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Jay's Gender Benders
@jaysgenderbenders.bsky.social
The Trading Post (www.tradingpostinn.com), Encyclopedia of GB Media, and other stories of gender-bending comedy/drama/adventure when they come. Pretty PG-13 and solidly he/him, considering the material. Mostly movies on main: @jayseaver.bsky.social
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This entry in the #EncyclopediaOfGenderBendingMedia#TFTF

Still of Virginia Christie looking at Burt Lancaster looking at Ava Gardner in That Dress and the text: Reborn (1946) Director: Robert Siodmak Writer: Curt Siodmak Stars: Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Virginia Christine, Sam Levene (continued)
Shot in the back after what was supposed to be his last job - an armored-car heist that would give him enough money to marry secretary Millie Lasseter (Virginia Christine) and leave crime behind, Rene Street (Kirk Douglas) died - but not for long! Awakening on a bus months later as a beautiful woman (Ava Gardner), Rene discovers that his (or her, as the case may be) partner Anton (Burt Lancaster) has been comforting the grieving Millie. Taking a job as a singer given the stage name "Rene Narciso" by smitten nightclub manager Louie Condor (Sam Levene), she sets out to seduce Anton in the hope that it will lead her to their score - and revenge! Though telling herself that she is doing this to protect Millie, he begins to suspect that Millie may have manipulated Anton from the start. Or is that just her new body reacting to Anton's charm and good looks? (continued)
A rare collaboration between brothers Robert and Curt Siodmak, with Robert's crime bona fides more on display than Curt's flair for the fantastic, it's also notable for being an early role for Kirk Douglas and the persistent rumors of an lost scene that featured a passionate kiss between Ava Gardner and Virginia Christine, as well as an alternate version ("The Avenging Angel") that rewrote the story such that the two Renes were siblings, substituting Gardner's voice for Douglas's in the narration. (continued)
Once filming started, it became quite clear that there was nothing masculine about Ava Gardner, leading the Siodmaks to beef up Sam Leven's part as a love interest and re-write the climactic scene so that she kills her perceived tormentor with poison, rather than a knife. In some ways, this worked in the film's favor - comedic scenes of her struggling with make-up, high heels, and feminine attire being replaced with lines about how ruining men was easy made Rene more of a femme fatale, especially with comments that this body "knows what to do" combining with Rene's indifference to the idea that said body may have had a life before (s)he was in it. Gardner was game for what the brothers Siodmak were going for, but the film is mostly a curiosity - though there is still lively debate about the last line of narration - "even if I only serve five years, I'll still be in this prison for the rest of my life" - being delivered by Gardner rather than Douglas.
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JG
Jay's Gender Benders
@jaysgenderbenders.bsky.social
The Trading Post (www.tradingpostinn.com), Encyclopedia of GB Media, and other stories of gender-bending comedy/drama/adventure when they come. Pretty PG-13 and solidly he/him, considering the material. Mostly movies on main: @jayseaver.bsky.social
20 followers25 following234 posts
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