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The Revolt Of Mamie Stover (1956) Starring Jane Russell, Richard Egan

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The Revolt Of Mamie Stover (1956)

Starring Jane Russell, Richard Egan

Set in the early '40s, a San Francisco prostitute is run out of town just as the second World War has begun to intensify. Mamie settles down in Hawaii, hoping to start a new life. Though her prospects look good when she falls in love with a science-fiction writer who treats her with the respect she deserves, the dawning war and the fallacies of her previous lifestyle complicate their budding romance. Mamie cannot fully remove herself from her former profession, and provides some of her old services to the sailors stationed in town. Searching for another means of financial security, Mamie invests in several pieces of real estate and becomes quite wealthy, though her bad reputation has not been forgotten by the locals.
Director: Raoul Walsh
Writers: Sydney Boehm, William Bradford Huie (novel)


Stars: Jane Russell, Richard Egan, Joan Leslie, Agnes Moorehead

The story synopsis of "The Revolt Of Mamie Stover," which appears in the 20th Century Fox studio press book, suggest that some last minute changes and edits were made the film to tone down the true nature of the Mamie Stover character. The following scenes were described in the synopsis: (1) The film opens with a scene on a street corner in San Francisco in which Mamie (Jane Russell) is "picked up" by a middle age man (portrayed by Stubby Kaye), and then detained by police who suggest she get out of town. )2) A scene occurs between Mamie and Annalee (Joan Leslie), in which Annalee tells Mamie to stay away from Jimmy (Richard Egan). (3) Mamie buys her own house on "the hill" and decorates it in anticipation of Jimmy's return from the war. (4) While Jimmy is away at war, he receives letters from both Annalee and Mamie. Annalee's are more poetic and caring, while Mamie's tell of her increasing fortune from her real-estate properties. (5) The film ends with a scene in a room at the Bungalow Club in which Jimmy rejects Mamie and leaves. Mamie walks down the hall, wipes her tears away, composes herself and enters another room, greeting her latest customer with her tag line, "You waitin' for Mamie, Honey?" This suggests that her life will continue on in same fashion as it always had: motivated by money at any cost despite a less than respectable lifestyle. The final version of the film as released redeems the Mamie character by cutting out before she greets her next customer and adding a scene in which she returns to San Francisco only to tell the police, who meet her at the dock, that she gave up her fortune and is now returning to her hometown of Leesburg, Mississippi.
Fox publicity materials claim that Jane Russell's hula number, "Keep Your Eyes on the Hands", was not originally in the film. Crew members reputedly heard it sung at a Honolulu nightclub while there to film exteriors, and found it so "perfect" for Russell that it was incorporated into the film.
20th Century-Fox production head Buddy Adler wanted Marilyn Monroe for the role of Mamie, but she refused. Fox went with Jane Russell instead.
The costumes were done by Travilla, who became famous for dressing Marilyn Monroe in many of her films.
The film was Joan Leslie's final film appearance before retiring from the screen.
The film is based on a 1951 novel by William Bradford Huie about a young woman from Mississippi who goes to Hollywood to work as an actress. Driven into prostitution, she moves to Honolulu, works at a brothel and takes it over, challenges restrictions against prostitutes after the US armed forces are built up on the island, buys real estate, and becomes a wealthy war profiteer. It is an allegory for the decline of American society because of the country-wide democratization that conflict made possible. Using a Honolulu prostitute to state his case, Huie shows her rise economically, socially, and politically with the aid, in part, of the Federal government as she flouts local regulation (prostitution itself being legal at the time). As the war progresses, Stover becomes a war profiteer, coming to control property, accumulating vast wealth in cash, and visiting proscribed beaches in the company of US military officers.