed script and the artificiality and pretentiousness of Miss Crawford's acting style. At the end, the guilty party is revealed in a ridiculous way. Jan Sterling, Cecil Kellaway and Natalie Schafer are the supporting players you may remotely suspect."[5]

See also

References

  1. Female on the Beach at IMDb .
  2. BREEN IS RETIRED AS MOVIE CENSOR: At Own Request, Director of Code Leaves Office -- Chief Aide Successor By THOMAS M. PRYOR New York Times 15 Oct 1954: 18.
  3. Flynn, Charles; McCarthy, Todd (1975). "Albert Zugmsith". In Flynn, Charles; McCarthy, Todd (eds.). Kings of the Bs : working within the Hollywood system : an anthology of film history and criticism. E. P. Dutton. p. 416.
  4. Harrison's Reports, film review, July 16, 1955. Accessed: August 9, 2016.
  5. Crowther, Bosley, film review The New York Times, August 20, 1955. Accessed: July 4, 2013.
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