The Revolt of Mamie Stover
Brief Synopsis
A prostitute has no choice but to flee San Francisco when the police turn on her and want her out of town.
Cast & Crew
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Raoul Walsh
Director
Jane Russell
Mamie Stover
Richard Egan
Jim Blair
Joan Leslie
Annalee
Agnes Moorehead
Bertha Parchman
Jorja Curtright
Jackie Davis
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Adaptation
Release Date
Apr
1956
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
Distribution Company
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
Country
United States
Location
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States; Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Revolt of Mamie Stover by William Bradford Huie (New York, 1951).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 32m
Sound
Stereo
Color
Color
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1
Film Length
8,341ft
Synopsis
In 1941, with only a small suitcase and the clothes on her back, Mamie Stover is escorted by a San Francisco policeman to a freighter bound for Honolulu and told never to return. The only other passenger onboard is Jim Blair, a successful writer returning home to Honolulu, and one day, the brazen, sultry Mamie sidles up to him and suggests he write her life story. When Jim characterizes her as a "shapely Cinderella with a yearning heart," Mamie confides that she came from a poor Mississippi town and is determined to become a "big success" before returning home. The two enjoy a shipboard romance, and as they near Honolulu, Jim offers to help Mamie find a job. When he questions her plan to work as a hostess in a honky-tonk known as "The Bungalow," Mamie challenges him to take her to his house on the hill and make a lady out of her. Jim then rebuffs her and replies she must climb that hill by herself. Soon after, the ship docks in Honolulu and Jim is greeted by Annalee, his refined, hilltop sweetheart. As they part, Jim offers Mamie a $100 loan, and she proceeds to The Bungalow, where her old friend, Jackie Davis, introduces her to the owner, Bertha Parchman, a pragmatic businesswoman, and the manager, the sadistic Harry Adkins. Harry, the club's enforcer, enumerates the house rules: hostesses are forbidden to have boyfriends on the "outside," and are not permitted to go to Waikiki Beach or have a bank account. Some time later, Jim receives a note from Mamie, repaying his loan and inviting him to the club, where she is now known as "Flaming Mamie," the main attraction. Disapproving, Jim goes to the club and offers to buy Mamie a return ticket home. At first wary of Jim's judgments, Mamie suggests they see each other outside the club and he agrees. After Jim picks her up the next day in his car, Mamie waves a bankroll in his face and boasts she will be rich one day. When Mamie separates out $200 and asks Jim to write a check to her father in that amount so that she can impress him, he at first refuses, but Mamie cajoles him with kisses. Later, Annalee comes to visit Jim and, sensing that he is uneasy, asks if Mamie is coming. When Jim answers yes, Annalee leaves, her feelings hurt. Soon after, Mamie appears and Jim angrily shows her a letter from her father addressed to "Mrs. Jim Blair." After Mamie explains that she was only trying to make her father proud of her, Jim agrees to continue the ruse, but once again implores Mamie to go home. Mamie defiantly replies that she intends to break all the prohibitions against her and become rich. When Jim criticizes her for measuring everything in terms of money, Mamie charges that he has never been poor and therefore cannot understand how she feels. Realizing that he has been insensitive, Jim apologizes and they embrace. Back in town, Harry spots Mamie climbing out of Jim's car and brutally beats her. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the islanders panic and real estate speculators begin to sell their property and flee to the mainland. Capitalizing on the situation, Mamie buys the land cheaply and rents it out. Jim decides to enlist in the infantry, and the night before he is to report for duty, he invites Mamie to go dancing with him at an exclusive resort in Waikiki. When Harry strolls across the hotel terrace and orders Mamie to leave with him, Jim challenges him and a fight ensues. Two M.P.s then arrive to restrain Jim, but when Mamie accuses Harry of beating women, they release Jim and decide to give Harry some of his own medicine. Jim then pledges his love to Mamie and asks her to leave The Bungalow and marry him after the war. After Mamie promises to quit her job, Jim places his ring on her finger. Back at The Bungalow, Bertha, worried that Harry's encounter with the military police may have dire consequences for the club, fires him, after which he cruelly insults her. When Mamie returns, she finds the girls celebrating Harry's departure. Bertha calls Mamie into her private quarters and offers to make her a star. When Mamie informs Bertha that she intends to quit the club for a man, Bertha entices her to stay by offering her half of the profits and suggesting that she establish a mailing address in the "good section" of town to placate Jim. While Mamie writes Jim, now in combat, that she has quit The Bungalow, Bertha emblazons Mamie's image on six-foot posters and commissions a song to be written about her. One day at Jim's camp, a soldier returns from furlough, bearing a photo of Mamie's poster. As Jim scrutinizes the photo, a bomb falls, wounding him. Granted leave because of his injury, Jim goes to The Bungalow, seething with resentment over Mamie's deception. Rebuffing her entreaties, Jim declares that they are too different to be together and leaves for good. Now alone, Mamie sobs as she plays her song on the phonograph and fondles Jim's ring. Some time later, Mamie returns to San Francisco wearing the same threadbare suit she had on when she left and is informed by the same policeman that she is not welcome. After she tells him that she is just passing through on her way home, he comments that she looks like she "didn't do so good in Hawaii." When she asks him if he would believe that she made a fortune and gave it away, he just shakes his head.
