The Leech Woman

Plot synopsis:
This Universal International picture opens with Old Malla (Estelle Hemsley) responding to an endocrinologist's advertisement seeking very old women for a research project. In his office Dr. Paul Talbot (Phillip Terry) is serving a drink to his older wife, June Talbot (Coleen Gray). She is an alcoholic and the couple fight over money and his inattention. She has money and uses it to keep her husband in line, he needs her money to continue his research on reversing the aging process. They finally agree that divorce is the only answer. His nurse, Sally (Gloria Talbott), enters as June is leaving. She tells the doctor his next appointment, Malla, is ready and is very, very old--in her words, "looks like she came right out of a mummy's tomb." In the waiting room, Malla confronts June and tells her that she won't have to divorce her husband, "you won't have to: he will die." Dr. Talbot and the nurse examine Malla, and she tells him she is 152 years old. Of course, Dr. Talbot does not believe her. Malla explains that she and her mother were sold into slavery, but they come from a tribe that has discovered a substance that retards the aging process. She calls the powder Naipe (pronounced ni-pee). If another substance is added to this powder it will reverse the aging process and return the woman to youth. The doctor asks for a demonstration. Malla takes some of the powder, mixes it with water and consumes it. She then directs the doctor to perform the blood test again.At home, June is meeting with her lawyer, Neil Foster (Grant Williams). They discuss the details of the divorce and property division. She is drinking and getting quite drunk and maudlin. Dr. Talbot arrives and is in a very upbeat mood. He shows Neil and June the powder and explains that is retards the aging process. He explains that is comes from an African plant and that he wants June to join him on an expedition to find the source. Divorce talks are off.In Africa, Talbot and June meet with a guide, Bertram Garvay (John Van Dreelen). [Note: the cast list shows his name as Bertram Garvay, but June repeatedly addresses him as David.] Talbot tries to hire him to lead them to Malla's tribe--the Nando people. Garvay explains that her tribe hates Europeans and that the government forbids anyone bothering them. Garvay is enticed by a $5000 up front fee and a promise of $20,000 later. Garvay suspects that the doctor is interested in the rumors of the anti-aging power and tells him so.Garvay, the Talbots, and many porters trek through the jungle in search of Malla's tribe. They set up camp that evening and discuss the plan for the next day. Talbot and June get into a fight and she threatens to leave. Talbot changes his attitude to keep her on the journey, and blurts out his real reason for needing her along. He tells her he wants to make her young again. She is furious, and runs off into the jungle. She is chased by a leopard, but Garvay shoots the leopard just in time.The next day they discover the litter and Malla's walking stick. In addition they find her party of guides and porters dead, but she is not among them. They return to their own camp, but are captured by scouts of the Nando tribe. They are tied up and marched back to the Nando village. They are housed in a hut under heavy guard.Old Malla comes to visit Talbot, June and Garvay in the hut. She shows them the plant, an orchid, and explains some of the process. Malla asks them if they want to see her made young again. They agree and are brought to the main building for a demonstration. They are horrified and fascinated to discover that to be made young again calls for a human male sacrifice. The second ingredient Malla alluded to was pineal gland juice. The victim is drugged and struck on the neck with a special ring. The powder and pineal gland fluid is consumed, and results in an immediate transformation of Old Malla to Young Malla (Kim Hamilton). Some are skeptical, but as proof Young Malla shows the doctor the same slavers scar on her chest he saw in his office.Unfortunately for the doctor and his party, Malla explains that they will not be allowed to leave with the secret, and that they have but one day to live. When Young Malla dies, they will be killed by the tribe. But as a consolation to June, she offers her a chance to be young again. June agrees, and must select a victim, and she chooses her husband. Malla is pleased and tells her that she shall have beauty and revenge at the same time. Garvay creates a diversion to return to the hut and get some dynamite, while Talbot is killed and June is made young again. Garvay steals some powder, the special ring, and he and June escape into the jungle with the tribe in hot pursuit. The dynamite pretty much takes care of them.The next morning Garvay explains that he took some of the powder and the ring. But as Malla had promised, June's youth is fleeting, and she starts to age rapidly. Garvay is repulsed by her appearance and runs away from her. He falls into quicksand. June makes him give her the powder and ring in exchange for her assistance, but she kills him and extracts his pineal fluid and leaves his dead body to the quicksand.Sally and Neil wait for June at the airport, but are surprised to find June's "niece", Terry Hart instead. Terry explains that Aunt June will be coming later. They take her to June's house. Neil lingers a little too long helping Miss Hart, much to Sally's annoyance. Sally and Neil are engaged to be married, and Sally immediately takes a dislike to Terry. She is jealous and lets Neil know in no uncertain terms.June, looking even older than before, shows up at Neil's law office to ask for money and her jewelry. June has now deduced that she will need to kill more men, more often, to keep herself young. One evening she picks up a younger man, Jerry (Arthur Batanides). She kills him in her car for her latest youth fix.Neil and Sally's relationship has deteriorated, but Sally decides to confront Terry and convince her to leave town, at the point of a gun. After a brief struggle, Terry kills Sally and extracts pineal fluid from her, but it doesn't work to make her younger. She killed Sally for nothing.That evening, Neil comes over to have a drink with Terry. He tells her he never loved Sally, and asks Terry to marry him. Terry refuses, but won't explain why. The police stop by to question June, but Neil explains that June isn't home. They search the house and discover Sally's body in the entry closet. Terry bolts upstairs, while aging rapidly, and locks herself in her room. The police start forcing the door, but before they can get in we hear the sound of breaking glass and a scream. She crashes into a glass patio table below. We close with a closeup of an extremely old and dead June Talbot.

Tags: murder

Review: