Single Room Furnished
| Single Room Furnished | |
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| Directed by | Matt Cimber (as "Matteo Ottavio") |
| Produced by |
Michael Musto Hugo Grimaldi |
| Written by | Gerald Sanford Matt Cimber Michael Musto |
| Starring |
Jayne Mansfield Dorothy Keller Fabian Dean Billy M. Greene |
| Music by | James Sheldon |
| Cinematography | László Kovács |
| Edited by | Hugo Grimaldi |
| Distributed by | Crown International Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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93 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Single Room Furnished is a 1968 drama film featuring Jayne Mansfield in her final "filmed" starring role. The film is based on the stage play of the same title by Gerald Sanford, adapted by Matt Cimber, who also directed (credited on-screen as "Matteo Ottaviano"). The screenplay is by Michael Musto.
Mansfield plays three different complex characters and over time many have considered this film to contain one of Mansfield's finest performances as she demonstrates her dramatic acting abilities, something she had longed to do throughout her career.
The film also features an introduction by Walter Winchell who was a close friend of Mansfield's.
Pop, the janitor of a downtown New York city apartment building, is in the hall changing the lights. While there, he overhears an argument coming from within one of the apartments. The argument is between a young woman named Maria and her overbearing Italian mother, who is concerned that her daughter is bringing shame to the family name by associating with another tenant in the building called Eileen, who works as a prostitute.
After storming out of the apartment, Maria encounters Pop in the hall and he begins to calm her down and the two eventually go into the building's kitchen to talk. Maria explains that the argument was about her friendship with Eileen, before then admitting her admiration for her friend's beauty and supposed exciting lifestyle.
Pop then begins to tell Maria a story of a young woman named Johnnie, who used to live in the building with her husband Frankie about ten years earlier. The film flashes back to Frankie and Johnnie on their fire escape. It is evident that there is an emotional distance between the two, as Frankie seems unhappy with his life, leaving Johnnie, who is pregnant with their baby, to feel isolated. The two reminisce about how they first met, before Frankie mentions an old friend whom he had recently seen. This old friend was in the Navy, and was travelling all over the world. Frankie starts detailing his fascination for Navy life and the prospects it can bring to him, before Johnnie, realizing that Frankie desires to leave her for a better life, tries to change the subject. Pop then narrates that a few weeks later, Johnnie woke one morning to find that Frankie had left her and their unborn baby. Maria asks what happened to the baby, to which Pop informs her that Johnnie had a miscarriage. He also adds that Johnnie eventually changed her name to Mae and moved on with her life, however she remained a tenant in the building.
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Wikipedia