TYTD Reviews

Talk about ending things on a wimper instead of a bang, we've finally reached the end of AGFA/Something Weirds 'Doris Wishman' trilogy, and we're seeing things off with 'The Prince and the Nature Girl'. known in Germany as 'Nackt im Sommerwind'. How do I know thats what the films called in Germany? Because at some point this film was 'lost' along with 2 other nudist/'nudie cutie' movies that Wishman shot in the early/mid 60's. and a decade or two later a print of this film was found in a German film archive with only the german audio track and US English transcript surviving…To this day, thats the only version of this film available (The other 2 films I mentioned are still lost.)

Not that we're exactly losing a 'Gold Standard' Wishman effort here. Approximately 75% of this film is literally just recycled footage from Doris's other nudist films, including direct exerts from her other movies, outtakes and deleted scenes reformatted to give them new context and spliced in to approximately 25%'s worth of 'new footage', with the aim of creating a story.

The 'story' follows a chap called 'Frank Prince' who decides to visit a nudist camp, enjoys it, and falls madly in love with 'Eve' a mysterious woman at the camp who also takes a shine to him. Unbeknownst to Frank however, Eve has a sister called Sue who looks very similar to Eve and who works alongside Frank. Sue is totally smitten with Frank, Eve can take or leave him…This film has a fully unbroken 5 minute sequence of trees and flowers with an unedited library soundtrack running over the top of it and nothing else.

The new footage is the only thing that saves me from absolutely hating this film. and even then its only a reprise in so much that being 'Hated' is better than being dubbed a 'Scourge of Humanity'.

The new footage is drab, uninteresting, the characters arnt fun, the story is very loose, light handed and doesnt really do anything interesting. the pacings awful, the recycling element is piss weak to the point that I actually got annoyed that SO MUCH of this film is just recycled footage.

The German only audio track made it even harder to follow an already meandering and plodding script. And the ending wasnt so much a twist, more an attempt to deceive the audience. The fact this isnt the WORST Doris Wishman film in my opinion, speaks volumes about the quality of Doris Wishmans productions…

A truely lazy effort, the only thing I can say this film has going for it, is I believe its a VERY early opportunity to see Doris Wishmans Apartment (probably for the first time)…Otherwise, unless your trying to learn German (and even on that point, its not exactly a great resource) dont bother with this one. truly a massive waste of time.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-prince-and-the-nature-girl/

The penultimate feature of 'Doris Wishman: The Daylight Years' finds us watching 'Diary of a Nudist' an early turn for Wishman, her 3rd Nudist film to be exact, and theres definitely a refinement in her film making with this entry.

This time around our film follows 'Stacey' a reporter for a local newspaper who's been put onto an 'expose' piece by her editor 'Arthur'. While out hunting one weekend, Arthur managed to stumble on a nudist colony, and; armed with only limited knowledge at what goes on at these camps. He charges Stacey with the job of going undercover as a patron of the camp to learn about the Nudist lifestyle, and then spin it into a hit piece to EXPOSE these nudie loving freaks for the sick perverts they all TRULY ARE!!!

But after getting a tour of the camp, and spending several weeks integrating with the locals. Stacey finds herself actually quite surprised by just how friendly, communal and open the nudist community are, and how supportive they are of her getting into the lifestyle. Putting Stacey in a difficult situation of whether to double cross her new friends for the sake of a 'hit' piece, or whether to confront her editor about the REAL conditions of the camp, and potentially lose her job in the process.

Not really a whole lot to say on this one ultimately; Its a definite improvement in my opinion plot wise over 'Hideout in the suns' broken and bloated narrative, and it seems to have more going on with it than 'Nude on the Moon' (even if the visuals arnt quite as up to snuff. The plot here feels a bit more refined, a bit more pointed and actually feels like it has direction, flow and intention.

Theres a clear 3 act structure, it keeps a relatively good pacing, it doesnt seem to sag really. Though, as is to be expected, this being a 'Nudie Cutie' film, do expect an UNGODLY amount of time following naked people around as they engage in day to day activities…

The characters are all well defined and get a good degree of development across the three acts leading to a rare and welcome 'satisfying ending' for a Doris Wishman production for once! Its maybe still a little on the slower side for a modern audience, but it works fine enough as a high level narrative + atmosphere piece to kill 71 minutes of your time.

Direction here is a little more simplistic. But, as i've learned watching Doris Wishman movies, the less Doris tries to 'push the boat out' and get weird or interesting with cine and scene direction. The more solid, stable and sturdy the production becomes. This isnt wow-ing anyone. Its a fairly basic, largely static production, Its not as vibrant or colourful as 'Nude on the Moon' and later films would handle the direction much better than whats here. But what IS here is a largely solid production thats engaging, light and gets the job done. Nothing too fancy. Its shooting for function over form.

On the cine front, its much the same, functional, gets the job done. Not a whole lot to say, compositions are largely fine, the underwater footage is a novelty for 1961, shots are largely in focus, look fine and make sense. sequences could have done with more B-roll and cutaway footage to smooth over the rougher cuts. But this was likely shot on a low/no budget with slim to no time for reshoots or cutaways. So I'll give it a pass.

Our lead cast members are Davee Decker and Norman Casserley. And both of them are okay, a little stiff in places on line delivery and physicality on screen. But i've seen far worse from Wishman, they dont do anything to knock your socks off, but they're a solid enough pair of leads. The supporting cast are largely mute, and apart from a few awkward moments where we either have nudists who dont know how to act natural on camera, or models who dont know how to act casual while nude and out in the open air. they're all just about passably fine.

'Diary of a Nudist' isnt the worst of Doris from this era. In fact, if you were going to exclusively check out her 'naturism' era, this is probably a pretty solid foot in the door for what to expect. Not her best, far from her worst. Its absolutely middle of the road, one I could see myself catching again at some point. Though absolutely not for everyone.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/diary-of-a-nudist/

One i've logged multiple times, but apparently never written about. Im going to keep it simple. Robocop is my favourite Paul Verhoeven film, and very likely in my personal top 10 science fiction movies ever made.

Tonight, I watched the 'Directors cut' which is slightly longer than the 'Theatrical Cut', I personally marginally prefer the 'Directors Cut' because the only thing better than 'Robocop' is 'Longer Robocop'.

Seriously. I dont really have much more to add than that. The script is wonderfully acidic and scathing of corporate America and on late stage capitalism (a theme that only becomes more and more fruitful with every passing year). The characters are superb, the pacing is superb, the tone is a perfect blend of graphic violence, pitch black humour, bleak narratives whimsy. The dialogue is expertly crafted and more or less quotable from tail to snout.

The directions glorious with some fantastic visions being painted by Verhoeven, excellent casting direction and a clear and striking vision that makes all other attempts at similar stories pail in comparison.

The cine has a sense of grandness to it, theres some fantastic stop motion work along side some incredible practical effects (and some less than incredible effects that are now particularly entertaining to watch!) sequences are lovingly crafted and combined with the script create a wonderful potential for subtext or multiple interpretations of the plotting and narrative (something to keep film scholars talking over their pints for many a bawdy evening)

The performances are near perfect. Peter Weller is limited on how his performance can be played and ABSOLUTELY nails the brief. Kurtwood Smith as lead henchman Clarence is probably one of my favourite acted performances of all time. And a supporting cast consisting of Ray Wise, Miguel Ferrer (Who's turn here is another one of my all time favourite acted performances on film), Ronnie Cox and more…they're all incredible, dont miss a beat, give THE best line reads i've ever seen and are just…SO perfectly suited for this movie…I mean, they even have Dan O'Herlihy for crying out loud!

