DEMENTIA

“I still get nightmares. In fact, I get them so often I should be used to them by now. I'm not. No one ever really gets used to nightmares.”--Mark Z. Danielewski

In 1953, a strange film made a very brief appearance at a single arthouse theater in New York City and promptly disappeared. The New York State Film Board had the movie banned immediately when they found it “inhuman and indecent”. The movie was called “Dementia” and if its story ended here, we may have never known it existed. But like a bad dream, it resurfaced in a couple of years and then again in an altered form two years after that. In each case, it still disappeared quickly.

If you’ve ever had a really bad nightmare...the kind that has you screaming in the night and falling out of your bed...you know it will stay with you in some form the rest of your days. “Dementia” was like such a nightmare brought to cinematic life. As years passed, it lingered on as a sort of half-remembered curio. Finally, it reached a point where people recognized its uniqueness and hunted it down. Sometimes, just to proved it really existed.

I finally caught up to “Dementia” this year and after watching this twisted, dark and surrealistic film, I knew it belonged here at Wormwood. The movie was the creation of one John Parker and it remains his only film credit. But Parker made this film completely his own in a way that only great directors like Orson Welles, Luis Buňuel and Akira Kurosawa could pull off. The story behind the film is just as unique as the movie itself and I’ll tell both stories to you here.

Not much is known about John Parker, but he was born in 1925 in Portland, Oregon. His family ran a chain of film theaters called the J.J. Parker Theater Group which was quite successful. John helped to run the chain and he was helped by his young secretary, a girl named Adrienne Barrett. One day Adrienne told John about a harrowing nightmare she had had,  one where she committed murder. Parker was intrigued by the story she related and since he was looking to get into film-making at the time, he decided to make a short film based on the nightmare. Adrienne Barrett herself would be the star of the film.

Parker’s film featured mostly personal friends and acquaintances, but he did acquire the services of portly young character actor Bruno Ve Sota. Mostly forgotten today, Ve Sota was quite an interesting character in his own right and some have called him a “Poverty Row Orson Welles”. He not only appeared in many low budget movies like “Attack of the Giant Leeches” and “Invasion of the Star Creatures”, but he was also a director and producer. He popped up in literally hundreds of TV shows in the 50’s and 60’s but was perhaps best known for being a recurring bartender in “Bonanza”.

Ve Sota played “The Rich Man” in the original version of “Dementia” and word has it he was only paid $30 for this first role. Nevertheless, when John Parker decided to turn “Dementia” into a full-fledged film, Ve Sota helped to finance the movie and appeared in the credits as a producer. He said he also had a hand in directing the film, but this has never been proven.

Parker had an uncompromising view of what “Dementia” was and how it should be filmed. The movie was full of ideas and scenes that were not allowed in the timid world of early 50’s cinema. The story of “Dementia” was a sordid one and Parker filmed it in Venice, California, which was a pretty seedy locale in those days. “Dementia” was also unique in that it did not feature a single bit of spoken dialogue. There was musical accompaniment, but to all intents and purposes, it was a silent film. This alone was pretty much a kiss of death. When combined with concepts like prostitution, dismemberment and murder committed by the heroine, it made for a completely renegade film.

It was definitely an “outsider” crew helping Parker with the movie. The music for the film would be as unusual as its subject matter. George Antheil composed the score; he was known as a musical rebel and a devotee of Erik Satie. “Dementia” had a dissonant, haunting score making use of the theremin, which later was used in many sci-fi and horror films. Singer Marni Nixon provided the eerie wordless vocalizations used with Antheil’s score, which gave the impression of a woman losing her mind. Also providing music was swing band Shorty Rogers And His Giants, who had a strong onscreen presence in the climactic nightclub scenes. Their contribution added a jazzy touch emphasizing the film noir leanings of the movie.

For director of photography, Parker used a familiar name: William C. Thompson. Blind in one eye and suffering color blindness in his remaining orb, Thompson would later become infamous for working with Ed Wood on Ed’s Grade-Z films like “Plan Nine From Outer Space” and “Glen Or Glenda?”. It’s hard to believe he’s the same guy, because the cinematography on “Dementia” is quite excellent.

Outside of Bruno Ve Sota, the cast were mostly unknowns. Adrienne Barrett herself played the lead role of “The Gamin”. Ben Roseman, who was listed as a co-producer, played two roles: The Gamin’s detestable father and the “Law Enforcer”. If you look carefully, you’ll see the midget newsboy is famous dwarf actor Angelo Rossito, whose career stretched from the silents to “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” where he played “Master”. Future comic star Shelly Berman was a drunken beatnik in the nightclub scene. Rumor had it that John Parker himself was somewhere in the nightclub crowd, but that’s never been verified.

So this was the crew assembled to film a movie based on a nightmare, “Dementia”. Now that the background has been filled in, let’s dive into the story of the film itself…

We open in a seedy hotel in the shady part of town. It is night and the garish neon hotel sign throbs like it has a heartbeat. In a cheap room we find The Gamin, who has just awoken from a nightmare. You have to say that Adrienne Barrett is not a particularly attractive girl, yet there is a certain cat-like quality to her. We will see more of this cruel streak soon.

She decides to go for a walk in this dark and lurid slum. A midget newsboy sells her a copy of a newspaper that blares “MYSTERIOUS STABBING!” as its headline. She curls her lip in a knowing smile and walks further into the night. She sees a man abusing what seems to be his wife until a policeman intervenes. An obnoxious bum accosts her, but another policeman arrives and delivers a brutal beating to the bum, which brings a cruel smile to her face. This movie is already very transgressive for its time.

Next a sleazy man in a slick outfit buys a flower from a mute flower girl and gives it to The Gamin. Listed in the credits as “The Evil One”, it becomes obvious this guy (Richard Barron) is a kind of pimp. A fancy limousine pulls up and the Evil One delivers her to the portly Rich Man (Ve Sota) inside. This Rich Man is a cold fish and seems to see her only as another piece of property for him to buy.

As the limo cruises the streets to a destination unknown, The Gamin’s mind wanders back to her sordid past. She finds herself in a foggy cemetery, lead to a grave by a faceless specter holding a lantern. They stop in front of a grave labelled FATHER. In a surreal scene, the Father (Ben Roseman) is shown to be a drunken, violent slob. She is lead to another grave, this one labeled MOTHER. The Gamin’s mother lounges on a sofa in a black negligee. She is either a prostitute or at least unfaithful to her husband. After a tryst with a stranger, the Father appears and shoots her to death. As he enjoys his handiwork, the Gamin stabs him in the back with a switchblade. She has had a sordid past indeed.

The Rich Man takes a tour of fancy bars, with the Gamin in tow seemingly just as a possession he can show off. Following them discreetly on this bar-hopping odyssey is a grinning, fedora-wearing cop. He just happens to have the same face as the Gamin’s dead father. This sequence is an interesting historical look at the long gone early 50’s nightclub scene, rendered in perfect black and white.

Ultimately, The Rich Man takes The Gamin to his penthouse and brother, these digs would put even Charles Foster Kane to shame. First off, the stairs leading to the penthouse are just amazing and rival any staircase seen in any other Hollywood movie...pretty notable for a low budget film made far off the grid. The Rich Man’s domicile is cavernous but lush and he is waited on by a cadre of servants. Instead of getting down to, shall we say, business with his female companion, the Rich Man tucks into a huge and lavish meal as the Gamin sits in boredom to the side. The all-consuming hunger for more of the very rich is on full display here.

Finally, the girl starts to tempt the Rich Man with a lascivious display of leg. His control snaps and he advances on her. But she’s ready...with the same switchblade she used to dispatch her father, she stabs the fat man in the heart and smiles savagely. The dying tycoon backs up to a window as the Gamin approaches him for the final blow. He reaches for the elaborate pendant she wears and tears it off as he falls out the window to the street below.

Now things get really nightmarish. The dead man still has her pendant in a death grip. She rushes down to the darkened street below and tries to pull the pendant from his grip. She doesn’t have the strength to break his hold, so she takes her knife and starts hacking at his wrist, cutting the hand off completely. This scene must have brought the censors to their feet in 1955. While the desperate Gamin hacks the hand off, a crowd of literally faceless passerby gather to watch.

She takes the hand and flees up the street.The flower girl she met earlier in the night is at a corner and she puts the band in her basket of flowers. Suddenly the cop we saw earlier in the nightclubs appears...he’s described as “The Law Enforcer” in the casting. He chases the Gamin through the seedy streets, using a powerful light to banish the darkness.

Just when it seems she will be caught, the Evil One appears and pulls her into a dark recess. The police car continues on its way. She’s eluded the law for now, but what next? The smiling pimp takes her into a smoky jazz club, full of drugged and drunken patrons carousing. Many of them are couples that seem to be just a hair from actual sex. Some beatniks can be seen lounging around. The real jazz band Shorty Rogers and His Giants take the stage and break into upbeat, sensual music.

This scene is awesome, a jumble of dark figures and sweaty faces reacting to the swinging jazz being played. The camera focuses on the band and the Gamin; the Evil One is already looking at other women, but the Gamin is overcome with what seems to be lust. She works hard to attract the Evil One’s attention with a sultry and sexy dance. Even though Adrienne Barrett is hardly a Hollywood starlet, she demonstrates an intense sensuality here. All eyes are now on her.

