Born Joan Lucille Olander, Van Doren (who was married to trumpeter/actor Ray Anthony at the time) was a pretty hot ticket at the box office, coming off of such films as the scandalous Untamed Youth (1957) and High School Confidential! (1958). She was one of many actresses groomed by Howard Hughes, who discovered her when she took home the crown for Miss Palm Springs at the age of sixteen. He managed to get her a few minor roles over at RKO, but it was after splitting with him five years later that her career really took off.
Despite appearances in studio films like Teacher's Pet (1958) alongside Doris Day and Clark Gable, she mainly stuck to smaller independent productions geared for the drive-in set. In fact, along with Vice Raid she appeared in three more productions in 1960: College Confidential, The Private Lives of Adam and Eve, and the very memorably titled Sex Kittens Go to College. Unlike her fellow blonde bombshells Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, she survived the 1960s intact and remains highly active, most recently penning her autobiography Playing the Field and recording new music.
Here Van Doren is cast as Carol Hudson, a "model" (cough, cough) who's enlisted by her syndicate boss (Brad Dexter) to frame a cop, Sergeant Whitey Brandon (Richard Coogan). Brandon is trying to take down the local vice racket and exposing girl trafficking across state lines, and of course the only way to stop him on his moral crusade is to discredit him in the eyes of the law. However, events take a turn when Carol's sister, Louise (Carol Nugent), is assaulted by one of the hoods, leaving Carol and Brandon to team up and take down some racketeers.
Before settling on its current title, Vice Raid passed through a few other monikers at United Artists with aliases including Women Confidential, The Blonde in 402, and best of all, Pleasure Girl. Enlisted to direct was Edward L. Cahn, already quite a familiar name at United Artists thanks to his quick, efficient work on sci-fi monster offerings like It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) and The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959). He had been busy in Hollywood for decades, perfecting the art of compact narratives with a string of "Our Gang" shorts, and had also put Van Doren through her crime film paces a year earlier in Guns, Girls, and Gangsters (1959). Incredibly prolific and famous for turning out product on budgets that would have galled other filmmakers, he managed to turn out another nine movies in 1960 and would pass away three years later at the age of 64.
However, the most famous name here behind the camera is the cinematographer, Stanley Cortez, who got his start doing newsreels. His breakthrough assignment came with Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), but for movie buffs he may always be best remembered for his bold, expressionistic work on Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955). A master of monochromatic psychological tension, he had also adapted well to the demands of CinemaScope with The Three Faces of Eve (1957) and would go on to shoot perhaps the two most studied films by director Sam Fuller, Shock Corridor (1963) and The Naked Kiss (1964). Apparently he must have also enjoyed lighting and shooting Ms. Van Doren, since he went on to another pair of projects with her later in the decade: The Candidate (1964) and the eternal pulp favorite, The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966). His projects may not have always been the most prestigious, but he certainly gave it his all and managed to stamp more than a few quick potboilers with a great sense of visual style.
By Nathaniel Thompson
