Movie Screening & Discussion - The Revolt of Mamie Stover

Join Marcus Renna in the Scott Room for a screening and discussion of the 1956 romantic drama The Revolt of Mamie Stover. Directed by Raoul Walsh, written by Sydney Boehm, and starring Jane Russell and Richard Egan, The Revolt of Mamie Stover is based on the 1951 novel of the same name, written by William Bradford Huie.

Mamie Stover (Russell) had dreams of becoming an actress and left her home in Mississippi to move to Hollywood, but soon needed to turn to prostitution to survive. In 1941, she is pressured to leave San Francisco by the police. On a freighter bound for Honolulu, she meets writer Jim Blair (Egan), who is fascinated by her life's story but refrains from a romance due to his relationship with his sweetheart Annalee Johnson. Once in Honolulu, Mamie takes work at a dance hall and bar, quickly becoming its main attraction and successfully reconnects with Jim. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Jim enlists and asks to marry Mamie once the war ends. The war quickly builds Mamie's personal fortune as she buys up commercial properties from people seeking to return to the mainland as well as an even higher share of the profits from the club now popular among stationed troops. When a wounded Jim discovers that Mamie is a popular pin-up model, he ends their relationship for good. A heartbroken Mamie leaves Hawaii to return to her hometown back east.

The film was initially criticized, especially in comparison to the novel, for its sanitization of the more sordid details of 1940s Hollywood and prostitution and its careful framing to appease censors. Later appraisals lauded Russell's acting and the vigor of Walsh's direction.

A clever and unconventional film, mixing genres like romance, drama, and war to offer a fascinating and empowered lead.