TYTD Reviews

'Keyholes are for Peeping' (Also known as 'Is there Life after Marriage?!') is billed as 'A parody of Adult movies'…and right out of the gate, I feel its kind of misunderstood its core premise, because parody of adult movies IS in and of itself a genre of Adult movies. Its a bit like saying your doing a parody of a comedy, or an homage to a tribute…Like…I GUESS it can TECHNICALLY be done. But its absolutely an oxymoron…

What I will say is, its nice to once again encounter Sammy Petrillo! After last seeing him in 'Shangri-la' he's back again doing low/no budget adult movies bringing with him his Jerry Lewis impressions…but the further away we get from his 'hay day' the sadder it feels honestly…

Here? Sammy is playing 'Stanley Bebble' a hopeless partner and put upon son who's just become fully licensed as a Marriage Councillor. The problem is, he's a bumbling putz who doesnt know which way is 'up' most of the time, and he's about as lucky in love as the incel community.

So when Sammy hears from the Janitor that a lot of couples in the building are having marital disharmony (the Janitor has a thing for Voyeurism and regularly breaks into tenants apartments…because its his 'thing.) Sammy sets about ensnaring these unhappy couples into a therapy session to work through their issues…The problem though is, as mentioned Sammy has NO idea how love and relationships are supposed to work and with it…laughter and slapstick ensues.

A bit of a clunker if im being honest. clocking in at just shy of 80 minutes. the entire films tone and humour is fully spent in the first 5 minutes, and from there it just idles endlessly in a jokey, but rather grimy and depressing screwball fug for the remainder of the runtime. The pacing is pedestrian, like 'The Amazing Transplant' this films format essentially is just bad humour bookending extended sex scenes and recycled footage from other movies.

The characters are grating and uninterested, there isnt really so much an act structure, it has more in line with a series of sketches or vignettes than it does a fully coherent narrative.

The directions flat, lifeless and as mentioned covered in a kind of sleazy grimy-ness that reminded me very heavily of Ray Dennis Stecklers 'adult' offerings. Doris Wishmans apartment at this point has a SAG card for the amount of time its been shown on screen. The cast direction feels like it was predominantly AWOL and instead Doris just asked them to improv or vibe their way through scenes.

The cine is rough, badly focussed, composition isnt thought through, sequences feel lax with not enough B-roll and an overeliance on recycling footage to try and smooth over the cracks.

The performances are largely flat, the dialogue is dire and a good chunk of the film relies on silent black and white footage, and while some of that is okay, the vast majority of it feels only marginally better performed than the dialogue scripted sequences.

Even the score is largely library tracks that have been played to death.

This one really did feel less like Doris had a vision she wanted to put out there, and more that she had access to Sammy Petrillo for a weekend, a few am-dram friends and a bucket of off cuts to burn through. I could understand the intended audience for this one, but its so half hearted I very much doubt anyone who WOULD be interested COULD be interested.

Definitely the low point so far of the 'Twilight Years' set. I really didnt gel with this one. Its not TRUELY awful. But its one I dont feel I need to rush to catch again…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/keyholes-are-for-peeping/

I didnt realise until after watching this one that it was intended as a sequel to Doris Wishmans 1974 Cult Classic 'Double Agent 73'…Its not integral to the plot of this movie for you to have watched THAT movie. But you'd be forgiven for not realising, given 'Double Agent 73' was entirely a vehicle for Chesty Morgan (A woman who, at the time claimed to have 'the biggest bust in cinema'). And that this film not only doesnt feature Chesty in any way shape or form. But the actress they hired to replace her doesnt even remotely resemble Chesty.

The only tie to 'Double Agent 73' is the catalyst for the film itself. And the film opens in Wishman style with 'Agent Jane' being murdered by an unknown person while resting on her balcony. (That…pretty much is where the sequel element of this production begin and end. As the REAL plot of the film picks up with 'Ginny', 'Sandy' and 'Nancy' Three women who are invited (seemingly at random) to a reading of Jaynes last will and testimony.

