Toys Are Not for Children

source: Toys Are Not for Children

Moviecut—Toys Are Not for Children

A sexually repressed young woman with an unhealthy attachment to her father can't make a relationship work so she becomes a prostitute. With a few tweaks here and there, Toys Are Not for Children could pass as an early John Waters movie with its strange themes, odd acting, and low budget filming style, but this one seems to want to be taken a little more seriously, which makes it a far more disturbing, if not somewhat amusing, viewing experience. This won't be one for everyone.

I love trashy, bad movies but this was too much for me. I am a big John Waters fan and thought this would be funny. Actually, it is a stab at being psychosexual. Evelyn Kingsley's huge nipples gave me nightmares.

Toys Are Not for Children (1972) *** (out of 4) Jamie (Marcia Forbes) is a mentally unstable young woman who is still suffering various daddy issues. She eventually marries Eddie (Luis Arroyo) but is too afraid to sleep with him, which leads to her relationship with Pearl (Evelyn Kingsley), a known prostitute. Pretty soon Jamie's daddy issues lead her into prostitution and soon she runs into her real father who left her years earlier. If you're a fan of Something Weird Video then you know they've released all sorts of strange sex pictures. If you're expecting a sex picture out of TOYS ARE NOT FOR CHILDREN then you will either be shocked or disappointed because that's not what this movie is. Instead of cheap sex and nudity, this movie instead goes for a more psychological approach and it actually works in delivering a very surreal and dark tale of mental illness. What shocked me the most is the fact that this film is rather ambitious and tries to be more like Bergman than the various trashy film that were playing 42nd Street. Of course, this isn't anywhere near the level of Bergman but I really do respect director Stanley H. Brassloff for trying to do something deeper. I really liked how the story jumped around from various times in Jamie's life and I thought this added a nice flow to the material. Another major plus is the fact that the director manages to hold your attention throughout even though he was obviously working with a very small budget. Another plus are the performances, which for the most part were very good. Forbes is wonderful in the role of the woman who is still very much like a child due to her daddy leaving. I really thought she nailed this character and made for a very good character study. The actress was believable no matter what the role was calling for. Harlan Cary Poe was also very good in the role of the abusive pimp. Both Kinglsey and Arroyo were good as well. TOYS ARE NOT FOR CHILDREN isn't a movie that's going to appeal to everyone. The low-budget look of the picture does make it appear more raw and overall I was surprised to see how captivating the film was.

Nineteen going on twenty, Jamie Godard (Marcia Forbes) has issues. When she was a little girl, her father doted on her, but his liking for prostitutes saw him thrown out of the house, leaving Jamie longing for dear daddy while her bitter mother told her that all men are worthless. Jamie's love for her father leads to an unhealthy obsession with the toys that he sends her, and a curiosity about the women of the night with whom daddy associates. When Jamie strikes up a friendship with working girl Pearl (Evelyn Kingsley), her mother throws her out, and so she goes and gets hitched to her toy-store co-worker Charlie Belmond (Harlan Cary Poe), who is keen to get his tasty young bride in the sack. Unfortunately for Charlie, Jamie has no interest in him sexually, preferring the company of her toys in bed. Understandably frustrated, Charlie hits the local night spots to pick up women who will take care of his needs. Eventually, Jamie moves in with Pearl and her pimp Eddie (a wonderfully slimy performance from Luis Arroyo), changes her look and decides to sell her body, just like the ladies that daddy loves so much - a career choice that indulges her incestuous fantasies, but ultimately leads to tragedy. Wow! This is one of those totally messed up '70s gems that makes being a fan of obscure cult cinematic oddities such fun. Oozing perversity without being excessively sleazy (nudity is kept to a minimum), it trundles along its increasingly twisted path, benefitting from a winning central performance from the delectable Miss Forbes in her one and only movie role. Writer/director Stanley H. Brassloff's restraint only goes to make the shocking final act all the more impactful. For those who like their movies to explore taboo themes and possess an emotional wallop, this is highly recommended viewing, and would make a terrific double bill with the equally perverse Love Me Deadly (1972), which deals with the uncomfortable subject of necrophilia.

