Video Beaverhausen: Lana Turner Is Madame X!

Madame X is a Ross Hunter production for Universal starring Lana Turner and John Forsythe. It's campy fun mostly but have some Kleenex on hand for its finale.

This is a deluxe production and Hunter and the cast and crew pull out all the stops to put this across.

Constance Bennett portrays John Forsythe's mother, though she was only a few years older than he and Ms Turner. Still, she shines as the villainess of this film who causes Lana's downfall.

Though the film is a period piece, the hairdos and clothes are strictly 1960s throughout. Lana's frocks and hairstyles are fabulous, however, despite historic inaccuracy.

Ricardo Montalban is Lana's backstreet lover, an indiscretion that costs her dearly and sets off her downward spiral. Burgess Meredith pops up as a sleaze bag con man, and Keir Dullea (2001: a Space Odyssey, David and Lisa) plays Lana's son.

It's all about a mother's self-sacrifice in the end don'tcha know! You may giggle initially but you'll be in tears by the end, guaranteed.

Video Beaverhausen: Ann-Margret Is a Kitten with a Whip ~ a Camp Classic

Kitten with a Whip was released in 1964 and became an instant camp classic. Why, Ann-Margret actually parodies her sex kitten image in this flick  -- unintentionally, of course.

John Forsythe co-stars, long before he was known as family patriarch Blake Carrington on tv's Dynasty, and somehow manages to lend some dignity to this trash.

A-M plays a juvenile delinquent who escapes from a home for wayward girls after stabbing a matron and attempting to burn the place down.

Forsythe is a gullible politician who takes her in. Pretty dumb; I can only imagine he's a Republican. Before you can say "scandal," he finds himself on a nightmare ride with Annie and her j.d. friends, on their way to Mexico to escape the law at gunpoint.

"Every man who sees her digs her... but she digs kicks of a very special kind," reads one of the film's taglines. Forsythe is typically stalwart and the cast manages to keep straight faces throughout the outrageous proceedings. Kitten with a Whip bears plot resemblances to Lady in a Cage, all of which are apparent upon viewing.

Available on dvd via Amazon.com on Uiniversal's Vault Series.