Review: The Leech Woman, 1960

Convinced a breakthrough in reviving the faded youth of wealthy women can only result in his gaining incredible riches, an endocrinology researcher (Phillip Terry as Dr. Paul Talbot) alternates between hating his wealthy older wife June (Colleen Gray under a lot of age-makeup) and wooing her for both her money and as a handy body to experiment on. He promises his lonely and alcoholic wife that once he makes her young again they can be happy together, but in the meantime they fight and hurl bitter insults at each other until a chance opportunity comes their way: an ancient woman (played by Estelle Hemsley) who claims to be 150 years old. She comes to the doctor's clinic with a story of how her home tribe in Africa have a method for prolonging life such that 150 years isn't unusual. Plus, they have a way to regress a woman's age so that while she might be elderly and frail, she can again be youthful, hail and hearty using a secret method. Examining her and convinced that her story might be true, the doctor decides that to research this they'll all need to travel to the tribe's hidden location in Africa. The elderly woman (named Maila) will be happy to guide them if the doctor and wife will put up the funding.

The international scope of the tale doesn't translate that well to the screen since the fine shots of the group moving through the thick jungle is interspersed with them reacting nonchalantly to obvious stock footage of charging elephants and other exciting, but somehow, judging by their non-reactions, non-threatening African sights. When they finally reach the African village it is a compact place fitted within a single camera angle that implies there's more there though we never get to see it.

Their aged guide (who Gloria Talbot, in a supporting role as a nurse, earlier called "a mummy" when spotting her in the clinic waiting room) is soon transformed into a strong, young, robust woman (the young version of Maila is played by Kim Hamilton). She sets in motion a series of events that will "free" June to pursue a life completely liberated from caring at all what her bossy husband Dr. Talbot thinks or wants. After an interlude that shows that Maila didn't lie about the wonders her tribe possess, the Americans head back to the states.

In The Leech Woman, Coleen Gray is sometimes thoroughly made up to look her part as an older woman, but more often she isn't and looks healthy and pretty with some odd wrinkly makeup effects that can't disguise her firm (and youthful) jawline, cheeks and mouth. But Gray goes at the part with a lot of verve but it is a hard lift to get across the seriousness of the character's dilemma. 1950's and 60's films often used a wife's alcoholism as the manifestation of an unhealthy or miserable marriage, and that's certainly the case here. Once Gray's character has made a few important decisions about her future (with the earnest encouragement of the youthful and lethal Maila), the alcoholism is gone and she is now energetically trying to arrange her world to suit her new goals.

We know early on in the tale that the husband-doctor is more than a bit of a rat (we see it pretty early on but the cast doesn't, except for Maila) and the doctor will pay the price for his rattiness. Grant Williams (he of Universal's great The Incredible Shrinking Man) is an attorney who gets caught up in an instant infatuation with June's niece, who is in fact June reverted to her (temporary) youth again. June is using the ruse of a double identity to hide what's really going on. This becomes particularly necessary as the police are getting concerned about the dead bodies piling up, even if the corpses are cheap hoods and confidence men who think they've spotted an ideal mark for exploiting a vulnerable old woman.

Unfortunately for June the effects of this African method of rejuvenation only lasts about 24 hours and she progressively becomes, shall we say, morally compromised in the pursuit of what's necessary to make the tribal secret work (The Leech Woman in some way seems like a half-baked version of H. Rider Haggerd's She novel of 1887. Both stories cover similar ground and both use the mystery of Africa as a way to explain the unexplainable and impossible).

Despite the title, "leeches" don't actually show up in this film, the title is pure metaphor. The story (by David Duncan, Ben Pivar, and Francis Rosenwald) barely tries to examine the shadowy "why" of the plot which is the lust for youth that is gone is a poor substitution for love. As a tool to gain love the rejuvenation method is a time-bomb, and since the starting point of our tale is endocrinology, why can't the story state the obvious which is that this supernatural whats-it is crossed with the science of hormones. Besides the reactions of some of the more expendable characters in the cast, it would also explain why Grant Williams' attorney character goes off half-cocked whenever he's with the suddenly rejuvenated June (it also would help to inform why Gloria Talbot's nurse character develops a conviction she must do combat to save the attorney from... well, himself).

The horror movie elements are more mid or late-1950s instead of what the release date of June 1960 would imply. Produced by Universal to fill out the bottom-half of a double bill with the more elaborate and higher-production The Brides of Dracula from England's Hammer Studios at the top of the bill, both films feature doctors in main roles (in the Hammer film it is Van Helsing played by Peter Cushing) and each film features the mad idea of consuming other beings to sustain life, and the subsequent diminishing ability to remain human in the process.

Star Coleen Gray throws a lot of energy into her role, and because this film was the only time she got top billing in her long career on film and TV, she said later in interviews it held a special place for her in a quite long resume, though she also said the premise was laughably crazy.

Cheaply made though with professionalism all around, the film is a fairly high-quality movie for the type of low-quality film it is. Coleen Gray, Phillip Terry, Estelle Hemsley and Kim Hamilton get opportunities to push the story forward with energy and skill and show us clearly (though simply) articulated characters. Grant Williams and Gloria Tolbot less so but chiefly because there's not a lot of room left over for them in this 77 minute tale.

Made at a time when youth culture in the United States was building on a humongous wave of "Baby Boom" births following WW2, the sheer commodity value of "youth" is put on a pedestal in this tale much the way the production of these kind of films aimed at the youth market. The word "teenager" was invented post-WW2 to conceptualize this community where disposable income and 'cheap thrills' had currency and could be seized upon if the right product was put out in front of the "kids". Compared to what was to come in later 1960s and 1970s horror films, The Leech Woman is a rather reserved item that tries to hang onto its dignity, though there is a dispairing and even cynical tone as the husband and wife set up vicious background of heartbreak and dysfunction. And then like a faery tale a solution is proffered. The Leech Woman then goes on to show us that the trade-off for gaining lost youth involves violence and death, and it simply can't end well for those involved: and it doesn't.

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Original page May 2026