Director
Raoul Walsh
Director
Cast
Jane Russell
Mamie Stover
Richard Egan
Jim Blair
Joan Leslie
Annalee
Agnes Moorehead
Bertha Parchman
Jorja Curtright
Jackie Davis
Michael Pate
Harry Adkins
Richard Coogan
Capt. Eldon Sumac
Alan Reed
Capt. Gorecki
Eddie Firestone
Tarzan
Jean Willes
Gladys
Leon Lontok
Aki
Kathy Marlowe
Zelda
Margia Dean
Peaches
Jack Mather
Bartender
Carl Harbaugh
Bartender
Boyd "red" Morgan
Hackett
John Halloran
Henry
Naida Lani
Hula dancer
Anita Dano
Hula dancer
Dorothy Gordon
Dance hall girl
Irene Bolton
Dance hall girl
Merry Townsend
Dance hall girl
Claire James
Dance hall girl
Sally Jo Todd
Dance hall girl
Margarita Camacho
Dance hall girl
Richard Collier
Photographer
Max Reid
Hawaiian police officer
Mary Lou Clifford
Hawaiian waitress
Eugenia Paul
Waitress
Janan Hart
Hostess
Johnny Caler
Soldier
Kayoka Wakita
Japanese girl
Arthur Grady
Young soldier
Frank Griffin
M.P.
Sherwood Price
Sailor
Charles Keane
Detective
Jay Jostyn
Doctor
Crew
Buddy Adler
Producer
Edward Arnold
Auditor
Chester Bayhi
Set Decoration
Joe Behm
Unit Manager
Sydney Boehm
Screenwriter
Leonard Doss
Color Consultant
Sammy Fain
Composer
W. D. Flick
Sound
Hugo Friedhofer
Music
Morris Harmell
Assistant Director
Mary Johnston
Composer
Ray Kellogg
Special Photography Effects
Mark-lee Kirk
Art Director
Charles Lemaire
Executive Wardrobe Designer
Harry M. Leonard
Sound
Louis R. Loeffler
Film Editor
Lionel Newman
Conductor
Ben Nye
Makeup
Pat Palamountain
Transportation Manager
Joseph E. Rickards
Assistant Director
Walter M. Scott
Set Decoration
Plato Skouras
Assistant unit Manager
Herbert Spencer
Orchestration
Tony Todaro
Composer
Leo Tover
Director of Photography
Travilla
Costume Design
Helen Turpin
Hair Styles
Paul Francis Webster
Composer
Lyle R. Wheeler
Art Director
Photo Collections
1 Photo
The Revolt of Mamie Stover - Jane Russell Publicity Still
Here is a photo of Jane Russell taken to help publicize the Fox film The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956). Here the 20th Century Fox publicity department colorized a black-and-white still for publication in color.
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Adaptation
Release Date
Apr
1956
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
Distribution Company
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
Country
United States
Location
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States; Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Revolt of Mamie Stover by William Bradford Huie (New York, 1951).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 32m
Sound
Stereo
Color
Color
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1
Film Length
8,341ft
Articles
The Revolt of Mamie Stover
A prostitute has no choice but to flee San Francisco when the police turn on her and want her out of town.
The Revolt of Mamie Stover
A prostitute has no choice but to flee San Francisco when the police turn on her and want her out of town.
Quotes
Trivia
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 night club while there to film exteriors, and found it so "perfect" for Russell that they incorporated it into the film.
Notes
Although Hollywood Reporter news items add Paul Glass, Ellsworth Kissinger, Paul Sorenson, Dorothy Ford and Bill Dane to the cast, their appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. A December 1955 Hollywood Reporter news item notes that Cosmo Sardo was to play a wealthy playboy, but his appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. The Variety review incorrectly spells Joan Leslie's name as "Jean." According to studio publicity materials contained in the film's production file at the AMPAS Library, 90% of the exteriors were filmed on location around Honolulu, HI. The beach scenes were filmed at Waikiki Beach and the shipboard scenes were shot aboard the freighter Hawaiian Educator.
An undated but contemporary news item in the production file notes that Elia Kazan originally bought the rights to William Bradford Huie's novel. The novel, according to studio publicity, was a commentary about how the social order of Hawaii was shattered after members of the Armed Forces poured into the islands during World War II. The book described at great length the measures, including prostitution, that "Mamie" was willing to take to achieve success; the film, however, eliminated most of this material. In an undated studio synopsis of the film contained in the production files, the story ends with the scene in which "Jim" rejects Mamie.
According to materials contained in the film's file in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the PCA approved this version. The ending in which Mamie returns to San Francisco, broke and defeated, was not mandated by the PCA, whose only concern was that "The Bungalow" be clearly established as a dance hall and not misconstrued as a brothel. Consequently, in the film, Mamie is depicted as a hostess who entertains sailors at a bar rather than as a prostitute.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Spring April 1956
CinemaScope
Released in United States Spring April 1956
