Scream of the Butterfly (1965) User Reviews

This "Scream" needs to be heard

[melvelvit-1 · 6/10 · 18 June 2007]

A shrieking shrew is run over by a Triumph and the events leading up to her murder are examined via flashback in D.A. Michael Farmer's office as he and his over-ambitious Assistant D.A. argue with the Public Defender and a psychiatrist regarding the killer's fate. The murdered girl, Marla Marquis, a hot-to-trot platinum blonde, had married airplane magnate Paul Williams after a whirlwind courtship of only about a week or so but two days into their honeymoon, the newlywed nympho meets a beach bum, David, and begins a torrid affair. What she doesn't know is that the triangle has four sides since David is being kept by an older man, Christian Duval, and soon Marla is planning her husband's murder in a boating "accident"...

Low-budget, B&W shockers such as THE NAKED KISS, MANIAC, and WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR? often follow Film Noir convention and fall into that no-man's-land between the end of Classic Film Noir (1958) and the Neo-Noir which started springing up in the early 1970s. SCREAM OF THE BUTTERFLY is a sexploitation "art house" oddity starring director Eber Lobato's buxom wife and plays like a sexed-up ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS teleplay. The rather adult plot, which must have given the trench coat crowd a jolt, has characters that predate the self-hating homosexuals of THE BOYS IN THE BAND- *beep*, "pervert", "abnormal", and "fairy" are only a few of the epithets spewn during the final confrontation but the movie's an equal opportunity offender in the name-calling department: Marla is often referred to as a "pig", a "no-good tramp", and even "Miss Slutzy-Wutzy".

Nic Novarro, as David, spends the movie either shirtless or in skin-tight swim trunks but there's also more than a fair share of heterosexual titillation courtesy of Argentinian bombshell Nelida Lobato (great name!) and her nude scenes, all photographed by cult director Ray Dennis Steckler (WILD GUITAR). There's a romp in bed and in a bubblebath, numerous rolls in the surf, and the FROM HERE TO ETERNITY clinch between Lobato and Novarro during a thunder storm is erotic and unusual. Nearly all the action takes place in a resort hotel, on the beach, or in the D.A.'s office but Nelida does get a chance to shake it up in a disco with fun-loving twisters in mid-60s fashions. Alan J. Smith, who wrote the original screenplay, also plays the unstable priss, Christian. In an oversexed world of back room deals and hidden secrets, the twist ending has a jaded world-view that's worthy of the previous decade's film noir and, although primitive, the ahead-of-their-time characters more than qualify this film for inclusion in the many "Lavender Screen" books that have sprung up ...but so far it remains undiscovered. I think it's time SCREAM OF THE BUTTERFLY was heard.

7 or 8/10 for the steamy storyline (although it could have been fleshed out a little more) but only a 6/10 in execution.

STRANGE MELODRAMA WITH THE BEAUTIFUL NELIDA LOBATO!

[shepardjessica · 5/10 · 17 September 2004]

This mid-60's potboiler has some interesting scenes and SOME of the dialogue is great. The best thing about this flick is the presence of the incredible Ms. Lobato (whose husband directed it). She's a gorgeous creature who's great when she's angry or in a bikini. The ending was quite a surprise. A 5 out of 10.

Best performance = Ms. Lobato. The dopey good-guy husband is well-cast and the cinematography by Ray Steckler is great. All of the attorney scenes are a bore-fest. Interesting musical score. But Nelida Lobato makes it all worthwhile. I wish she'd made more films. Apparently she was a singer as well.

A Strange Triangle with Four People

[richardchatten · 4/10 · 18 August 2017]

A 40's style melodrama for drive-ins told in flashback (with a Miklós Rózsa-esque score by John Neel) showcasing director Eder Lobato's bouffant blonde wife Nelida Lobato as the butterfly broken on the wheels of her lover's white Triumph.

Lana Turner never wore a bikini as skimpy in 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', while Deborah Kerr's top remained firmly on in the beach scene in 'From Here to Eternity'; and I certainly didn't see the revelation in the final fifteen minutes coming!

Double the Cheating, Double the Fun

[sf_fred · 5/10 · 24 May 2003]

"Scream of the Butterfly" is surprisingly enjoyable for a low-budget, black and white film about a complex plot involving gold-digging, a homosexual relationship, and multiple adultery. The movie is structured as a set of conversations between district attorneys and defense psychologists framing flashbacks leading up to the opening scene that shows Marla Williams (played by Nelida Lobato - related to director Eber Lobato?) standing in front of a car and arguing with the male driver. The driver hits the gas, and Marla goes down. It turns out that Marla was a nude bubble-bathing gold-digger who married rich tycoon Paul Williams (played by William Turner). No sooner had Marla taken off her wedding dress, than she was already looking for someone new. She picked up cute, often-shirtless David (played by Nick Novarro) on the beach. Hubby Paul can't swim; Marla got an evil idea. But who is that drunk guy who keeps talking to David? Everyone gets a surprise. Especially at the end. The story is well told, and the camera work is all right. The acting is moderate. The gay angle is sympathetic in parts, but one character is very self-loathing; 1965 was well before Stonewall, after all. Enjoyable short, cheapie film.

