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Released to theatres in 1958, "She Demons" is a quirky film that tells the story of a Nazi doctor trying to restore the beauty of his burn-victim wife by taking the looks from the beautiful women that his troops capture. The strange film was one of four low-budget horror films directed by Richard E. Cunha. The Hawaii native received training in the newsreel and motion picture units of the United States Air Corps during World War II. He took his first step into the civilian film business by making industrial films and commercials. Cunha spent most of his career working in television and wrote, shot, and directed early television shows such as "The Adventures of Marshall O'Dell" and "Captain Bob Steel and the Border Patrol" for Toby Anguish Productions.
For "She Demons", Cunha cast Irish McCalla to play Jerrie Turner, the strong-willed woman who is shipwrecked on an island with two clueless men. McCalla was born on Christmas Day in 1929 in Pawnee City, Nebraska. The 5 foot 9 ½ inch blonde began a career in modeling before entering the film industry. McCalla modeled as a "Varga Girl" for pinup artist, Alberto Vargus. Though she spent much time modeling for women's magazines, McCalla is probably most recognized as Sheena, from the 1950s television series, "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle". The actress was recommended for the title role by a photographer who had worked with her on numerous photo shoots. One of eight children, McCalla was also an artist, whose paintings are displayed in Western White House, the Los Angeles Museum of Arts and Sciences and in the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. McCalla did her own stunt work on the television show, "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle", and was known to joke about her role as Sheena, saying that she couldn't act, but could swing from trees.
Rudolph Anders plays the role of Herr Osler, the experimental doctor who desperately tries to restore the beauty of his wife by turning other women into monsters. Born in Germany under the name of Rudolph Amendt, the actor who is credited under a variety of names, made his American film debut under the name of Anders. Anders flourished in sinister roles, often playing Nazis or communist spies. The versatile actor's last film was "36 Hours", released in 1964.
Though he played a minor role as Sammy Ching in "She Demons", Victor Sen Yung is probably the most celebrated actor in the film. Yung attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in Animal Husbandry. Because of his accomplishments, Yung had a memorial scholarship named after him that is awarded each year by the Chinese Alumni Association. The actor, whose birth name was Sen Yung, starred as Jimmy Chan, Son Number II in the Charlie Chan movies. Yung acted in over ninety films and made over 45 television appearances throughout the course of his career. Though he specialized in sophisticated but nearly always villainous Japanese characters, Yung is probably most familiar to audiences as Hop Sing, the ranch cook in "Bonanza". Ironically, Yung was a very talented Cantonese cook in real life, and authored the book, "Great Wok Cookbook", published in 1974.
Though the film is definitely campy, some elements of the story are interesting and applicable to our society today. Herr Osler's attempts to restore his wife's beauty are interesting because he tries to restore her beauty through injecting gene cells from beautiful women into his wife. He then injects gene cells from animals into the women he takes the cells from. The animal gene cells cause the women to develop animalistic behaviors and forces their faces to become severely deformed.
The aspect that can be related to society today is the fact that Herr Osler is trying to restore his wife's face. For the past several years, surgeons throughout the world have worked tirelessly to perfect face and hand transplants. A face transplant is a radical procedure that is intended for patients with severe disfigurement. The controversial procedure faces arguments from all sides, but many doctors throughout the world are strongly in favor of the procedure as the operation could offer new hope for those who suffer severe burns, cancer, or gunshot wounds. The surgery will attach facial tissue and blood vessels from a cadaver to the patient.
The world's first partial face transplant took place in France on November 27, 2005. Dr Jean-Michel Dubernard performed the procedure on a woman who had been attacked by her dog. The patient is very happy with her new face, but must live on strong dosages of medication for the rest of her life so that her body will not reject the new skin cells. Following the operation, the patient did experience tissue-rejection, which doctors feared would destroy her new features. The problem was solved by doctors working with her medications and figuring out which drugs would counter the rejection. Because of the positive results of the procedures, French doctors say that they are ready to move on and have five more surgeries waiting to take place. American surgeons want to continue working with the drugs before the procedure is allowed in regular practice to make sure that they are prescribing the proper medications.
Though the doctor's procedures in the film "She Demons" are unrealistic and quite different from what doctors are working to perfect today, the purpose behind the procedure is the same. Like surgeons today, Osler wanted to help his wife who had been severely burned and disfigured. His procedures did not work, but behind his warped ways of thinking, he did maintain a small amount of good intentions in his heart.
