It doesn’t take a great actress to be a great bad girl in the movies. All it takes sometimes is for it to be believable when men fall under her spell and when other women hate her. She can bungle her way through snappy dialogue and have all of the resonance of a pile of potato skins in emotional moments, but if she has a certain twinkle in her eye and looks good in a tight sweater, she gets a pass.
Cleo Moore gets a pass.
She’s not a true bad seed here. She’s just lost. Like Moore herself, fumbling at her acting, her character here fumbles her way to success and then fucks up her life for it. We like her right away because she’s a pretty lady of modest means who refuses to sleep around to get ahead. Instead, she puts all of her time into becoming a great photographer. Sure, she uses her looks at first to get a job wearing a leotard and fishnets while she takes photos of nightclub patrons, but when she becomes the photographer of choice for New York City’s high society, it’s due to pure cleverness. Eventually, she starts alienating the people who love her most. Then she accidentally snaps a couple of hot potato pics that ruin her reputation and put her in danger. Can a young Richard Crenna, as a journalist who knows what’s good for her, save her shapely ass? See this little eighty-minute ridiculous wonder and find out. I liked it.