Add to this an astonishing orchestral meets electronic score that is almost as iconic as the film itself is, and you have just…a master piece of work on your hands. I love Robocop very dearly, I can absolutely wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest, frankly, the question I have for *YOU* is, when did *YOU* last watch 'Robocop'? if the answer is anything other than 'At least once in the past month', you should probably go and fix that.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/robocop/2/

A somewhat tepid offering from Doris Wishman, 'Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls' is really a two part story, glued together with the same type of 'naturist' footage shown excessively in most Doris Wishman 'Nudie Cutie' productions…I swear to god, if I have to watch one more set of shots of nude couples playing 'suction cup archery' i'll scream.

So the primary plot follows Thomas and Annie, a pair who work for A chap called 'Bill'. Bill is a straight shooter with only two rules 'No Funny Business' and 'No married couples working together'…and for Thomas and Annie, thats a problem…Because not only are they working together and married, but they're also both Nudists. and they have to hide both of those things from their boss, otherwise they'll be out on the unemployment line.

Well, as you can imagine, it doesnt take long for Thomas to be caught out, when he leaves his 'Naturist business card' on the ground in Bills office by mistake. Out of the job, Bill retreats to the nudist camp while Annie continues to work. While at the retreat, Thomas is offered a temporary job working at the camp and quickly becomes a star employee.

This is where the 2nd part of the story picks up as Thomas bumps into Charles, a chap who's VERY good friends with Bill…and also is a nudist. After explaining whats happened, Charles is mortified that Bill would behave in such a way, and with that, he arranges for Bill to attend the nudist camp for a getaway weekend. Bill doesnt KNOW he's going to the nudist camp for the weekend, until he arrives. At which point he's very much against the idea, and also shocked to find out that Annie and Thomas are married.

Nevertheless Charles implores Bill to give the lifestyle a chance, and what follows is an extended set of scenes of the idyllic Nudist lifestyle, with the hope that Bill will see the error of his ways and take the couple back.

I didnt really get on with this one. the plots themselves were fine, and I appreciate that the (largely male) audience coming to this film were really more there for the nudity than the story. But the plot for this one feels so threadbare and thin, that it might as well be translucent. The main plot of this film, is a side plot that lasts no more than 10 minutes in other Wishman films like 'Another Day, Another Man'. Here? its strung out to over half the films runtime, and heavily subsidized with 'Nudie Cutie' footage that, if I didnt know any better, i'd assume was simply recycled from Doris's other Naturist films from 1960 – 1963.

The pacings lumpy and unpleasent, the tones inconsistent and constantly broken up with stock footage, the characters are largely uninteresting and unremarkable. There are flecks of Camp studded into this production, but not enough to really save it. Its just a kind of dull, very lightweight production.

The direction feels inconsistent and a bit stale too, not a lot of noteworthy production choices, the cast all feel a bit aimless within the shot frame, and the ACTUAL nudist footage also feels a lot less like a curated and managed experience, and more like the nudists told Doris what they were going to do that day, and Doris could take or leave what she wanted to film, because they wernt taking orders from anyone.

As such, the cine feels rough around the edges too, we do still get a nice colourful and vibrant set of shots, but it all feels a bit aimless. the sequences feel roughly composed as well…very much as if this was a working print cut rather than a polished and finished product.

Add to this the fact that the main casts performances are all very muted, very static, and that the dialogue on offer isnt exactly 'top craft' and that the supporting cast are predominantly mute for 99% of the runtime. and 'Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls' ultiamtely just kind of falls through the cracks. Not interesting or memorable enough to stand out agains the tidle wave of 'Nudie Cutie'/ Naturism movies that came out during this time, and without enough of a hook to make it worth excavating in the year of our lord 2026.

I cant recommend this one, Its not really a great jumping on point either, there are better Wishman productions out there, and definitely better Wishman directed naturism productions. One for only the hardcore fans I fear…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/gentlemen-prefer-nature-girls/

After a strong opening, 'The Daylight Years' of the Doris Wishman collection slows down considerably with 'Hideout in the Sun' the nudist 'espionage' flick you never knew you never not needed never.