Lookalike actors ruin the movie

[qormi · 3/10 · 18 August 2019]

Way too confusing, as the actors who play Paul and Christian look so much alike, as to be identical twins. Hilarious that this happened and it ruined the movie, as you kept thinking Christian was Paul.

A lusty, busty B noir film surprises and delivers...

[ccmiller1492 · 7/10 · 12 April 2009]

Surprisingly well written and well filmed, Scream of the Butterfly is a lusty, busty noir film full of surprises which ultimately delivers the goods....It wouldn't be surprising to discover that the leading lady was the original model for the classic and controversial Barbie doll, with her spun-gold beehive hairdo and over-developed bust and hips. Nearly all the performances are good, with the exception of the inept husband...surely someone who is supposedly wealthy could afford to get a better haircut than an out of date flat-top he might have sported as a teen, and could dress better than the Goodwill outfits he apparently favors. It's no wonder that Marla flips as soon as she sets eyes on the beautiful gigolo David, who's almost as much a stunner as that famous statue he's apparently named after (Nic Novarro does the role proud) The pace and turns of the story keep viewers interested and the plot has more than a few clever turns in it all the way up to the final minutes. The excellent music score is appropriate for crime and noir and it does justice to a well-executed script. This film was definitely a bit ahead of its time, correctly depicting the probability of David's conviction by a jury for murder unless temporary insanity was claimed. However, the only persons truly capable of deliberate homicide were Marla (who had already attempted to drown her husband) and the jealous lover who hated her. David's crime was unpremeditated and happened in the confusion of Marla's unnecessary and violent vituperative rage and could very well have been accidental.

With the few seconds of gratuitous t&a footage cut, this film would have gained wider mainstream distribution and the audience it deserves. Definitely worth your time if you enjoy a good noir murder and lust story.

Slow but fun!

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 10 February 2022]

Beautiful busty Marla Williams marries rich Paul Williams. However on their honeymoon she meets young hunky David and starts sleeping with him! It all ends badly with a surprising twist at the end involving gay guys!

Well-done and acted but very VERY slow exploitation film. Three times sequences are repeated with no rhyme or reason. That's not good in a movie that only runs 76 minutes. Still the cast is attractive and the gay twist at the end is surprising in a 1965 film. Worth catching.

Glorious Nelida and Nick!

[jery-tillotson-1 · 10/10 · 7 June 2010]

Grindhouse regulars must've been shocked in l965 when this way-above-average exploitation film began its cycle on the marquees of theaters along 42nd Street.

Scream of the Butterfly is strikingly photographed by Ray Stickler who used bright, white lighting that brings out the stunning beauty of its female star--the incomparable Nelida Lobato, famous at that time as a dancer and singer. She gives us an unforgettable portrait of a man-eating temptress who has no hesitation bedding down a gorgeous hunk although she has only been married for a few weeks.

She's shown here as the immoral sex-pot Marla who marries a rich man but who grovels and swallows her equally gorgeous boy toy, Nick Navarro. The latter was also an aberration in the soft-core flicks of that era because he was so gorgeous and sexy looking.

Most of the male leads in those soft-core flicks were heavy, middle-aged looking slobs, buddies of the film makers.

Nelida has several crowd-pleasing moments when her perfectly proportioned body is revealed. The strongest and most unforgettable moment in the film comes when Marla and her stud make love in the surf as a thunderstorm rages. The lushly romantic music is perfectly crafted to enhance this moment and raises this well-done movie to memorable heights. As was typical of that era, although Nelida is completely nude in her love scenes, her boyfriend always keeps his pants on, even while rolling with her in the waves. This is a stunning sequence in this unforgettable film noir that should have been better promoted and distributed to mainstream theaters.

My only complaint is the way too much dialogue scenes in the office of the district attorney as they argue and argue about the fate of the young killer. But--that ending is a big jolt--we don't see it coming which makes this movie even more fascinating.

Eber Lobato, who produced this movie, was the lucky husband of the silver-haired sex queen who never made another film--what a shame and a loss. Another factor which raises this art house erotic classic is that both Nelida and Nick were not the usual soft-porn performers mostly male audiences saw at that time. Both were unusually beautiful--which makes their absence from movies thereafter a shame. Both performers were worthy of big studio careers. Nelida died at the shocking age of 47 in her home in Buenos Aires. Nick Novarro vanished totally from the scene. Wherever he is now, he should be proud of his haunting presence as the beautiful David in an extraordinary cult movie that definitely deserves a bigger audience.