Daughter Of Horror (1955)

Starring Adrienne Barrett, Bruno VeSota, Ben Roseman, Richard Barron, Edward Hinkle
Directed by John Parker
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A woman who's descended into madness goes out into the city and faces her tragic past, and has new encounters leading to degradation and violence.

Almost an experimental film that eschews dialogue in favor of telling a story with the camera and a musical score alone, the picture certainly has its share of memorable imagery, but isn't always coherent.  After its initial release, when the film was titled Dementia, it was re-released with added narration from Ed McMahon that played it up much more as a horror film.  Taking on an evil voice and summarizing Barrett's dark descent, McMahon strikes a far different persona than the one you're familiar with from his later days in television comedy, but his commentary isn't really necessary.  I do think the film as a whole is an interesting attempt at a different kind of storytelling by writer/director Parker, but don't think the story is strong enough to be captivating.  Barrett, who gives a mostly emotionless performance except for occasional spurts of uncontrollable laughter, is hard to read as sane or insane in a number of sequences, although that may be a point Parker is trying to make.  I think her best scenes are with VeSota, who portrays a wealthy man who picks her up on the streets, and treats her to an evening of cigarettes and booze before sating his own personal appetites, leading to another violent scene that sends Barrett on the run.  However, throughout those scenes, we learn more about him than we do about her, although it is well-done without dialogue.  Overall, I think the movie's a worthy attempt at something different, but the approach would fare better in a different film.