The plot? Two criminals kidnap a young woman and go on the run, they realise that this young woman is in fact, a nudist who's on her way for to a commune for a holiday of 'suns out, buns out'. Thinking it'll be the perfect hiding place, the guys force the woman to take them to the commune, where one pretends to be her husband, and the other hides in the trunk of the car until they're checked in and at their Chale, once their, the trunk guy hides in the hut, while the other criminal heads out into the commune with his 'Wife' to take in the full fun and frolics that a naturist camp in the summer has to offer…with genuine romance, betrayal and action on the cards to boot!

Not much to say on this one, the plot itself occupies about 20 minutes of the full film with the rest either being extrended cutaways of naked models or nudists just…doing what they do. The plot itself sounds fun on paper, but runs considerably slower than it really needed to as the film desperately tries to hit its feature runtime.

The characters arnt that deep or well developed, everything feels overly dry and there isnt much development or variety to keep the average viewer fully engaged on the plot. Tonally its drab, and while it ends with a bit more energy than it starts with. Its all a bit underwhelming if im being honest.

The direction and cine are fairly drab too. Unlike 'Nude on the moon' or 'Blaze Starr' this one feels a bit more washed out, a bit more formulaeic, nowhere near as well structured, with poor compoisitions of shots, bad sequence structuring, and a real lack of focus for the viewer to be drawn in. It very much feels like they just put the camera down, shot whatever happened to be in front of it (no matter how well framed or poorly focussed it was) and then stitched it all together with whatever they could scrape from a day on set.

The performances feel a bit lifeless too, there very little energy, a raised voice here and there is about as wide and wild as the performances get. Physicality is kept to a minimum. Its just not that good.

The soundtracks stock tracks. But it does kind of work here, and its edited together fine enough…

This was the directoral Debut of Doris Wishman, and what I find weird is that this is actually better put together than some of the films she made at the peak of her career. While I cant deny that this is a quite dry and drab production (in my opinion at least) it is at least somewhat functional for the most part. and given what i've seen of Wishmans works. For a first outing? this had the potential to be 'horrendous'…as it stands its just 'fine…but not essential'.

Not one I can recommend, if your going to go through all of Wishmans films, this ones kind of the upper half of the lower middle of the stack. I probably wont watch it again for a good long while, and I cant recommend it as a 'jumping on' point for people looking to get into Wishman either…there's a LOT better out there than this.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hideout-in-the-sun/

'Blaze Starr Goes Nudist' (Also known as 'Blaze Starr Goes Wild!') is an early offering from Doris Wishman, everyones favourite Octogenarian Apartment bound smut peddler. At this point in her career, shes Florida bound, hanging around beauty spots and making 'Nudie Cutie' movies with local Naturist communes and nude models.

'Blaze Starr' follows the story of…'Blaze Starr' an actress who's run down in a busy social world. Blaze is struggling with constantly being stuck in 'Actress' mode, shes filming or in meetings for most of the day, and when shes done with that she's having to be a full time home maker for her finace (and manager) Tony.

As such, she craves escapism, and she finds it when, while trying to lay low from her fans, she winds up in, what im assuming is an adult theater. Playing that day is a naturist documentary about a nudist camp where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer and anyone off the street will gladly shave your back for a nickle (wakka wakka doo doo yeah!). Blaze is captivated, and MORE than intreagued when she realises the camp is less than 30 miles from that very theater.

Without hesitation, she jumps in her car and heads out, where she meets the camp manager Andy. Who introduces her to the nudist lifestyle in all its idyllic bliss. Andy is 'no pressure' about Blaze choosing to take up the lifestyle, but sends her a hand written invitation for membership a day or two later. Which Blaze readily accepts.

The rest of the movie from here on in follows Blaze's journey into naturism, a showcase of the lifestyle, and how different life could truely be. But when Tony becomes increasingly upset that Blaze is M.I.A most weekends, and is becoming increasingly irritable with Tony about how she spends her time, and what her availability should be. It leads to a final act where Blaze must decide her destiny, Tony starts digging into Blaze's whereabouts, and both of their careers lie in the hands of the elusive studio boss 'D.W'.

