Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Sexploitation potboiler from director Russ Meyer is a fairly terrible opus concerning Lorna, the sex-starved young wife of a salt miner living in a shack on the riverfront, who contemplates leaving her milquetoast husband for her rapist, an escaped killer who caught her in the weeds just after a skinny dip. Meyer's familiar mixture of girl-peeping and deadly serious proselytizing will be tolerable to his fans, however the ugly beating of an innocent woman in the first reel sets a depressing tone for the picture. Script, direction and performances are all amateurish--there must have been better ways for male audiences of 1964 to find stimulation over this junk. Old-fashioned theme song and score, while not particularly clever, may be the movie's only plus. * from ****

After seeing Faster Pussycat a couple years ago, I was so impressed that I decided to hunt down and watch all of Russ Meyer's movies. Well, it's been quite a disappointing quest, and Lorna is just more of the same.First of all, the script is very amateurish. You can tell Mr. Meyer is still groping his way as he tries to tell an effective and engaging story. The characters are one dimensional. They're almost caricatures of themselves. The only time one of them seems real is when Luther apologizes to Lorna near the end. Also, the rape scene is totally unbelievable. Lorna tries to fight this guy off for a few minutes, and then gets turned on by having this guy force himself on her? It just doesn't happen that way. Talk to any woman and see what they say about it. Plus, this guy had been on the run, and brushing his teeth would've been the last thing on his mind. I seriously doubt anyone would want to suck face with him!Second, is unlikable characters. NOBODY in this film is likable, and most are detestable. Luther sounds like Russ Meyer's alter ego - a sexist, over-sexed, low class loser. The preacher is just annoying, and it doesn't make sense why he's even in this film. Jim, the husband, is completely useless. Lorna is an unappreciative, stupid jerk. The convict was a completely heartless, murdering, raping smack-off. Maybe Mr. Meyer was trying to convey something with their unlikableness, but I haven't figured it out yet and I don't really care at this point.Third, is Lorna Maitland. This woman has nothing going for her except HUGE hooters. I love boobs, but hers look kind of strange. You can tell Mr. Meyer was trying to turn her into the next Marilyn Monroe or Jane Mansfield, but she just didn't have what it takes. Her face was definitely not attractive. The extreme close-ups of her face were scary. And her acting skills weren't very good or believable. It's just another case of Russ Meyer's obsession with giant breasts clouding his judgement (kind of like Vixen).Last, is the ending. When Lorna dies at the end, Jim runs over to her and falls to his knees begging her to "Forgive me. Forgive me." Forgive him for what!?! He was out working in the salt mines all day, while she was at home screwing some dirtball on their one year anniversary. Lorna was a miserable bitch. I don't understand why Jim would want her to forgive him.All-in-all, this movie doesn't have anything going for it in 2012. There's not much nudity, Lorna isn't very attractive, and the story isn't very interesting. To be fair, this was made a couple years before "Faster Pussycat". I guess Russ Meyer just needed more time to hone his craft.

With "The Immoral Mr. Teas," Russ Meyer was one of the pioneers of sex films... He knew, however, that the region would eventually want more than just naked ladies winning easily around the countryside, and went for a strong plot that contained a well-motivated but heavy sex scene…Lorna is a frustrated housewife… She lives in a wasted riverside shack with a deadbeat but sweet husband… He works hard all day and studies all night, leaving her unfulfilled...One day, while the husband is at work, an escaped convict bursts in on Lorna and rapes her… She is so enraptured by the experience that she becomes infatuated with him, but when her husband unexpectedly returns from work, she doesn't know what to do… "Lorna" was one of the first films to show nudity in the context of strong sex... While there was nothing really explicit or graphic about it, it was truly shocking for its-time… Today, however, it is quite mild and dull...

Meyer is at his beginning's of film-making (esp for what was to come) when Lorna came out. An earlier commentator remarked it has a very (since it's shot in B&W) film noir quality to it. I agree but it's more like American film noir say -- for the bold rape scenes are over the top. However, if gritty fiction with this type of scenes depicted you like, this movie may be for you -- it's that '60's camp feel that really doesn't let most viewers take it too seriously, I think. An 8 was fair because anything Meyer does I am partial to because of his unique style, independent spirit and sense of creating something different in a time when people were jailed, or at least critically blasted as "pornographers". Meyer was not this though. He was always more interested in telling a coherent, fast-paced story & filming what was going on above the waist -- but spicing it up with (real) buxom women who mostly held the "power" over men (esp in later Meyer films) was his real signature style that will hold Meyer up as the best B-grade movie maker of all time. KING LEER - R.I.P. in that big bosom in the sky!