David Stenn had just finished writing a biography of Jean Harlow when he discovered the story of Patricia Douglas. Douglas was a seventeen year old girl who was one of a hundred girls brought in to entertain a group of MGM film sellers who were partying in Hollywood at a convention. She was sexually assaulted by one of them. There is incredible newsreel footage of the film sellers' arrival, MGM chairman Louis B. Mayer, and Douglas' attacker- David Ross. Stenn, in his only directing effort as of this writing, then opens the film up and engages the viewer on many connected stories. Stenn could not believe the headlines he was reading about Douglas' case, how studios had a tight grip on local law enforcement and government, and that the case was made to disappear. The daughter of Clark Gable and Loretta Young, Judy Lewis, is also interviewed about her incredible life journey of being born to Young, given to an orphanage, and then being "adopted" by her natural mother- all to avoid a scandal. Another assault victim is covered- Eloise Spann, and her family's story is heartbreaking. Stenn's pursuit of Douglas is chronicled, and we finally get to see Douglas onscreen. The way her life was changed by the assault, as confirmed by her estranged daughter and a grandson, is also emotional.
To say David Ross ruined Patricia Douglas' life would be an understatement. Everything was changed by the assault. Douglas' relationships with everyone around her was ruined. She was a virgin when attacked, and her life would take a downward spiral that was never redeemed. There is no happy ending, Douglas doesn't lovingly reunite with her family, get revenge on David Ross (who died in the early 1960's with no charges ever brought against him), or receive an official apology from the City of Los Angeles or MGM. She never smiles during the documentary, leading a sad and solitary life of late night television, and not eating well after a few broken marriages. No one believed Patricia Douglas, despite a witness and necessary medical attention, so she bottled it up and shut down for the next few decades, a nobody living in an apartment in Las Vegas and watching MTV for the dancing- she had been a background dancer in a few films, and was still a fan. Or Eloise Spann, who could have been a great singer on film. Spann stopped singing after her attack, and her adult son had never heard her sing until he was played an old film clip (Eloise Spann committed suicide in 1960). As an audience, we don't get to hear Spann's voice- the studio holding the film's rights wouldn't release them to the documentary film makers, which speaks volumes about how things are in Hollywood all these years later. Watch this movie and fight back against our culture of cruelty.
