Search - Single Room Furnished on DVD

Excellent quality DVD!

12/16/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There is something poignant about watching Jayne Mansfield in her last film role. There is also something prophetic as well, for Jayne Mansfield would never be remembered as a Grande Dame of screen dramatics. Perhaps her admirable attempt coupled with the reality of her untimely passing make watching her performance even more fascinating. What Mansfield brings to this role is a mixed bag of hysterics and brood. But we never forget, not even during a dramatic scene in which Mansfield (with shabby Bronx accent) admits to being "in the family way", that we are watching an icon of a bygone era attempting to inhabit the skin of something "mod". SINGLE ROOM FURNISHED almost plays like a cautionary tale for the bombshells of the future. Yet that was surely not the original intent. I first saw this picture decades ago on home video. The source for that video was so faded and tattered. For years I recalled the "faded glory" aspect of the print. Watching this wonderful DVD master was eye-opening. The colors are beautiful and the widescreen presentation shows little to no wear from the source print (except for the dates soundtrack which is the weak link here). An absolutely stellar remastering on the video level. Watching SINGLE ROOM FURNISHED 2 decades later was a revelation to me and a delight. But in the final analysis, this low-budger affair is far from perfect. But perhaps that is the essence of Jayne Mansfield's legacy."

Jayne proved to her disbelievers that she could act!

K. Preston | Marietta, Georgia United States | 02/17/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Single Room Furnished was, as everyone knows, Jayne's last completed film before her untimely death. Jayne plays three characters of a struggling misfit that never was given a fair chance in life. Until the end is revealed, movie goers find that her characters were describing one lady all along. " Eileen " was a mystery to anyone that knew her and her world was in a dark place never to find happiness.
Being a " Mansfield Fan", I truly was questioning my purchase of the film because of her outstanding performances given to The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?....Now looking back over them all, it was evident that Jayne was a very
good actress and even though the film was low budget, she truly shined in this film. Give it a chance and you will see what I mean. Jayne could have been so much more and she proves it in this film."

Worth watching

Fred Sommer | Las vegas, NV | 01/04/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The movie is not good but a lot can be learned by watching it through, even though it drags. The 1950s 'babe' played by Jayne is a period piece, but having lived in Las vegas for the past five years, I can tell the readers of this review that the type is alive and well in this city. The film is about a certain niche, created by men and probably by religion too, and into this niche women step and become stigmatized. The whore or babe is like the witch in the medieval period - something demonic and devilish. I assure you, the values in the film are not out-of-date. The movie also is an interesting source of info about ethnicity and regionalism - espec. Italian and the NYC area. And you see in this a connection to Las Vegas too. The film, if it teaches anything, teaches us that we are far less emancipated, liberated, rational, liberal, etc. in regard to sex and to women than we thought we were. Again the parallel to witchcraft is a good one: naive liberals thought the witch-hunting was over in the early 1700s. In fact, witches were burned in all major European ocuntries into the late 1700s. And 1950s babes a la Mansfield are not only the adult identity of many, especially in Las Vegas, in the year 2000, but are probably the role-models of 6 and 7 year olds. .... the movie in another sense is an epigone of Italian neo-realism. I am adding this last bit just so poeple will be more inclined to accept the savvi-ness of the first part of my review."

Jayne's Last Movie

Perry R. Johnson | Atlanta, Ga. | 12/29/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Movie was released after Ms. Mansfield's death in 1968. Jayne's last husband Matt Cimber directs the movie. Jayne looks young in the opening scene as a young girl who is soon deserted by her husband. Then, she darkens her hair and becomes pregnant and later one assumes she aborts the baby. Then, we are left with a boring segment about a late middle-aged couple who are trying to date. Movie was not completed when Jayne died, so I guess this was thrown in to piece movie together, boring. Lastly, we see Jayne as a mentally unbalanced prostitute who drives another unbalanced guy to suicide. Favorite line by Jayne in movie "Monkey" Even though, this is a low budget movie, it is a great final movie of Jayne's. I would give movie more stars if it had better quality of co-stars and better budget."