I'll be honest, I enjoyed this film quite a lot. At 74 minutes long, it moves at a clip, is ultra campy and over the top in places, has a good foundational A-plot and a couple of B-plots to keep things interesting. the pacing is faster than most Doris pictures, but does slow a little towards the end, but not to the point that I got bored. The characters have a good range of depth and detail, theres actual character progression, which is nice, especially given the nature of what 'Nudie Cutie' films were really supposed to be. This is probably the most linear and sensical Doris Wishman film i've seen in a long time.

The direction is clean, makes sense, is well grounded…Maybe a little over simplistic in places, but ultimately, i'd rather a solid piece of work that knows its limits, than a piece that has NO idea what its doing and doesnt care to try and figure it out.

We have clean vibrant full colour cine which looks incredible (thanks to restoration efforts) given its age. the cine is rich, detailed and very well composed, sequences are maybe a little loose here and absolutely do NOT follow the rules of 'The Line' or of shot compositions…or even basic continuity really…But again, compared to Doris's other works? This is downright competent. And I really appreciated just how much the visuals popped off the screen.

Add to that the performances, which are camp as christmas and an utter delight to behold, with THE Blaze Starr really stealing the show with incredible physicality, bizarre line deliveries and a wardrobe that would make Widow Twankey envious. The supporting cast range from overtly camp and VERY dry in line deliveries to full blow bombasiticism. Its such a Kitsche little movie.

Even the soundtrack is full of life, with library string tracks, but upbeat 50's style muzak stuff. which really ties the whole thing together.

I had a blast checking out 'Blaze Starr Goes Nudist' Its not the most 'original' idea in the world. But its goofy, campy, over the top fun that feels like its trying to be whimsical while also giving paying customers what they came to see. Definitely one i'd reccommend if your looking to get into Doris Wishmans 'Nudie Cutie' era. I think its a great foothold on not only her work, but the subgenre itself.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/blaze-starr-goes-nudist/

The opening title on 'The Daylight Years' set, the concluding part of AGFA and Something Weirds compendium on the career of 'Doris Wishman' finds us 'Nude on the Moon' a…frankly charming and eccentric offering, thats maybe a touch on the slow side, but definitely worth the price of admission.

The film revolves around two scientists who've been exploring the possibility of life on the moon for a number of decades at this point, when the sudden death of a rich relative lands the pair with a cheque to realise all their hopes and dreams of building a rocket, ready for mans first manned space flight to the moon! Which they do!

However; disaster strikes when a bumpy landing means they arnt ENTIRELY sure they actually DID land on the moon. But whatever planet they DID land on, its a leafy paradise, a place where the temprature is clement, theres a sweet smell in the breeze, lumps of gold are just scattered here and there, and large brested telepathic, semi nude women and posing pouch Adonis figured men roam the fields and valleys helping maintain utopia for their Queen.

The pair are quickly captured, but when they're deemed to not be a threat, they're released and spend the rest of the movie documenting the simple and naturalistic lives of the men and women of the moon. In the hopes that on returning to earth, they'll be able to convince the government to fund more trips to the moon and further exploration.

A charming, eccentric and fascinating time capsule, given we wouldnt actually send a man to the moon for a further 7 years after this film was made. Its hard not to like this goofy little 'erotic' sci-fi Nudie Cutie flick.

Yes, the scripts paper thin and by modern standards absolutely goofy, it runs about 10 minutes longer than I could personally stand…but for the first hour or so, I really had a hoot with this very daft, paper thin excuse to show boobies.

The characters are all camp as christmas, nothing is serious, the tones positively daffy. and to top it all off, it looks great! Because of the budget for this film, a LOT of the production looks and feels like a late 50s production (despite the '61 release date) and its amazing to see such crisp high definition colour footage of that particular era of time.

Its a bright, colourful and vivid viewing experience, and a much needed refresher after 6-8 black and white 'roughie' films. shots are gorgeously composed, sequences are simplistic, but effective and the whole thing really just pops in a very enjoyable and pleasent way.

