When the Moon Hits the Sky like a Big Pumpkin Pie, That's Lemora

I am not sure if it is intentional or not but the title character in 1973's Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural has a name that's an anagram for “l'amore” -- which is, of course, the Italian word for “love.”

Not to give anything away, of course, but I suspect that is meant to be foreshadowing.

For that matter, I cannot help but notice that the poster for this movie...



looks like a forerunner for the poster for this movie.



But surely, that is just a coincidence.

The film is set in the American South of the 1930s and involves a young 13-year-old girl named Lila Lee whose mother was killed by her gangster dad. As the movie starts, Lila is singing a solo number for the local church choir.

Later, she gets a message to go meet her dying father in an isolated town called Astaroth. Thus begins Miss Lila Lee's odyssey in search of something even she is not particularly sure of.

Along the way, she meets ghouls, vampires and creepy little kids who wear way too much makeup and fingernail polish. She meets a mysterious female named Lemora -- who is, of course, the title character -- and she meets a creature which may or may not be her father. The clergyman with whom she had been staying after her mother's death goes in search of her and then...

The result is a rather odd film. On one hand, it is really obvious that the film was shot on a very low budget. On the other hand, the film has a lot of poetic touches that a more polished film might choose to omit. Lesley Gilb gives a memorable performance as the title character but there is a certain showiness to her character that may not be to the taste of most viewers. Since the film hints at lesbianism, modern viewers might expect to see something more explicit than anything that ever appears on screen, but if so, prepare to be disappointed. And yet I can see why the censors of the day were not exactly happy with this flick.

At the end of the movie, the viewer is forced to make up his or her own mind as to what he or she just saw. Was it an actual story? A daydream? An alternative reality?

Is Lila alive? Dead? Possessed?

I suspect only Lila and Lemora know for sure -- and unfortunately, they are not talking.