"Single Room Furnished" was the last film of the once-celebrated Jayne Mansfield. Not surprisingly, given the unfortunate state of her career, she was cast as a bitter, used-up prostitute. The film is ostensibly a dramatization of her sad life and times. Because she died before it was completed,it ended up on the shelf, until the director (and Mansfield's ex-hubby) Matt Cimber, made the decision to finish the film. In order to release it to capitalize on the lurid headlines generated by her untimely death, he added an additional story involving a singularly unappealing middle-aged couple that stops the film cold, and totally negates any interest it might otherwise have had. Mansfield, looking blowzy and tired, may be the main interest here, but she's done in by the pathetic script and the surrounding cast of no name, no talent performers, all of who seem to want to get off-camera as soon as possible. All except Charley and Flo, the characters played by the actors hired to complete the picture, who sigh, grunt, moan and whimper about the sad state of their lives. Not nearly as much as the critics who were forced to endure this film, however, or the audiences who were subjected to it during it's mercifully short release. Jayne gave a valid performance in "A Guide for the Married Man" shortly before her death, and that would have been a more fitting end to her (modest) career. Anyone who makes it all the way through this film (like I did) deserves what they get.
Review of Single Room Furnished