The cast are all hamming it up good and proper, half the cast I firmly believe had NO idea what they were actually filming. and any and all dialogue is HORRENDOUSLY ADR'd. But given the tone and vibe of this production, if anything it adds to the rediculousness of the whole thing.

Throw in a VERY fitting soundtrack of muzak string tracks…punctuated at multiple points by the films title track 'Mooning over you my little moon doll' which WILL be an earworm for all onvolved. and you have a film that, while maybe not the most interesting production ever comitted to 35 or 16mm. IS a fun time non the less. The kind of film that plays in the background of some kind of farce comedy.

I highly recommend catching 'Nude on the Moon' at least once. a bizarre and colourful experience. especially if you can find a HD copy of the movie. I really had a soft spot for this one.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/nude-on-the-moon/

We've reached the end of AGFA and Something Weirds fairly comprehensive 'Doris Wishman: The Moonlight Years' collection, and its 'Too Much, Too Often!' a somewhat generic, seedy exploitation roughie film that once again, doesnt really do enough to put it head and shoulders above Doris's other exploitation roughie (or generally surreal) pictures) but does do enough to position itself in the upper middle portion of her filmography (in my opinion at least)

The film follows Mike Torson…And I dont really know what Mike does for a living…'Criminal' seems like too broad of a career definition. But he's a thief, a rapist, a pimp, a blackmailer, a molestor, a manipulator, a muscle for hire, and seemingly, he's taken it on himself to also be a Dom to repressed men in his area. And as the film opens we find Mike flogging Gordon Dite, a respected businessman for the area.

Mike is blackmailing Gordon, as he documented one of their 'sessions' and is threatening to release the footage if Gordon does anything Mike doesnt like, he's also levying Gordon for protection on that front, which is allowing Mike much higher access to women, and further criminal activity than he would have had before. Gordon detests Mike, but is somewhat helpless to really do much of anything else.

The film from there largely centers around Mike taking advantage of school girls, bored housewives and anyone he can find down at the docks. At first scmoozing them into a semi-codependent relationship, before turning abusive and demanding of his victims until they either slip up and get horrendously abused to the point that they cant do much of anything anymore…or they leave town. Gordon infrequently recieves word of these incidents and increasingly becomes more and more mortified of what Mike is enabled to do.

But things really cross a line, when Mike decides that Gordons Daughter is his next target, manipulating her into a rushed marriage and poisoning her against her father by convincing her he's jealous that shes marrying into a better place than Gordon can provide for her. Leading to a final confrontation with an old face from Mikes past who may be the answer to Gordons problems.

What we have here is a seedy and grimey little picture that really showcases Doris Wishman and her cinematographers best talents honestly. While the script itself is fairly middle of the road for the 'roughie' scene, it does have some dramatic punch and weight behind it, which is something thats been missing from a lot of Doris's roughie pictures. The characters have history, backstory, depth and more importantly they grow and develop across the runtime in a meaningful and non superficial way.

Quite a few of Doris Wishmans films all felt like character development on a surface level, if there was any development to be had at all. This felt quite a bit meatier. And while I do think its a bit of a cheap trick to, 10 minutes off the end of the film, introduce a new character from Mikes past who had a serious incident with him 3 years prior…Only to then flash the film back 3 years to show the incident, then flash forward to show an inconclusive resolution to the main plot we've been following. Everything up to that point I felt was pretty solid, if not a little slow.

A key problem i've had with a lot of Doris Wishman films is the pedestrian pace as it struggles to hit feature distribution runtime. This handles it better than most, its still on the slow side, but it at least moves quicker than 'Indecent desires' or 'My Brothers Wife'.

Tonally; the film doesnt ease up for a second as we unflinchingly follow Mike as he destroys or disrupts life after life with horrifying antics, its probably one of Wishmans nastier offerings honestly. Which in someways makes it standout a bit more than a lot of her 60's offerings.

