Tame tale of a mature movie star embroiled in a romantic rivalry with her rebellious teen-age daughter over a handsome extra. Nothing much happens but the basic scenario does seem to predict the Lana Turner/Cheryl Crane/Johnny Stampanato scandal later that same year. Joan & Christina Crawford would take things a lot further in the near future and since the story's by schlockmeister Albert Zugsmith, it could have been an in-joke since it doesn't work as anything else. Hedy Lamarr (in her last film) looks OK in a plastic way (all her surgeries were beginning to show) but she's an awful actress and can't even play one. One review I read is spot on with its observation that Lamarr looks like a Pekinese whose one or two witty lines seem beyond her understanding. Jane Powell as her daughter is a bit better but too old for the role and an inanimate George Nader as the passive pawn between them thankfully spends most of his time either shirtless or in swim trunks. Jan Sterling's has-been cougar comes off best in this rather tepid mess that unfortunately falls short of camp.
Review of The Female Animal
