CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Aubrey Hackett
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
jimm-8
British film distributors in the 50s and 60s would often acquire a film banned by the British Board of Film Censors and then tout it round regional authorities to get it passed for exhibition locally. The most famous example was The Wild One (1953) where Columbia managed to flout the censor's ban by getting permission to open the film in Cambridge for three weeks, then Glasgow for five weeks, and at a number of other places. Even more successful were Eros Films who persuaded 181 local authorities to pass Garden of Eden (1955). The cost of arranging so many previews for councillors was far outweighed by the box office returns, with so many people eager to see a banned film.Grand National Film Distributors thought they had a money-maker with Russ Meyer's Lorna (1964), rejected by the BBFC on 2 February 1965. Featuring Meyer's latest top-heavy discovery Lorna Maitland, the film is actually quite well made, by no means indecent and with an odd religious message. However, most councillors thought the story of a dissatisfied housewife who finds fulfilment with an escaped rapist unsuitable even for local adults, and the film was rejected nearly everywhere – until it reached Blackburn Borough Council. For whatever reason, their watch committee considered it perfectly OK for Blackburn folk to see Lorna do her stuff. And so, on 16 January 1966 at the Essoldo circuit's Royal Cinema in Ainsworth Street, Lorna was finally unveiled in public, probably the only time the Lancashire textile town had hosted a premiere. Disappointingly, the film ran only one week, and people were not coming from all over England to see Lorna perform. Undaunted, the distributors carried on touring local authorities and, in June 1966, tried to get the film passed in Southend-on-Sea. Essex County Council said nothing doing. Like Miss Maitland in the film, Grand National probably lost their shirts.LATER SHOWINGS: After being banned in Southend-on-Sea, Lorna was later permitted a week on the Lincolnshire coast. Lindsey district council granted Lorna a local "X" and the film ran at the ABC cinema, Cleethorpes, from Sunday, 1 December 1968.
jlomax28
Lust..Longing...Love.. Life... LORNA! I bought this Lusty Gothic Years set, having seen MUDHONEY but without ever having seen Lorna before. I was not disappointed. I am a big Russ Meyer fan and I hardly ever hear anyone talk about Lorna or Mudhoney. These are two of his best films. I was really impressed with the beautiful contrast of the black and white photography in both movies. I could see how much RM self parodies in his later work of his older movies. Fans of BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRA- VIXENS will notice the parallels of the opening of LORNA. The dumb husband who studies while his wife is moaning in the bedroom next to him, sexually unsatisfied. Another impressive scene from the beginning of the film is the montage that accompanies Lorn'a inner monologue about her sad disillusionment of sex and love in marriage. The 'Man of God' as the Greek chorus throughout the film is very original and strange. Russ Meyer early films were so much better than the over baked self parodies Roger Ebert wrote in the 70's... I love those films too like UP! and BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS but I think his films were even better when he wasn't so in on the joke.
Nazi_Fighter_David
With "The Immoral Mr. Teas," Russ Meyer was one of the pioneers of sex films... He knew, however, that the region would eventually want more than just naked ladies winning easily around the countryside, and went for a strong plot that contained a well-motivated but heavy sex scene
Lorna is a frustrated housewife
She lives in a wasted riverside shack with a deadbeat but sweet husband
He works hard all day and studies all night, leaving her unfulfilled...One day, while the husband is at work, an escaped convict bursts in on Lorna and rapes her
She is so enraptured by the experience that she becomes infatuated with him, but when her husband unexpectedly returns from work, she doesn't know what to do
"Lorna" was one of the first films to show nudity in the context of strong sex... While there was nothing really explicit or graphic about it, it was truly shocking for its-time
Today, however, it is quite mild and dull...
Michael_Elliott
Lorna (1964) *** (out of 4) Another Russ Meyer weirdo, which starts off rather slow but ends with a real bang. The big breasted Lorna isn't sexually satisfied by her dork husband so she has an affair with an escaped con. Going through this Meyer films it's rather amazing to see how much craft is actually involved in them. As I said earlier, I was expecting the poor trash that the likes of Something Weird releases but that's certainly not the case. Meyer delivers a pretty good, if simple story, mixed with some very good cinematography as well as a great music score. The first part of the film drags a bit but there's always Lorna's big breasts to keep us entertained. The film kicks into high gear during the final thirty minutes and is a real hoot.