Teenage Devil Dolls
Encyclopedia
Teenage Devil Dolls is a 1955 American black and white teen
crime drama film
about a high school graduate whose life spirals out of control when she becomes addicted to heroin.
It isn't long before she's peddling dope on the streets in order to finance her growing list of addictions. A young Mexican takes the wayward girl under his wing and makes her not only his partner-in-crime but his woman.
With the police on their heels, Cassandra and her lover are forced to ditch a stolen car in the desert and take refuge in a shallow cave. With the posse closing in, the Mexican abandons Cassandra and the deputies nab the semi-conscious heroine. The court sends Cassandra to a Federal Narcotics Hospital.
, December 8, 1955: "... A case history of a young girl's descent into enslavement to the [drug] habit, this obviously serious attempt to illustrate and warn against the disastrous effects of the evil emerges largely as an unimaginative cops-and-robbers-type melodrama. Although its intentions are undoubtedly noble this latter-day parable is crude and without force. Turned out in quasi-documentary style — there is no dialogue, the story is related in "voice-of-doom" fashion by Kurt Martell, the off-screen narrator — [the film] affords its cast little opportunity to develop character ... Barbara Marks only occasionally rises to the emotional levels called for in the role of the disturbed lass who drifts from a broken home to an eventually broken marriage, to marijuana, sleeping pills and heroin."
Teen film
Teen films is a film genre targeted at teenagers and young adults in which the plot is based upon the special interests of teenagers, such as coming of age, first love, rebellion, conflict with parents, teen angst, and alienation...
crime drama film
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
about a high school graduate whose life spirals out of control when she becomes addicted to heroin.
Plot summary
Pert and pretty high school teen Cassandra Leigh opts for the easy life of a pot-smoking biker in order to avoid the demands of her neurotic career mom. When Cassandra's grades slip and her college plans fall by the wayside, she marries a love-smitten high school swain. The devotion of her husband bores the young bride: she looks up her old thrill-seeking buddies and splits from home.It isn't long before she's peddling dope on the streets in order to finance her growing list of addictions. A young Mexican takes the wayward girl under his wing and makes her not only his partner-in-crime but his woman.
With the police on their heels, Cassandra and her lover are forced to ditch a stolen car in the desert and take refuge in a shallow cave. With the posse closing in, the Mexican abandons Cassandra and the deputies nab the semi-conscious heroine. The court sends Cassandra to a Federal Narcotics Hospital.
Cast
- Barbara Marks as Cassandra Leigh
- Kurt Martell as Narrator, as Lt. David Jason)
- Robert A. Sherry as Lieutenant David Jason
- Bamlet Lawrence Price, Jr. as Miguel 'Cholo' Martinez
- Lucille Price as Cassandra's Mother)
- Bamlet Lawrence Price, Sr. as Cassandra's Current Step-Father
- William Kendell as Russell Packard
- Robert Norman as Johnny Adams
- Elaine Lindenbaum as Margo Rossi
- Joel Climenhaga as Sven Bergman
- Joe Popavich as Al Stutzman
- Anthony Gorsline as Jimmy Sanchez
- Victor Schwartz as Sergeant Schwartz
Reviews
The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, December 8, 1955: "... A case history of a young girl's descent into enslavement to the [drug] habit, this obviously serious attempt to illustrate and warn against the disastrous effects of the evil emerges largely as an unimaginative cops-and-robbers-type melodrama. Although its intentions are undoubtedly noble this latter-day parable is crude and without force. Turned out in quasi-documentary style — there is no dialogue, the story is related in "voice-of-doom" fashion by Kurt Martell, the off-screen narrator — [the film] affords its cast little opportunity to develop character ... Barbara Marks only occasionally rises to the emotional levels called for in the role of the disturbed lass who drifts from a broken home to an eventually broken marriage, to marijuana, sleeping pills and heroin."