The next release holds up somewhat better. The Young Marrieds was Wood’s final film as director, and is transferred onto this disc from the only known existing 16mm print. There’s no mistaking this as someone else’s work from the opening frames: footage of a rocky beach plays while an overheated voiceover explains how humanity came from the sea, and after a few minutes this abruptly cuts to footage of a stripper while off-screen goons hoot and yell encouragement (“Women should be forced to come here to see how it’s done!”). At some point during the confusing montage of different strippers in different clubs with the same two guys catcalling, the audience is introduced to “Ben,” the film’s male lead. He leaves the club, picks up a female hitchhiker, and they have sex in the woods.
The action then moves to Ben’s house, where he has an argument about sex with his wife Ginny (Alice Friedland). From here, the film follows Ben and Ginny as Ben tries to get her to “loosen up,” although he completely ignores his own hang-ups: he is “freaked out” by “queers and lesbians,” but claims to have no “normal” problems (his infidelity is completely ignored). First Ben convinces Ginny to let him take nude pictures of her, then she demands he be her slave, leading to one of the most unconvincing scenes of a person’s bare ass being slapped with a leather belt in cinematic history. Ben sort of moves the belt toward Ginny’s body, which it kind of grazes, to which Ginny reacts with ecstatic moans. This was obviously a very uncomfortable scene to shoot for everyone involved. After this, Ben convinces Ginny to go to an orgy at a friend’s house, and the film abruptly ends at the conclusion of the party.
The Young Marrieds is a much more engaging film than The Undergraduate, and like Necromania at least has some of Ed Wood’s peculiar brand of weirdness going for it, especially in the dialogue. Two of the other three Alice Friedland films on this disc were transferred from 16mm prints: Kiss My Analyst (a young woman tells her analyst the story of how she came to have an orgy with some friends) and Analyze Your Sex (a young woman and her analyst seduce each other with stories of sex) are extremely similar films that have almost identical running times (about 47 minutes). Kiss My Analyst is the worst-looking of the three 16mm transfers, mostly because it looks like the print had gone almost entirely red. All three of the films look considerably better than the last film on the disc, The Adventures of Flash Beaver, which looks like it was transferred from a VHS tape scavenged from a shipwreck.
Despite its atrocious audiovisual presentation, The Adventures of Flash Beaver is worth noting for a few curious touches. At one point in the film, there is a “commercial break,” which expects the audience to buy that they are watching a movie on Channel 69, KLIT, Duluth, Minnesota! Near the end of the film, there is also a “Changing Reels” title card. The film is supposedly a comedy (that horrible wash of white noise that occasionally pops up on the soundtrack is actually a laugh track), but there are no other jokes anywhere near as weird as those two. Also, why would a film being broadcast on TV need a “Changing Reels” message? Such are the mysteries of low-rent 70s porno.
It’s great to have these films available, but after seeing what Vinegar Syndrome does with their adult film releases, it’s hard not to wish a little more care had been taken into cleaning up the picture of these films. Still, between their being lost or having them at all, there’s no contest. And it’s hard to fault Alpha Blue for cramming so much extra content onto these discs. Fans of Wood can safely bypass The Undergraduate unless they’re rabid completists or also happen to be huge fans of Suzanne Fields; The Young Marrieds stands a little better on its own, and The Adventures of Flash Beaver is the best extra feature on either of the discs (even if it is hard to watch).
The Violation of Claudia (1977) and Hot Honey (1978)
Originally published on Daily Grindhouse 29 September 2014
Distribpix has long been in the business of preserving adult film history, but in the last few years they’ve really stepped up their game with their series of Radley Metzger’s “Henry Paris” releases, culminating in a ridiculously lavish edition of The Opening of Misty Beethoven and a release of Barbara Broadcast that is nearly as expansive. Now that the “Henry Paris” films are nearly all complete (a restored Maraschino Cherry is coming soon), adult film fans have been wondering what could be next for the company. Their latest release is the first from their new imprint Sweetheart Theatres, through which they will release double features of classic adult films (somewhat similar to Vinegar Syndrome’s “Peekarama” line). The first release is a double feature of films by William Lustig that he directed under the name “Billy Bagg” before going on to make films like Maniac and Vigilante, and it certainly stands up to the high standard set by previous Distribpix releases.
