Michael Ledo
His film only has part of the ED Wood class as seen in his standards. There is a twist at the end which we see coming for a country mile. What I found most annoying was the sound track. It consisted of the same few rifts on a Spanish guitar plus piano. Wood does many of his regular "actors" in this film. Lt. Bob Lawrence, Steve Reeves would later go on and play Hercules.The film also includes a Cotton Watts because.....they could.
O2D
I had heard of Ed Wood from people in the past so I never looked for any of his movies.If people talk about him, he must suck.Boy was I ever right.I didn't search for this movie and didn't know it was a Wood movie until the opening credits.This movie takes place in a world where everyone has thirty foot high ceilings and a liquor stand/bar type thing.Everyone wears a suit, even when they are out committing crimes.They even put their tie back on before they leave jail when they get bailed out.The main character is a guy named Don Gregor and that's funny to me because I know a girl named Dawn Gregor.The only good thing in the movie happens rather early.We are treated to a great performance by a man in blackface.It has absolutely nothing to do with the story either.None of the characters where there watching him.It was blackface just for the fun of it.So Don's dad is a plastic surgeon who carries a house call bag with him.Because that makes sense.Anyway, Don and a friend decide to rob a theater late at night and of course the door is unlocked.His friend says the guard will know the combination to the safe.The only guard in the history of the world who would have the safe combination.And the guard does know it.Don kills the guard and you immediately hear police sirens.Then they get chased by the cops at a blistering twenty miles an hour and have no trouble eluding them.Even though no one saw who shot the guard, the radio news announces that Don did it.So Don goes to his dad's office in the middle of the night and dad and his secretary are there!Then the cops show up and they know everything.It was literally dark through the entire movie and everyone in the world was wide awake.Did I mention that there was lame flamenco guitar and piano in the background through the entire movie?As if that wasn't bad enough, the ending was even worse.And why does the DVD cover have a man with a bandaged face in a jail cell?That never even happened.Never see this.
Dalbert Pringle
Yes. 1954's "Jail Bait" (with its cardboard sets, its poverty-row production values, its cheap atmosphere, etc., etc.) is a perfect example of cinematic ineptitude like no other - But, hey, that's because it's an Ed Wood picture (which, pretty much, explains everything). And being an Ed Wood production, I don't think that it could (or should) be any other way.Apparently inspired by the TV show "Dragnet", within the first 10 minutes of Jail Bait's dry and clumsy story of murder, robbery and plastic surgery miracles, you'll be glad to know that this film's running time is only a mere 70 minutes. So having to endure the unbearable is over soon enough.One notable detail about Jail Bait is that it co-starred the 28-year-old "Mr. Universe", bodybuilder Steve Reeves, as Lt. Bob Lawrence, in one of his first screen-roles. 4 years later Reeves would go on to star as Hercules and instantly become one of filmdom's most famous bronzed gods.All-in-all - Regardless of this film's low, 3-star rating (which is all it deserves), I still think it's worth a view purely from a nostalgic standpoint.
Bucs1960
How could you not like Ed Wood? Here was a man who loved film making for which he had absolutely no talent. He never gave up, he scrounged around for money and locations, used actors with no ability or who were desperate for work, and is treasured by all bad-movie buffs. He would probably be thrilled that his name is universally recognized albeit as the worst director of all times.He does his magic again with "Jail Bait", an inept film to say the least. All that needs to be said about the acting, dialog, sets, and the annoying music has already been covered on these boards, so I won't repeat it. I'll just say that I wonder how Lyle Talbot, who had a pretty decent career in films in the 1930s and early 40s, ever sank to this level. He was a face that appeared all over moviedom for years and was a good actor in support of some of the big stars of the day. Times must have been very, very hard for him to stoop to this. We know why Bela Lugosi worked with Wood but maybe Talbot did it on a bet.....or not. It's always sad to see competent actors who once had careers, end up in this manner.If you have never seen an Ed Wood film, put this one on your "must see list"..........really all of his films are "must sees" if you are a fan of "so bad that they are good" movies. Ed Wood, I salute you!!!!!!
AD
