History Film / TheLeechWoman

* ButNotTooBlack: The actresses who played Old and Young Malla (Estelle Hemsley and Kim Hamilton, respectively). All of the background tribeswomen, as well, are noticeably lighter-skinned than the males.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Mala states that she and her mother were abducted from their tribe and sold into slavery in America when she was a child. If the move is meant to occur in the same year it was released (1960) this would mean that Mala was born in 1808, the year in which the transatlantic slave trade was banned in America by federal law.
** Mala also states that they were taken by an Arab slave trader, presumably the Barbary pirates. While not impossible, this is highly unlikely, since at the time most African slaves were prisoners from internecine tribal conflicts who were sold to European slave traders. Given that her tribe apparently lived around Lake Tanganyika, it's far more likely that she would have been bought by British or Portuguese slavers.

* ButNotTooBlack: The actresses who played Old and Young Mala (Estelle Hemsley and Kim Hamilton, respectively). All of the background tribeswomen, as well, are noticeably lighter-skinned than the males.

* LoveMartyr: June is legitimately, whole-heartedly, pathetically in love with Paul.

For the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode, see ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E02TheLeechWoman here]]''.

For the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode, see ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E02TheLeechWoman here]] ''.

[[folder:Synopsis (From the [=MST3k=] wiki):]]

For the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode see ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E02TheLeechWoman here]] ''

After traveling to Africa, a woman learns the secret of eternal youth - unfortunately, it entails regularly sacrificing young men.

[[folder:Synopsis (From the [=MST3k=] wiki)]]

* PlayingGertrude: June's implied to be approximately in her mid-fifties or so, and much older than Paul. At the time of filming, Coleen Gray was about 37 or 38 - 13 years younger than the man who played her husband. Justified, of course; it's a lot harder to make an older actor look ''young'' than to make a younger actor look ''old''.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Abusive and manipulative Dr. Talbot brings his aging June with him to Africa so she can be a guinea pig for the rejuvenation potion. Guess who dies so she can become young?]]

* DarkestAfrica

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Dr. Talbot brings June with him to Africa so she can test the rejuvenation potion. Guess who dies so she can become young?]]

* PhlebotinumBreakdown: Naipe alone = slowed aging, naipe + male pineal juice = youth serum, naipe + female pineal juice = Bride of the [[ComicBook/TalesFromTheCrypt Cryptkeeper.]]
* PhlebotinumMuncher: ... and a subject suffers RapidAging if they don't keep supplementing their doses.
* PinealWeirdness

* StockFootage: "Real Africa...''Hollywood Africa!''"

* DysfunctionJunction: Let's see, we have an endocrinologist motivated solely by greed and lust; his alcoholic wife he [[DestructiveRomance psychologically abuses mercilessly]], yet who later [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain loses all sympathy points]] by becoming the titular Leech Woman; a GreatWhiteHunter motivated solely by greed and lust; a seemingly-noble lawyer who later [[spoiler: [[YourCheatingHeart reveals himself to be an inveterate cheater]]]]; a {{Yandere}} nurse willing to go to psychotic ends to keep her man (AND who [[LackOfEmpathy hardly batted an eyelash]] as she saw aforementioned wife abused time and time again); and a ConMan [[RuleOfThree motivated solely by greed and lust]]. The only remotely sympathetic character is Mala, a [[Really700YearsOld 150-year-old]] MagicalNegro who sets the plot in motion, and even she's not that great, considering she has an innocent man of her tribe killed just so she can enjoy a few minutes of youth. You could say the policemen at the climax are not so bad, but the lead detective is smug to the point of being a complete ass even after Neil identifies himself as an attorney.

* PlayingGertrude: June's implied to be approximately in her mid-fifties or so, and much older then Paul. At the time of filming, Coleen Gray was about 37 or 38 - 13 years younger then the man who played her husband. Justified, of course; it's a lot harder to make an older actor look ''young'' than to make a younger actor look ''old''.

* ScarsLastForever: The brand of the Arab slaver who sold Malla and her mother is still present 140 years later, and even after she's been rejuvenated.