The direction is fast paced, and feels like Wishman was definitely enthused by the topic. theres some really creative story and world building, and it feels like Wishman really wanted to get this story right and in a way that only Wishman at this point in time could deliver it. Theres some striking moments, and the whole thing feels quite carefully crafted (…for the most part…)

The cine too is rock solid, I didnt notice any soft shots, composition is great, theres some very nice creative work, the lighting is incredible and the film really leans into that Black and white aesthetic, creating something altogether murky, but fascinatingly beautiful.

Sequences are carefully curated and scenes flow smoothly, while you can sometimes feel the cheapness of the budget on this one. its undeniable that they really tried to make this film feel as expensive as they could, and I feel it really succeeds in that sense.

As for the performances, This is a great turn for Buck Starr as Mike, a malevolent presence, he plays evil so effortlessly, its genuinely unsettling. Probably my favourite performance in a Wishman film to date. he has a fantastic physical menace and his line delivery is largely faultless. He's great!

Bob Oran as Gordon also gets a great turn as the utterly frustrated and totally helpless captive of Mike. you really feel the rage in his performance, and by the end theres a tremendous melancholy added to the mix that only makes the performance stronger still. He's great!

Add to that the staple library soundtrack and Obligatory Doris Wishman apartment tour. and 'Too Much, Too Often!' is a solid Doris Wishman feature in my opinion. Definitely one of her better 'Roughie' offerings. i'd recommend it as a great starting point to get into this era of Doris Wishman film making, and if you havent seen it, but have seen other Doris films, this is definitely one of her better offerings. One i'd almost certainly revisit, and one that I can definitely recommend. its grizzly, but VERY compelling!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/too-much-too-often/

The second of two films Doris Wishman purchased for US Distribution while Holidaying in Greece, and then lost the dubbing scripts, meaning she had to basically make up the story and script based on Visuals alone. 'The Hot Month of August' is, in my opinion a marginally better offering than 'Passion Fever' but still falls significantly short of what I want in a Doris Wishman production.

The plot revolves around 2 men meeting on a cruise ship, Al, a gigalo who travels the length and breadth of Greece dating and sleeping with older women (as arranged by his father in law) meets Jason, a young impressionable 20 something, looking for a steady income and luck with the ladies.

The two part ways, but its revealed that a woman Jason ends up romatically entagled with, is ALSO in fact Al's Wife. When Al's father in law instructs him to leave Athens for work, with no return date in sight, Al and his wife concoct a plot to kill his father in law and pin it on Jason. However, things dont quite go to plan, and murder, sex, police investigation and crazy jazz music winds up as the soup of the day!

I will say up front, I can appreciate what the script is trying to do here. its a neo-noir style sexploitation flick that, if your into neo noir sexploitation, will probably more than scratch the itch. Im not though, and as such I found this one to be a bit plodding. We essentially spend a not insignificant amount of the runtime flicking between softcore scenes and extended plot drops…The joy of these kinds of films is the twists and turns…But the film almost has a compulsion to tell you EVERY DETAIL sometimes 10 minutes in advance of the twist even happening. Which I found particularly frustrating.

The pacing is consistent, but slow, there is a three act structure, but the middle sags outrageously, and the 1st and 3rd while…mostly harmless, are just dull. with a very brief shoot out posing probably the most interesting thing this film has to offer.

The characters are all a bit flat, they predominantly speak in quips or with a kind of tone that feels disingenuous. Its the wrong side of camp for me. It just feels messy and unfun.

The directions fine enough, passable even, and the cine is clear and crisp. But the shots are largely kind of uninteresting, ultra basic setups, no flair, no polish. a handful of establishing shots that look quite pretty is about as good as it gets (and when your in Greece, the fact that a handful of establishing shots is about as good as it gets is concerning!)

The performances range of watchable to poor, I dont feel they gave either the voice actors or the real in person actors enough material to help give them any kind of significant depth. and in the case of the ADR cast specifically, it feels less like a professional cast recording, and more like Doris had a whip round of her apartment complex for anyone who was free to belt out a line or two in between shift work.

The sound edit is a bit problematic too, with poorly mixed music to ADR work, dropouts occasionally and other technical issues. Its not the best.

