Monday, September 5, 2016

Back to School Cinema Spotlight-William Castle's 13 Frightened Girls

About two years ago I discovered he ouevre of shock director William Castle:

 I have no idea what took me so long because Castle's films are right up my alley, I wasn't even all the way through one film before I decided that Castle was, in my opinion at least, the greatest director who ever lived.  

 Castle's stock in trade was low budge kitschy horror with a hefty dose of humor.   He was a master showman and each of his films had a clever gimmick to hook audiences: ghost viewing glasses, dangling glowing skeletons, cardboard axes, the list goes on.


 13 Frightened Girls 





 is actually not the typical Castle film in that is not a horror comedy, but a spy spoof about the teenage daughters of diplomats.  For the films gimmick Castle pretended to recruit the prettiest girls from 13 countries to play the leads




 (As usual Castle stretched the truth, the 13 girls in the film were not all from the represented countries and he forgot to count because there are 15 girls in all.)





 The girl's all attend Miss Pittford's Academy 







and have charming blue early 60s jumper uniforms with cute hats and a P aplique on the collar.






I was drooling  over the uniforms, but they are just the tip of the style iceberg in this film.  As the girls get caught up in the "candy web"  




Castle's term for their teeny-bopper spying tactics that are lead by the American diplomat's daughter, Candy Hull, they sport some of the cutest early 60s outfits and hair styles I've ever seen (I particularly love Candy's hair bows.)










 The interiors in the film are also mid century perfection:







And as a bonus there is an adorable white kitten , the inspiration for Candy's code name, who reminded me of my own sweet Spot.


 

 13 Frightened Girls is an absolutely charming film for any fan of mid century cinema and can be rented from Netflix or purchased on Amazon as part of the William Castle 5 movie pack for the bargain price of $8.99, which is how I viewed it.

11 comments:

  1. Delightful, surprised I don't know the name.

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  2. OMG ALEXANDRA BASTEDO! She's one of my all-time style crushes - she's just perfect as Sharron Macready in The Champions. 60s style to die for.

    I've heard of Castle, but I've never seen any of his films.

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  3. Ooh, this is all new to me, evidently I live under a rock!

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  4. Sounds like an interesting movie. This cute white kitten did remind me of Spot, too :-)

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  5. Wow, never heard of him, or that movie. It does indeed look like good fun to watch!

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  6. Great cinema spotlight post! Those really are such of the most delightfully charming youth looks from the 1960s.

    xoxo ♥ Jessica

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  7. I love William Castle. How amazing would that be to be able to view his movies in the theater the way they were supposed to be viewed with all the gimmicks and all. I've never actually heard of this movie. I will have to check it out! :D

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  8. I've never heard of Castle either! This movie was entirely new to me!

    I went to private school in the mid to late 60's and wore one of those uniforms, only mine was a blue plaid.

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  9. that looks like a really old movie! A very good one!
    love
    tweedles

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  10. I hadn't heard of William Castle, so this is definitely education for me! xxx

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