The first film, The Violation of Claudia (1977), was Lustig’s feature film debut. Sharon Mitchell stars as Claudia, a bored housewife whose husband Jason (Don Peterson) is too busy to pay attention to her. She tells her tennis coach Kip (Jamie Gillis) about her frustration, and he responds by inviting her to work for him as an escort. She doesn’t think she can do it, but Kip seduces her in the club’s massage parlor, and when she tells Jason about it over dinner he doesn’t even blink. She then picks up a young hitchhiker for an afternoon fling, and decides to take Kip up on his offer. Her first client is a nerdy guy who turns her into an ice cream sundae by putting whipped cream and toppings all over her body and eating them off, but they can’t all be that fun. Can they?
Sharon Mitchell is excellent in the lead role as Claudia, and Jamie Gillis is great as sleazy tennis coach/pimp Kip. Lustig keeps things moving quickly all the way up to the surprise ending, and at a brief 63 minutes The Violation of Claudia certainly leaves the audience wanting more. Still, it looks great—this was the era when adult films like this were shot on 35mm, with color by Technicolor. On the film’s commentary track, Lustig notes that it looks like “a real movie,” and it truly does. Lustig was clearly familiar and comfortable with filmmaking, and this is a solid debut feature.
The second film is Hot Honey (1978), which is not quite as good but still an interesting watch. Honey (Colleen Anderson) rejects the sexual advances of her boyfriend Johnny (Jack Hammer), who is tired of her prudish nature and dumps her. She returns home only to be berated by her wheelchair-bound brother Michael (Jamie Gillis) while his Nurse (Serena) looks on. Honey goes to her friend Sara (Lisa Marks) to talk about her troubles (and admit that she’s a virgin), and the two women end up having sex after Sara insists that Honey just needs someone who “understands a woman’s pleasures.” Honey returns home to find the Nurse and Michael in the midst of some light bondage, and the Nurse invites Honey to join in. Their threesome seems to last about half the film’s running time, after which Honey, newly sexually initiated and completely insatiable, goes back to Johnny for a night but insists that one man isn’t enough for her any more.
Hot Honey is very light on plot and very heavy on hardcore sex. It’s longer than The Violation of Claudia at 72 minutes, but it feels much less substantial. Distribpix has done a good job of preserving the film, but it looks cheaper than Violation, and its heavier focus on sex makes it less memorable than that film. It’s even oddly inferior from a technical standpoint, with one fairly important dramatic shot being clearly out of focus, although the film’s extremely rushed schedule (shot in just three days) is probably the main reason for this. For Lustig fans, this will be a must-watch, but aside from 70s adult cinema fans, most other audiences would probably not find much to set Hot Honey apart from its contemporaries.
Each film has been restored in 2K from their original negatives, and the disc features trailers for both films (a “hot version” for The Violation of Claudia and a “cool version” for Hot Honey), a slideshow and ephemera gallery, and an hour-long podcast with Bill Lustig. The real crown jewel, however, are the full-length commentary tracks by Lustig. being interviewed by Nicolas Winding Refn (director of the Pusher series, Drive, and Only God Forgives, among others). These tracks are packed with fascinati
ng stories and information; Lustig. is a great raconteur with a sharp memory, and his enthusiasm for both the films in question and the golden era of the grindhouse is infectious. Refn often offers little more than a prompt for Lustig. to launch from throughout the commentaries, and it’s a delight to listen to him. This disc would honestly be worth the price of admission for the commentary tracks alone, but the opportunity to have the early Lustig. films in never-before-seen quality makes this a must-own for fans of 70s adult cinema and Lustig.. This is a fantastic launch for the Sweetheart Theatres line, and fans will no doubt be eager to see what their future releases have in store.
