While two of those films in my summary are all-time classics and the other one is a camp classic, this one won't fit into any category other than bad 70's TV movie of the week where a fictional 30's legend has become the subject of research by a married couple (Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson, how more 70's can you get?) for a book and possible movie. Wagner's look-alike father was once involved with the late legend whose portrait dominates the Beverly Hills mansion she lived in and whose body apparently lies in permanent state at the mausoleum where she intended to remain beautiful forever, much like "She who must be obeyed".
The problem with Lorna Love is that she looks nothing like any 30's love goddess, especially any of the tragic figures who died early on. Her whole style is 60's schlock, and with Marianna Hill playing the part in flashbacks, newly filmed movie clips and dream sequences, it totally defuses any indication that she would have out-done Jean Harlow, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford or even Dorothy Lamour who plays a rival here, seen filming a coffee commercial then telling both Wagner and Jackson how evil Love really was. Hill is never convincing in this part, and at one point, is filmed looking more like a department store mannequin than a human being, grossly made up and seriously badly acted in movies which are supposed to take place during the silent era and early sound era.
The cameos of 30's stars are more than welcome, with Lamour still gorgeous even without wearing a sarong, Joan Blondell totally outrageous as her fan club president who has an obvious obsession with the dead star, and John Carradine as her former director who was destroyed when no studio would hire him after Lorna had him blackballed. "Maude's" Bill Macy is briefly seen as Wagner and Jackson's agent. Veteran 30's leading lady Sylvia Sidney plays Lorna's all-knowing housekeeper, a mysterious woman who says little but drops enough hints to give away the plot twist at the end. A few scary moments including one where Jackson is locked in a bathroom with leaking gas are intense, but the continuous shot of a man in an obvious Satanistic robe is just plain silly and never resolved after a scene where Carradine sees this character during a rainstorm.
The 1970's had a lot of nostalgia with fond looks back at the past, several remakes of classic movies, and biographical looks back at stars like Gable and Lombard, W.C. Fields, a young Judy Garland, Bogart and Bacall and Rita Hayworth. This fictional Hollywood melodrama never captures the magic that was old Hollywood and ends up being more of a curiosity piece because of its inclusion of the older stars. The same theme would be better done without the horror elements when Billy Wilder went back down "Sunset Boulevard" movie with the underrated "Fedora".
The problem with Lorna Love is that she looks nothing like any 30's love goddess, especially any of the tragic figures who died early on. Her whole style is 60's schlock, and with Marianna Hill playing the part in flashbacks, newly filmed movie clips and dream sequences, it totally defuses any indication that she would have out-done Jean Harlow, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford or even Dorothy Lamour who plays a rival here, seen filming a coffee commercial then telling both Wagner and Jackson how evil Love really was. Hill is never convincing in this part, and at one point, is filmed looking more like a department store mannequin than a human being, grossly made up and seriously badly acted in movies which are supposed to take place during the silent era and early sound era.
The cameos of 30's stars are more than welcome, with Lamour still gorgeous even without wearing a sarong, Joan Blondell totally outrageous as her fan club president who has an obvious obsession with the dead star, and John Carradine as her former director who was destroyed when no studio would hire him after Lorna had him blackballed. "Maude's" Bill Macy is briefly seen as Wagner and Jackson's agent. Veteran 30's leading lady Sylvia Sidney plays Lorna's all-knowing housekeeper, a mysterious woman who says little but drops enough hints to give away the plot twist at the end. A few scary moments including one where Jackson is locked in a bathroom with leaking gas are intense, but the continuous shot of a man in an obvious Satanistic robe is just plain silly and never resolved after a scene where Carradine sees this character during a rainstorm.
The 1970's had a lot of nostalgia with fond looks back at the past, several remakes of classic movies, and biographical looks back at stars like Gable and Lombard, W.C. Fields, a young Judy Garland, Bogart and Bacall and Rita Hayworth. This fictional Hollywood melodrama never captures the magic that was old Hollywood and ends up being more of a curiosity piece because of its inclusion of the older stars. The same theme would be better done without the horror elements when Billy Wilder went back down "Sunset Boulevard" movie with the underrated "Fedora".