I understand that this film has a bit of a cult appreciation within the ouvre of Doris Wishmans works…But it wasnt really for me. As I said at the top of this review, I can absolutely appreciate why people would like this, but its just not really my kind of flavour. Not her worst offering by a long shot…But in my opinion, just a kind of boring piece with occasional pops of interest, that I was clock watching to be over.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-hot-month-of-august/

Im back in the building again…its time for another Doris Wishman film. And this time around its 'The Sex Perils of Paulette'. Another 'Middle of the pack. Offering from Wishman. Not a bad entry by any stretch, but one that I felt just failed to really draw me in.

Anna Karol plays 'Paulette' a fresh of the bus newcomer to the big city with aspirations of making it big as an actress. Paulette finds a room with Tracy, a woman who's MORE than comfortable in underwear alone, who promises to introduce Paulette to some 'big time' movers and shakers, with the aim of helping her get a foot in the door.

Unfortunately for Paulette, these big time movers, are in fact in the 'Adult' industry, and the party Tracy has invited her to is essentially a full blown swinging orgy. Paulettes crestfallen, and the rest of the film is basically a downward spiral, as she battles trying to make a go of her dreams, while realising that all anyone who can enable that dream wants is her body. leading to a bittersweet finale.

This ones basically a bit of a rosetta stone for what would come from Doris's movies through the 60s, theres pangs of 'Bad Girls go to Hell', elements of 'Another Day, Another Man' and 'My Brothers Wife'…and while its interesting to see the seeds of what would go onto become those fully fleshed out films here. There isnt a moment in this film that tops the best of those movies. This films consistent. But its also very VERY dry, the Wishman 'Spark' is but a flicker at this point in time. and what we're left with, is a kitchen sink drama with sexploitation elements that doesnt quite cut the mustard for me.

The script is a lot slower paced than Doris's other works, tonally its consistent. But for me? its kind of inescapable that this is just a bit of a dry offering. gyrating semi nude ladies can only take a script so far, and there just isnt enough 'tang' here to really hook me and bring me in. I appreciate this was Wishmans first step out of the 'naturist' genre and into something more 'roughie'/'exploitation' adjacent. But It doesnt feel like a fully formed idea for me. It feels like some very rough carvings…and while those carvings WILL eventually take a more defined shape. Here? its still a work in progress.

The direction and cine is really what saves the day here. Yes. We're still in Doris's apartment, but theres a heavy emphasis on handheld footage, which makes everything feel a bit more manic, particularly the party sequences that give a great sense of feeling 'out of control' Wishman clearly knew how to light and set dress for B&W and heres one of her more striking works, with gorgeous lighting and some really nice compositional and sequence choices. Its probably one of her more 'fresh' offerings, and while she would go on to make better, more coherent and more striking works. This manages to go above expectations and overdeliver if anything for me. Which I had to respect really.

The edits a little rough in places, but thats more to do with cutting times than with the sequence shot selections. the cuts feel a bit rough around the edges, and I have no doubt that the footage, in more capable hands, could have been presented in a more solid format.

Performance wise, Theres only really Anna Karol to talk about, the supporting cast are fine, if not a bit ethereal in their performances. But Karol gets a good range, handles the ADR work really well, and gives a genuine feeling and sincere performance that doesnt shy away from getting a bit gritty and real from time to time. I really enjoyed her on screen presence and she was probably one of the main things keeping the film ticking over honestly.

Aaaand the soundtracks still library pieces…it fills the silence, though im not convinced they were the best picks.

All in all? 'The Sex Perils of Paulette' is fine. Not one Id openly recommend, a fine base level introduction to Doris Wishman, not her best, far from her worst. a mixed script married to some good direction, cine and performances. By the skin of its teeth, i'd say that I dont think i'd revisit this one, unless I was going through her whole filmography again. Theres a lot better Wishman to be watched. But if you are looking for something that wont set unrealistic expectations of what to expect with Wishman. This or 'Another Day, Another Man' would be great starting points.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-sex-perils-of-paulette/