Emotionally stunted child woman Jamie Godard (a solid and touching performance by adorable brunette Marcia Forbes) not only suffers from an unhealthy fixation on her whoring no-count long absent father Philip (well played by Peter Lightstone), but also has an obsession with all the toys her wayward pop gave her as a kid. After getting a job at a toy store, Jamie decides to marry co-worker Charlie Belmond (a sturdy and likable portrayal by Harlan Cary Poe). When the marriage doesn't work out, Jamie runs away to New York City and becomes a prostitute who specializes in servicing perverted old men who like to play daddy with her. Although the seamy premise sounds like ideal grindhouse fodder, director Stanley H. Brasloff and writer Macs McAree surprisingly deliver very little nudity and no simulated soft-core sex. Instead they tackle such dark and disturbing themes as incest, pedophilia, sexual repression, childhood trauma, kinky fetishism, and arrested adolescent syndrome gone tragically wrong in an unflinchingly stark and head-on confrontational manner. Naturally, this makes for decidedly grim and uncomfortable viewing, but the sordidly engrossing story and alarming array of almost universally miserable, messed-up, and unsympathetic characters give this picture a certain bitterly potent sting (the uncompromising bummer ending in particular packs a devastating downbeat punch). Moreover, the fine acting from the capable cast holds the movie together, with especially praiseworthy contributions from Evelyn Kingsley as brash and worn-out hooker Pearl Valdi, Luis Arroyo as scuzzy pimp Eddie, Fran Warren as Jamie's shrewish mother Edna, Tiberia Mitri as the frail and vulnerable little girl incarnation of Jamie, and N.J. Osrag as jolly toy store owner Max Geunther. Rolph Laube's competent cinematography and the brooding score by Cathy Lynn and Jacques Urbont are both up to par. Beautifully haunting theme song, too. An unusual and interesting little curio.

I thought the film did a wonderful job of being humorous and serious at the same time. The horrible chemistry between the parents made poor Jamie an emotional cripple and I really did feel bad for her. Most of the characters are exaggerated and there was humor to be found in all of them. Seeing Pearl expose her nipples was particularly funny and I laughed out loud at that. I love movies where all the characters end up unhappy and this film certainly accomplished that.

The sort of movie that would have been a sepporting feature after the main movie at a drive-in, when half the cars had left! Stupid acting, stupid story! A bit of nudity, barely an attraction....

Man, I would have never survived the 1970's. It was too full of sin and sleaze, too many drugs, too many cults. I'm reminded of this every single time I watch a piece of cinematic insanity from that most bonkers of all decades. Arrow Video has gifted me with one more reminder of why this was the most dangerous and demented of all eras with Toys Are Not for Children. What can you say about a movie that starts with a young woman playing under the covers - yes, the dirty side of playing - with a doll that her father sent her for her birthday being interrupted by her mother? Jamie Goddard is that young girl, emotionally stunted by the loss of her father and unable to embrace her sexuality unless it's within the world of prostitution and daddy/little girl play. She's played by Marcia Forbes, a one and done actress who was probably chased away by just how insane this entire film is. Fran Warren, who plays the role of the mother, was a major recording star in the 40's and 50's. Perhaps you know her song "A Sunday Kind of Love" or saw her in "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd." She pretty much abuses her daughter, who only finds joy in the toys from daddy and the ones she sells at a toy store. Then she gets married to Charlie and can't consummate with him - the pull of daddy is too strong. So she does what any of us would. She falls in with a lesbian prostitute and her pimp, starts making love to dirty old men and finally gets what she always wanted. The chance to be with - and yes, I mean with in the most perverted sense of the world - her father. Director/writer Stanley H. Brassloff only would direct one other film, Two Girls for a Madman. After watching this, I need to chase down that movie, too. Make no mistake, this is the kind of movie that is going to make you sick to your stomach. I kind of like that feeling. You may not. It would pair nicely with The Baby or Private Parts. If you're the kind of adventurous film watcher that I am, you're probably beyond excited to hunt this one down.