I have a difficult relationship with the work of Sigmund Freud.
On the one hand, I think he offered a lot of insight into the working of the human mind, particularly popularizing the somewhat ethereal notion of the unconscious. While this hidden layer of the psyche is hard to define, I do believe it exists.
On the flip side, Freud’s ideas were used in fiction to justify a lot of plot twists that didn’t really make much sense. like people in a fugue state killing people who reminded them of their mothers, etc. (It could fairly be said that I’ve abused Freud’s ideas in my own fiction.)
That brings me to the action noir film “The Girl in Black Stocking.” In many ways, it’s a fun flick. But the final reveal about who the killer is and why they did what they did depends on a kind of psychobabble that doesn’t really add up.
A beefcake himbo lawyer (played by Lex Barker) is courting reclusive Harriet (played by Ann-Margret) when he catches sight of a murdered woman. The bodies continue to pile up, and we have a bevy of suspects to choose from. An especially good candidate is a wheelchair-bound motel owner who doesn’t even try to disguise his hatred of women. Or perhaps it’s his sister? Or it might be Joe, the drunken Native American played as the most basic of stereotypes. (He literally talks like the Hulk.) Or maybe even the bartender, portrayed by “Bonanza”’s Dan Blocker.
“The Girl in Black Stockings” actually kept me guessing until the end.
One prominent feature about this movie is that almost every character—both male and female—is absolutely gorgeous, especially a daffy actress played by then in her prime Mamie Van Doren. (“Va va voom” as they used to say.) It’s like the “Baywatch” of film noirs.
A question popped into my head: was “The Girl in Black Stockings” influenced by the Italian giallo slashers? Those giallo films also tended to have titles like “The Girl Who [did something]” But a little research indicates the answer is no. The first Giallo film, Mario Bava’s “The Girl Who Knew Too Much,” arrived in 1963.
Best line: “Gonna have to start raising taxes to build a morgue.”