Virgin and the Lover (1973) and Lustful Feelings (1977)
Originally published on Daily Grindhouse 17 February 2014
Vinegar Syndrome has made a reputation for resurrecting obscure gems from exploitation film history, and they’ve made some particularly exciting discoveries in the world of 1970s adult cinema. Before moving their hardcore features to the new Peekarama DVD line, Vinegar Syndrome released a Drive-In Collection double feature of films by New York-based filmmaker Kemal Horulu, Virgin and the Lover and Lustful Feelings. Horulu made films through the 1970s into the mid-80s, sharing actors with fellow adult filmmakers like Radley Metzger and Carter Stevens. Their double feature disc is another look at the golden age of 1970s adult cinema, when filmmakers actually took the time to write stories and develop characters.
1973’s Virgin and the Lover plays mostly as an odd psychodrama until the very end. Eric Edwards plays Paul, a handsome young man who is in therapy for his relationship problems. Paul fell in love with a woman (Nancy Marshall) he met at a party where he was dressed as a woman and she was dressed as a man. They had a brief, passionate affair–his first–but she was killed in a car accident and ever since Paul has found himself unable to be intimate with a real woman. Instead, he keeps a mannequin dressed in his late girlfriend’s clothes, and when he sees a woman he’s attracted to, he goes home and projects his desires onto the mannequin. This would be problem enough, but Paul’s an erotic filmmaker, and his therapist’s gorgeous secretary (Leah Marlon) is aggressively trying to get him into bed.
Edwards proves that he’s a capable leading man in his turn here, giving a decent performance as Paul even if the film (and his performance) doesn’t go quite as deep into the character’s neuroses as it could have. However, this isn’t exactly a hard-hitting drama, this is porn, and the film’s extended 90-minute running time is filled with more than ample evidence of that. Along with Edwards, it features several actors who will be familiar to fans of 70s adult cinema: Darby Lloyd Rains (Radley Metzger’s The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann and Naked Came the Stranger, Gerard Damiano’s Memories Within Miss Aggie), Susan Sloan (Carter Stevens’ The Hot Oven and The Mount of Venus, Joe Sarno’s Abigail Lesley is Back in Town), Jennifer Welles (Sarno’s Misty and Confessions of a Young American Housewife, Chuck Vincent’s Mrs. Barrington), and Marc Stevens (too many credits to mention) all make appearances here. Director Kemal Horulu uses his cast and his New York locations to the fullest, and while the tone is occasionally a little confused (appropriate given its protagonist’s situation), Virgin and the Lover is a sex film that’s also a surprisingly solid character study.
The second feature on this disc is 1978’s Lustful Feelings, starring Jamie Gillis as Tony, a low-level cocaine dealer who finds himself in over his head with some dangerous characters. His connection Paul (Ras Kean of Radley Metzger’s The Opening of Misty Beethoven) suggests that Tony put his girlfriend Joanna (Lesllie Bovee, Metzger’s Maraschino Cherry and Stanley Kurlan’s Eruption, also starring John Holmes) to work doing nude photography and maybe dancing in Paul’s club. Tony pitches the idea to Joanna, unaware that she’s frustrated with their relationship. She jumps at the chance for some variety and soon finds herself working with Claudette (Eva Henderson, of Carter Stevens’ Jail Bait and Gerard Damiano’s Odyssey: The Ultimate Trip), who shows her the ropes while putting on a girl/girl show for a voyeur client (the legendary Robert Kerman in a very memorable cameo). While Joanna is out racking up clients and bedding Paul, Tony makes some coke deliveries and nails his neighbor Sharon (Nancy Dare, Bud Townsend’s Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy) who obviously wants more from him than just a regular afternoon fling.
