“SCARLET LOVE”—
THE PLOT THICKENS
THE PLOT OF SCARLET LOVE: (aka. It Happened One Weekend, etc.)
The plot of “Scarlet Love”: (aka. It Happened One Weekend, aka. It Happened On Sunday, aka. Scarlet Warning 666), was that the bad twin brother, Jack (played by Palm) was trying to kill his twin brother, Bruce (also played by Palm). It happened one weekend, on an estate somewhere in Texas. There were also twin sisters, who were the sisters of Bruce and Jack. (How convoluted!) One sister was Frances (played by Sherry Moore, she says in one article.); but I, Cookie Ann, played the roles in some places. I don’t remember the name of the other sister. Frances dies and the other twin suffers a breakdown because of Frances’ death.
The film was supposed to begin with the death of Frances, but Palm changed it to a scene of bikini clad young women in high-heeled boots holding hands and going around in a circle, first one way, then the other way. We shot that scene in a studio with a wood floor. The wood floor sounded out of place on a beach scene, as it was supposed to be on a beach on the estate. It was supposed to be part of the dark magic going on on the estate.
Palmer had the sound man, Bruce Shearin, record all sorts of sounds to add to scenes in his film, so he wouldn’t have to rent the sounds in a studio when he edited the film.
As Bruce, Palm was continually running throughout the film, even in a parking garage. He pulled a ligament in his leg in one scene, where he was running uphill. His leg turned black with blood under the skin. He didn’t go to the Doctor, as the “shooting must go on”. I rubbed his leg hard to relieve the pain and that spread the blackness. It went away eventually over several months. He didn’t try running very much after that. He was 52 years old at the time and out of shape. Palm walked a lot, but never ran to keep in shape. He was never overweight, though.
My character, Frances, appeared in a casket and then her twin appeared in a cemetery, confused and wandering around in a long skirted, black velvet suit with a black hat and a thick black veil over her face.
Frances and her sister wore very dark makeup to “hide who I really was” in real life, from people who knew me at the Post Office. That was ridiculous as well, as no one came to see the movie.
Palmer had a good storyline, but kept adding scenes that had no impact on the storyline, but made it disjointed.
Several scenes were shot at a horse ranch in Plano. They involved watching a horse walk around on a moving horse walker and then, the same horse being spooked in a stall.
“Jaws” came out while we were filming and Palmer had to include something about “shark jaws” in the dialogue of one scene. Palmer, as Bruce or Jack, spoke most of the dialogue along with Ron DiSalvo, his friend from the “black and white” film. They were the most experienced actors.
Since love scenes were “in”, Palm added one with an actress never before seen in the film.
Then Palm decided to shoot some scenes with a belly dancer. They were great scenes, but still had nothing to do with the plot.
In the winter of ’73 or ’74, an ice storm hit Dallas and the trees along the streets where we lived, made it look like a “Winter Wonderland.” It was so beautiful, Palm wanted to film it, but couldn’t get together a crew in time. That scene would have made no sense to the story, as the plot happened one SUMMER weekend.
Palmer incorporated his two black and white film scenes from his first “B” movie that he directed and starred in. The scenes were with Palm alone in one scene and the other he was arguing with Ron DiSalvo in a locker room.
The scene with Palm alone had him taking a white dove out of a cage while wearing white gloves. He did some hockus-pockus and put the dove back in the cage. (Again, there was no connection to anything in the film at hand.) Until, he thought of something.
Trying to make a connection in “Scarlet Love” to the black and white scenes, Palm bought two white doves, a male and female, that he named, Hanny and Manny. When we took them to Highland Park to film them, he let one out to walk on the ground. Of course, it flew into the nearest tree. I had to go home to get ready for work, so I missed the ensuing fun and games. The cameraman left and Palm had to climb the tree, get out on a limb and grab the bird. About two hours later, and to the many guffaws of those passing by, he grabbed the bird.
We gave the pair to the zoo after finishing with them, as they crapped everywhere, when they were out of the cage. We lived in an apartment, at the time, so that was a no-no.
I learned much from Palmer, especially how not to shoot a film. Palm ruined the film with the loud music, while trying to appeal to a younger crowd. His singing made the picture unbearable to listen to. His songs were very depressing and lifeless.
“Scarlet Love” became really disjointed when I divorced him, because he had to substitute someone else for Frances.
Palm tried to make out to investors that the film was of the “last days” during the “Tribulation.” At least that was his spiel when I was with him.
It turned out to be a “tribulation” just to watch “Scarlet Love.”
The film had no rhyme or reason in the end. The original script was a good story, but was ruined by Palmer trying to appeal to too many groups of people.
I don’t believe Bruce ever found out why his brother, Jack, was trying to kill him or else if he did, it was lost on the audience, who were laughing at all the goof-ups in the filming.
I know that the three of us who endured the screening of “Scarlet Love”, laughed so hard in parts, that we lost out on the dialogue that could have made the movie believable or at least understandable. As it was, the movie was action packed, with no reason to the actions of the people in the film.
It reminds me of Ed Wood’s life, in the film by that name, starring Johnny Depp. He shot one-take scenes, even when nothing went right in the scene.
Palmer was proud of his one-take scenes. One scene in Palmer’s film, where Bruce was trying to get away from Jack (Palmer as Bruce), pulled out really slowly from a parking place, putting on the brakes several times before he got out of the parking place. It was really a hoot!! Another time he had some over-stuffed beret hats on, and was playing with a dove. In one scene he wore a red beret, like a baker’s hat, with a red shirt and in the other scene he wore a bright sky blue shirt and baker’s beret. He looked so ridiculous that you had to laugh! After talking and laughing we missed the inane plot of the movie.
No wonder it never made the Oscars!!!
The End