* DownerEnding: June commits suicide after realizing her murder of Sally (and by extension the others as well) was AllForNothing. The secret of Naipe is almost certainly lost forever to the world, since the only people who knew about it and believed it was real are all dead, and the surviving Nandos are probably going to be even more isolationist than before. [[ArsonMurderandJayWalking Finally, Neil's obsessive, controlling girlfriend is dead, as is the lady he instantly fell in love with, who was never actually real]].

* DownerEnding: June commits suicide after realizing her murder of Sally (and by extension the others as well) was AllforNothing. The secret of Naipe is almost certainly lost forever to the world, since the only people who knew about it and believed it was real are all dead, and the surviving Nandos are probably going to be even more isolationist than before. [[ArsonMurderandJayWalking Finally, Neil's obsessive, controlling girlfriend is dead, as is the lady he instantly fell in love with, who was never actually real]].

%%* DownerEnding
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Just prior to the movie, Malla had dreams of blood, with June as the central figure.

* MagicalNegro

* DysfunctionJunction: Let's see, we have an endocrinologist motivated solely by greed and lust; his alcoholic wife he [[DestructiveRomance psychologically abuses mercilessly]], yet who later [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain loses all sympathy points]] by becoming the titular Leech Woman; a GreatWhiteHunter motivated solely by greed and lust; a seemingly-noble lawyer who later [[spoiler: [[YourCheatingHeart reveals himself to be an inveterate cheater]]]]; a {{Yandere}} nurse willing to go to psychotic ends to keep her man (AND who [[LackOfEmpathy hardly batted an eyelash]] as she saw aforementioned wife abused time and time again); and a ConMan [[RuleOfThree motivated solely by greed and lust]]. The only remotely sympathetic character is Mala, a [[Really700YearsOld 150-year-old]] MagicalNegro who sets the plot in motion. You could say the policemen at the climax are not so bad, but the lead detective is smug to the point of being a complete ass even after Neil identifies himself as an attorney.

* AssholeVictim: June's last tie to morality after she starts killing seems to be her choice of victims, most of who were crimes of passion. Talbot's an obvious example. Sally was threatening to kill her if she didn't leave. David the hunter is where she first went over the slippery slope, but he did reject her. The one time she kills in completely cold blood, her victim is the con artist who tries to kill her for the jewelry she wore as bait -- the film even spends a few minutes showing her rejecting the chance to ensnare the happy drunkard she meets earlier.

%%* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:June]].
* DysfunctionJunction: Let's see, we have an endocrinologist motivated solely by greed and lust; his alcoholic wife he [[DestructiveRomance psychologically abuses mercilessly]], yet who later [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain loses all sympathy points]] by becoming the titular Leech Woman; a GreatWhiteHunter motivated solely by greed and lust; a seemingly-noble lawyer who later [[spoiler: [[YourCheatingHeart reveals himself to be an inveterate cheater]]]]; a {{Yandere}} nurse willing to go to psychotic ends to keep her man (AND who [[LackOfEmpathy hardly batted an eyelash]] as she saw aforementioned wife abused time and time again); and a ConMan [[RuleOfThree motivated solely by greed and lust]]. The only remotely sympathetic character is Mala, a [[Really700YearsOld 150-year-old]] MagicalNegro who sets the plot in motion.

* MightyWhitey: Surprisingly averted in a 1950's film.

* MisplacedWildlife: An elephant -- not even an African one, but [[{{Slurpasaur}} an Asian one with fake ear extensions]] -- shows up in the middle of the jungle, and stock footage of crocodiles ''and'' alligators is used interchangeably.

[[quoteright:376:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leech_woman_8330.jpg]]

-->'''June''': It's not working...I killed Sally for ''nothing!''

* NonindicativeName: Though she does, technically, "leech", June is not, alas, a leech-woman. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot * Sigh* ]]

* PhlebotinumMuncher: ...and a subject suffers RapidAging if they don't keep supplementing their doses.

* BatmanGambit: Malla plays Talbot ''and'' June like a fiddle, getting a free trip home and knowing their ChronicBackstabbingDisorder will make sure the secret of the naipe is never revealed.