Once again, Horulu uses his cast and locations expertly, giving Lustful Feelings a genuinely gritty tone. This is only enhanced by the dark direction that the film takes in its final act, after Joanna becomes so popular that word gets out on the street about her, and Tony finds himself with a shocking surge of jealousy. For most of its running time, Lustful Feelings is just as sexy as the occasionally comedic Virgin and the Lover, although it’s a more “realistic” drama with very little humor. Where most of the action in Virgin and the Lover is a fantasy in its lead character’s mind, everything that happens in Lustful Feelings is firmly grounded in reality, giving it a much different tone. Given that realism it’s not too much of a shock where our characters end up when the final title card appears; it’s hard to believe anyone would be leaving a theater playing Lustful Feelings with a smile on their face, unless they just stopped paying attention about 20 minutes before the movie ended.
True to the established Vinegar Syndrome standard of preservation, both films look fantastic, scanned in 2k from the films’ 35mm camera negatives. The DVD also includes the full theatrical trailers for both films, a nice little bonus and a fun look at how the films were marketed: “Passion and perversion erupt on the screen in a non-stop orgy of carnality!” As usual, this is a top-shelf release from Vinegar Syndrome, and well worth picking up for fans of the golden age of adult film.
The Young Like It Hot (1983), Sweet Young Foxes (1983), Lust Inferno (1982), Marathon (1982), The Sensually Liberated Female (1970), and He and She (1970)
Originally published 5 December 2015
We try to cover everything Vinegar Syndrome releases here at Daily Grindhouse, but that has not been easy this year. Their release schedule has been incredibly ambitious, with at least four discs released per month, many of those double or triple features. After all that and the successful launch of Exploitation.tv (the streaming video service they are spearheading), Vinegar Syndrome has opted to take a well-deserved vacation in November and December. Of course, “vacation” is a relative term: they’re still releasing the Blu-ray of Catch My Soul through their Etiquette Pictures imprint in November, as well as a secret limited edition Blu-ray release for their hugely popular Black Friday sale. While they take a breather, we have a chance to get caught up on covering discs released earlier in the year. These include three Peekarama discs that are all well worth looking into for fans and students of golden age adult cinema.
In August, Vinegar Syndrome released their first Peekarama double feature Blu-ray in a limited edition. This disc features two films from director Bob Chinn, both from 1983: The Young Like It Hot and Sweet Young Foxes. In The Young Like It Hot, the young ladies (and one man) working at a small town’s operator assistance help line find out their jobs are on the line when the owner considers trading them in for a computer system. Manager Loni (Hyapatia Lee) encourages the operators to provide as much help as they can, and to encourage customers to call in and tell manager Mr. Fishbait (Eric Edwards) what a good job the operators are doing. The calls range from a woman looking for advice on how to deep throat to a guy haplessly trying to build an addition to his house. Sweet Young Foxes follows three friends (Hyapatia Lee), Cindy Carver, and Cara Lott) after finishing their freshman year of college as they deal with overbearing parents and discover their newfound freedom.
Both films have been restored in 2K from the original 35mm negatives for this Blu-ray, and as expected they exceed the already high standard of presentation for the Peekarama line. Chinn’s films have consistently been among the best released in this series, and this disc is no exception. Written and produced by Gail Palmer (collaborator on some of Chinn’s best films), The Young Like It Hot is espec
ially fun, expertly balancing light character development and story with its hardcore sex scenes. Sweet Young Foxes is less story-centric, but is still well worth a look for its great cast — both films feature Kay Parker, who is typically a highlight of both films. In addition to the stellar audiovisual presentation, this disc includes interviews with Bob Chinn, William Margold (who plays “Big Dick” in The Young Like It Hot), and original theatrical trailers for both features.
September saw the release of two Peekarama double feature DVDs that are both of particular historical interest. One of these is something of a surprise, because it’s a double feature of Carlos Tobalina films. Tobalina’s work is exceptionally well-represented in the Vinegar Syndrome catalog—this disc marks the 26th and 27th of his films to be released by VS. Tobalina was hugely successful, and worked with virtually all of the recognizable faces of 70s and 80s adult cinema, so any fans of those actors will find at least some of Tobalina’s films to be required viewing. This latest release collects two of Tobalina’s films from 1982: Lust Inferno and Marathon.
The Unrepentant Cinephile Page 91