Then the Law Enforcer, smiling as always, enters the club and The Gamin’s good mood is shattered. She frantically looks for places to hide or escape. In shock she looks at the club window which is on street level...the Rich Man is there, smiling and pointing at her with the bloody stump of his arm. He begins to laugh hysterically as the crowd in the club starts to turn on her. The Law Enforcer is approaching to make his arrest. The crowd starts laughing and yelling, pointing at her and reaching out with clutching hands. She is backed into a corner as her accusers close in and grab at her. She screams in terror…

….and awakens from her nightmare. She is back in the hotel room. It was all a horrible nightmare. Or was it? She opens the drawers of her beside dresser. In one drawer, she finds her pendant...still clutched in the fingers of a dismembered hand. The scene moves back to the neon-lit outside as we hear a scream.

The movie was a transgression on many levels, especially for the time it was made. To be sure, there were some scheming females in many film noirs, but The Gamin’s story goes far beyond what’s typical. We just aren’t told that her mother was a whore and her father a murderous, abusive drunk...we are explicitly shown that they are, as well as Dad’s murder by what seems to be the story’s protagonist. I can’t think of any other American movie of the time that shows this.

Our protagonist is also shown to be a killer...not only a killer, but a girl who uses her sexuality to get the best of her enemies. As for the law, they are not shown in a very flattering light. The beat cop enjoys beating the drunk up...the Law Enforcer projects seediness. He wears the face of The Father...does he abuse his authority the way the Father did? In the early 50’s, police were always shown as the shining incorruptible heroes. But not here.

Jazz is shown to be an almost drug-like indulgence. In that final club, all the patrons seem to be one step away from an orgy as the band plays wildly. When “Dementia” was made, there was no rock n roll yet. But the avant-garde swing of the beatniks was believed to be just as corrupting. Shorty Rogers And His Giants do a terrific job and not just at playing...they are actual characters in the film.

“Dementia” was too much for the mainstream film world, it disappeared quickly. Even in avant-garde circles, it was little discussed. One champion of the film was famous director Preston Sturges, who loudly sang the movie’s praises. “It stirred my blood and purged my libido,” he exclaimed. But unfortunately this was not enough to bring attention to the film. John Parker vanished into the shadows, never to make another film.

“Dementia” would get another chance a couple of years later. In 1957, film producer and distributor Jack H. Harris bought a copy of the film and decided to repackage it. Much of the film would remain intact, but Harris added a running narration to the events in the film. In many ways, this ruins the original intent of “Dementia”, but the spooky, melodramatic narration is so over the top that it is entertaining in its own way. The narration, provided by a faceless “demon” who appears at the beginning in a tacked-on scene, And who is it that provided the creepy, exaggerated commentary? None other than Johnny Carson’s future sidekick, Ed McMahon! He actually fit this role very well.

Harris’ redone version of “Dementia” was renamed “Daughter of Horror” and released as if it were a completely new film. And given how fast the original version sank, many viewers no doubt believed it was. McMahon’s wild narration is such purple prose that I present a sample of it here to give you a taste. Keep in mind this is read in Ed McMahon’s voice…

     Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Mad with guilt and the DEVILS                that have taken possession.

     There. There it is. The body of your latest victim.

     And around it the GHOULS of insanity. The imaginary            figures real only to you.

    The pendant! The clue to your guilt!

     The GHOULS know. They know you did it. But they                   can’t hurt you.

    You’ve got to get it. You’ve got to take it out of his hand.

    Go ahead, the GHOULS won’t hurt you!

Despite its revisions, “Daughter of Horror” didn’t fare much better at the box office than “Dementia” did, although it certainly played more than a single theater. Yet there was one more peculiar twist that added to the film’s notoriety.

One of the biggest horror/sci fi films of the 50’s was “The Blob”, released in 1958, one year after “Daughter of Horror”. At one point, the Blob attacks a movie theater where patrons are watching a black and white horror film. It’s none other than “Daughter of Horror”, complete with McMahon’s demonic narration. More people remember this brief snippet than the entire film itself.

But film critics are always on the lookout for the next obscure “find” they can analyze and dissect. Through the years, many magazines of film criticism looked at the movie, some favorably, some unfavorably. It acquired the shadowy, half-remembered reputation of a lost film.

In the age of DVD and Blu-Ray, “Dementia” has finally found its place. You can find good remastered DVD/Blu-Rays from both Kino and BFI. Often “Daughter of Horror” is included in its entirety as an extra.

Some films are just ahead of their time. “Dementia” fits that description, yet in many ways, it was also purely of its time. It is film noir taken to a frenzied, horror movie level...a sexually charged mix of expressionism and surrealism and a precursor of things to come. Wherever John Parker wound up, I hope that he knows his movie has found an audience at last.