doris wishman: priestess of domestic (in)tranquility

[earwickerwork]

doris wishman films: the dialogue and voices don't quite match, and the camera lingers too long on the trailing edge of, the action. the feeling is of being in a nightmare from which we aren't able to wake. connections between sound and vision on which we don't even realize we depend in waking life maddeningly elude us. indecent desires (1968) and my brother's wife (1966) the latest wishman releases on something weird, complement the nightmare vision elaborated in bad girls go to hell / another day another man. the 50's dream of domestic tranquility grown threadbare and pushed to its limits. a decade later, work had turned men into loveless zombies while their wives long for something different. enter frankie, kowalskiesque brother-in-law: out of work, but plenty of time to be a lover to married mary (his brother's wife) as well as zena on the side. mary's speech to dimwit husband bob pleading for physical love after denying frankie's initial advances is a brilliant standout. he even has time to lament his failure after discovering the affair. almost shakespearian tragedy. fist fight climax which kicks off the film (the rest is flashback) must be seen to be believed. darlene bennett irresistable as girl on the side zena. indecent desires: domestic tranquility thwarted by crazy accidental voodoo practitioner. supernatural invisible hands removing her clothing, almost special effects, strange to see in a wishman film. each incident when he witnesses her seeking affection and protection from her fiancé tom seals her fate further, her body twisted as easily as that of a doll found discarded in a trash can.

domestic tranquility, a gift of the "rational" world, maddeningly eludes like the sensory cues denied us during the nightmare. realism too much for some. wilde's rage of caliban at seeing his face in a glass.