Return of Francis the talking mule Part 2: now with swamp women!

 

"Swamp women??" I hear you asking, and I don't blame you. Perhaps you are thinking of the 1941 B-film "Swamp Woman." Probably not, though, haha. But just in case, you can watch it (again?) on YouTube.

Today, we are looking at not just one swamp woman, but a trio of them. Let's get started!

Last week, we looked back to a post from Year 2 of this blog, in which I looked at popular culture during the era when the Francis the Talking Mule movies were made.  You can find that post HERE.

As noted in Part 1, there were a lot of movies in the Francis series, with screenplays by the author of the first Francis book, Daniel Stern. But get a gander at Stern's Imdb listing!

 

 Yes, we did one of these...

"Swamp Women" came out fifteen years after "Swamp Woman."  For the Imdb listing for "Swamp Women," go HERE.

 If the guy in the movie poster above looks vaguely familiar to you, you might recognize him from TV. It's Mike Connors, who went on to play "Mannix" on television. I found the "Mannix" intro on YouTube and I'm putting it here because I enjoy the sprightly jazz theme.

 

 

 So the marketing for "Swamp Women" looks pretty sordid -- "Flaming Passions" and all that. And the title image for the film's opening doesn't make one think "feminist classic," that's for sure. 

Film buffs, especially people who enjoy low-budget movies, will recognize the -- ah, artistic touch -- of director Roger Corman.

 

 

Despite the sleazy come-hither marketing, though, "Swamp Women" was a better use of David Stern's time than it might first appear. It's actually a fairly female-empowering story of a woman cop helping three wronged women escape unfair and cruel confinement. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Connors had three female c-stars in Swamp Women. Carole Mathews, Beverly, and Marie Windsor. Carole had a lot of supporting roles in movies and on television. She shared top billing in the poster for the war-noir film "Port of Hell."

Someone's done a fun tribute to Beverly Garland:

 

\And here's one for Marie Windsor: 

1956 movie "Swamp Women," with screenplay by David Stern -- worth watching!

 (click on the video thumbnail above, under the one for the Roger Corman profile.)

 

Next week:  Women may be involved, but there will be no swamps. Or mules.