Tonight, we finished off the William Castle Horror Collection with the director's "13 Frightened Girls" (1963). The "unlucky" numeral in the title was probably there to capitalise on the success of Castle's earler frightfest "13 Ghosts" (1960), but once the movie begins, you start to realize that the title is a bit deceptive. Knowing nothing about the film, I'd pictured a dormitory scenario, in which "13 Girls", co-eds perhaps, are being "Frightened" by a psycho of some sort. Such a plot would have fit in with most of the films from Castle's horror oeuvre (sorry but I had to use oeuvre).
Just be thankful I didn't use milieu, which would have been grammatically incorrect anyway.
But yes, the title "13 Frightened Girls" certainly suggested to me a horror film in the Castle style, even though I did know beforehand that it hadn't been shot in his consummate grey scale black and white but in color, which in 1963 was likely to be very beautiful and pastel-like, but also overly lit, as we saw in "The Old Dark House", which wasn't nearly Dark Enough.
The color works well here, however, because "13 Frighetened" isn't a horror movie at all, but rather a Disney-ish attempt at a spy caper, with a 16 year old girl as James Bond, or maybe Mata Hari. The thirteen girls in question are all the daughters of international diplomats, who attend an exclusive boarding school in the Swiss Alps (i.e. the San Bernardino mountains). The girls are set to go on a vacation to London, and - wearing their matching school uniforms - they head down the mountain by bus, toward the airport and, as it turns out, high adventure.
Actress Kathy Dunn plays "Candace", the American diplomat's daughter, and really this is her movie. Eleven of the remaining twelve girls either have only bit parts or are window dressing, while one, the small daughter of the "Red" Chinese diplomat, is Candace's friend and accomplice as the going gets rough. Candace, who is Disney cute (and it is a wonder that Kathy Dunn didn't have a bigger career), is 16 years old but considers herself a woman, which she will announce to anyone who needs to know it. Manly she announces it to Murray Hamilton, the handsome spy who works undercover out of her Dad's Embassy office in London. Candace has a huge crush on Murray, which she demonstrates in full upon meeting him when she arrives. Murray is two decades older, but more importantly Candace is only 16, and anyway Murray is engaged. Still, Candace won't give up.
Finally, to impress Murray, she decides to go undercover herself, to try and solve a spy caper that is perplexing the CIA, which just so happens to be the Agency Murray works for. Being a bright and resourceful girl, she quickly but secretly provides evidence that leads to the identification of an enemy spy. She sends a letter with the information to Murray, signed with her code name of "Kitten".
As you can imagine, this movie was designed to appeal to William Castle's teenaged audience, but in particular the girls who would have gone to the theater with their boyfriends or girlfriends to see his scarier movies like "Mr. Sardonicus".
This one was aimed entirely at the young girls, with almost all-female protagonists and a Super Smart Cookie in the lead.
In the end, the idea works very well. If you are my age, think of a film with Hayley Mills, where she outsmarts the adults and is dashingly cute in the process. Kathy Dunn steals the show as "Candace", while Lynne Sue Moon draws both tears and cheers as her friend and foil "Mai-Ling".
The girls just wanna dance The Twist and have fun, but Candace has opened a can of worms by involving herself in Murray's spy capers, so she and Mai-Ling will eventually run up against some seriously Bad Guys from the communist spy agencies, and they will have to deal with the Bad Guys on their own, as Candace has kept her "Kitten" identity a secret the entire time. Near the end, they enlist the help of the other Eleven Girls (none of whom has ever seemed particularly Frightened throughout the movie), to help in a scheme to confuse the Chinese hoodlums who have been sent to kill Candace.
The year was 1963, and so the Cold War was in full swing, hence the Commies vs. USA thematics.
It is up to the girls to subvert those tensions, which they do in full William Castle style, in this case by borrowing heavily from Walt Disney.
"13 Frightened Girls" does have a few suspenseful thrills and even a gory moment or two, but it holds it's wholesome image throughout.
Remember, this was 1963 and we were living in Camelot.......until November 22.
Ahh, well.....the early 1960s. It really was the best of times, when Kennedy was President and his charisma and leadership were reflected in the culture, shaped by giants like Walt Disney and talented craftsmen like William Castle.
Two Thumbs Up for "13 Frightened Girls". It's a lot of fun and will take you back to that era.
Elizabeth, if you are reading I just wanted to say that I saw your latest portrait on Instagram. I mean the photo of you taken by your friend Anna for your birthday. That is a very beautiful photograph, I think, and I am glad to see that you are still around. I hope you will post more, maybe even on Facebook too. The world needs Artists now more than ever.
The world needs An Artist.......(one in particular)
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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