Teenage Devil Dolls

Directed, written, produced, edited (with even a co-starring credit) by B. Lawrence Price, Jr., Teenage Devil Dolls tells the cautionary tale of Cassandra Leigh (Barbara Marks), a good girl gone bad who, because of her own immaturity and her "much married" mother's insensitivity, falls in with the "wrong" crowd (a fairly clean-cut group of motorcycle enthusiasts - you really can't call them "bikers"). Soon, the straight-A high school student is smoking reefers and blowing off classes. Failing grades rule out college when she graduates, so she marries dopey Johnny Adams (Robert Norman), who quickly becomes "Johnny Chump" when he can't control his wife's wild urges to party.

Hanging out with her old crowd on the sly, Cassandra quickly moves up to goofballs (that's "prescription Seconals" to you squares), and before you can say, "junkie want a fix," Cassandra is writhing around on the back lawn (I kid you not), jonesing for the whole neighborhood to see. And what's Johnny's answer to all this? Buy her a dog (now he's Johnny Dingbat). Soon, Cassandra slams into somebody with her car, and is released to her parents' custody. Running away, she falls in with Margo Rossi (Elaine Lindenbaum), a heroin junkie who turns on Cassandra to the sweet, sweet sickness known as "riding the horse" ("heroin" to those of you who read and write well). When Coke bottle-bottom glasses-wearing dealer Sven Bergman (Joel Climenhaga, who looks like the old Forrest City Auto Parts guy) snuffs Margo with a hot load, Cassandra hightails it out of there, eventually hooking up with Cholo Martinez (B. Lawrence Price, Jr. himself), heading out into the desert with the cops fast on her trail. Will kindly narco agent Lieutenant David Jason (Robert A. Sherry) be able to save that poor, sweet kid?

It's easy to laugh at the excesses of Teenage Devil Dolls. From the obvious Dragnet-inspired narration (which covers the fact that the film was shot silent without an audio track), to the grade Z lensing, to the overemphatic acting (they never seem to smoke dope correctly in these films), to the low-rent High Sierra-like ending, Teenage Devil Dolls (also known as One Way Ticket to Hell) seems much longer than its brief 65 minute running time. Too bad, too, because if you can get past the hysterics, the message is fairly sobering. Of course, the vast majority of kids in the 1950s weren't dope fiends, but Teenage Devil Dolls is relatively fair when it's passing around the blame for teenage delinquency and drug abuse. No one is let off the hook. We're told Cassandra is responsible because she's immature and unwilling to take responsibility for her life. Her mother is responsible because she never gave Cassandra a stable home, and denigrated the sensitive girl in front of her friends. Johnny and Cassandra's doctors are responsible, too, for fobbing off Cassandra's problems with platitudes and drugs, drugs which accelerated her decline. Even society in general gets a jab here; the society that patted itself on the back in mainstream movies is the society in Teenage Devil Dolls that doesn't have adequate hospital facilities to humanely treat Cassandra when she first becomes addicted. Instead, she's committed to a hellish insane asylum. It's that kind of even-handedness (tempered by outright crappiness) that makes Teenage Devil Dolls a slight cut above the usual exploitation hysteria that either blamed kids exclusively, or blamed parents only, or blamed society wholesale, letting the other groups off the hook.

The DVD:

The Video:
Looking extremely contrasty, the full-screen Teenage Devil Dolls looks pretty rough here, its video dupe jumping sometimes. Still, for this kind of film, it's amazing you can still even see a copy of it, so....

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English mono soundtrack accurately reflects the original theatrical presentation. There are no subtitles or close-captioning options.

The Extras:
There are some trailers included for films like Rock, Rock, Rock!, Go, Johnny, Go, The Big T.N.T. Show, The T.A.M.I. Show, and Rock Around the Clock. As well, there's a clip of Johnny Legend and his band playing a rockin' song.

Final Thoughts:
Steadily ridiculous, Teenage Devil Dolls still manages to play fair with the blame game, accurately describing social ills that still plague us today. Too bad the message gets lost in all the lawn-rolling, goofball-induced crazes. You can goof on it, but probably only once.

Teenage Confidential

There are no credits for Teenage Confidential, the 1986 compilation presented by Johnny Legend that features some amusing clips from various 1940s and 1950s exploitation films and documentaries. Clips from Boy in Court, a March of Times short-subject called The Birth of Juvenile Delinquency, Satan Was a Teenager, a PSA from Tab Hunter about mental illness, a couple of cool trailers for rock shows Valentine Sweetheart Midnight Jamboree and Rock 'N' Roll Ghost a-Go-Go Show, and trailers from Teenage Crime Wave, Curfew Breakers (my god, you mean....you stayed out past curfew!), Teenage Devil Dolls, High School Caesar, The Violent Years, Married Too Young (amen, brother), Wild Guitar, with Arch Hall, Jr., Carnival Rock, The Great Gila Monster (what the hell is that doing here?), Teenagers from Outer Space, The Night Holds Terror, with John Cassavettes and Vince Edwards, and Rock, Baby, Rock are all here. It's a pretty funny compilation that moves much quicker than the similarly timed Teenage Devil Dolls.

The DVD:

The Video:
Like Teenage Devil Dolls, the video masters for Teenage Confidential look alternately dark and contrasty, with tons of scratches and blips. Still, what do you expect with titles like these? Digital perfection?

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English mono soundtrack accurately reflects the original theatrical presentations of these short films and trailers.

Final Thoughts:
Fast and funny, Teenage Confidential gives movie lovers a ton of trailers and some good short subjects on the evils of teen delinquency.

Final Thoughts:
Johnny Legend's Deadly Doubles double feature of Teenage Devil Dolls and Teenage Confidential is fast and funny, especially for film lovers who goof on these hysterical exploitation numbers from the 1950s. The transfers are terrible, but what did you expect? If you already know what you're going to get with a title like this, go ahead and buy it; you won't be disappointed. But if you're new to it, or just a little curious, a rental should more than suffice. I recommend Teenage Devil Dolls and Teenage Confidential.