During the reading, its revealed that the girls are in fact daughters of Jaynes, which non of them knew prior to arriving. And that, Jayne has left them a combined fortune of 3 million dollars to be shared between them with one catch. Jayne is convinced she was going to be murdered, and in order for the girls to claim the cash, they will have to hunt down three men that Jayne thought would be the most likely to take her life, and either kill them, or bring them to justice.

If any of the daughters die, the fortune will be redistributed between the surviving daughters, if all three die, the executor of her estate will pocket the lot, and if they dont find the killer, noone gets anything. And thus a sleazy 'sexploitation' spy thriller begins! As the daughters all move into Jaynes old house, and begin trying to figure out who could have killed there late Mother.

While im not sure if the ties to 'Double Agent 73' are entirely required, I will say that I did have some fun with this one. The plot moves at a clip, the pacing is consistent and perky throughout, and while it does fall into the trap a LOT of Doris Wishman films seem to do, I.E extended awkward softcore scenes and nudie shots that do nothing really but pad out the runtime. Their place in this film felt a lot more relevant than in some of her other pictures.

The characters are fun and engaging, though I do feel that Cindy Bordeau got WAY more screentime than her counterparts, which did make this feel a bit lopsided in that regard. It should also be mentioned that the actual plot of this film is RIDICULOUSLY simplistic. To the point that you'll figure out who the killer is within 10 minutes, and how the rest of the films going to play out within 15 minutes.

That being said this does have a distinctly exploitation grindhousey edge by way of 42nd street. I think this would pair up well with another 'all girl' action exploitation feature like 'The Vixens of Kung fu' or 'Joy'. It has enough going on to keep you on track will the closing credits and characters that are fun enough to make it feel somewhat worth while.

The direction feels a lot bigger than most of Wishmans other productions i've seen, the attempt at recreating Vegas using backdrops and stock footage would almost seem believable if it wasnt for how much time we spend once again in Wishmans apartment. Its a cheap looking production, but the attempt to make things seem a lot grander than the budget would allow was welcome and really helped shake things up after the last 2-3 films where AT MOST you'd get 1 other location alongside Wishmans apartment.

Character direction is largely non existent, but then, I didnt really expect it would be. The cine is rough around the edges, but again; feels at least a bit more competent than some of the other entries i've seen in 'The Twilight Years' set. shots are soft, the sound drops in and out and sequences feel quite thrown together at times without a whole lot of consideration for the flow to the scene…But then, when the plots this simplistic, its hard to lose track of whats going on.

I dont really have a problem with the performances perse, they're all fine. But this film in particular seems to have the most HORRENDOUS problem with pairing these beautiful 20-30 something women, with THE most gruff, greasy looking 50-60 year old men…It made me feel more uncomfortable than any of the other exploitation elements i've seen in a Wishman film to date. When I say that i've seen 'No budget' Italian 'Erotica' with male performers who's looks could knock a train unconcious. And these guys somehow feel seedier. I hope that gives you the vibe.

As for the soundtrack, its a mixture of what im assuming is library instrumental tracks. One track in particular gets a real wearing out, it sounds like a 'muzak'/'inspired by' take on Barry Whites 'My First, my last, my everything'…Which came out a year prior to this film…so im assuming that was Doris's attempt to get 'down with the youths'. Otherwise it's pretty complimentary…messsy. But complimentary.

All in? this is one of the more easy to digest and enjoyable 'Wishman' offerings i've seen up to this point. It doesnt do THAT much different from the Chesty Morgan films or 'The Amazing Transplant'. But the way the elements are assembled here just sits right a bit better with me than the others. I'd say its worth your time with tempered expectations. And given this was a rewatch for me, I can say it held up 'not terribly.'

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-immoral-three/

Its been at least 25 years since I last caught this one. Being more familiar with the UK version of 'Dennis the Menace' growing up, I never quite appreciated the US iteration. So with hazy memories and a take away ready to go, I thought i'd give it a revisit.

The plot largely centers around the titular 'Dennis' a Menace to his local population, and in particular to his next door neighour Mr. Wilson. The film really is split into two halves. The first half of the movie is Dennis just…being Dennis, annoying Mr. Wilson and putting him into several slapstick situations through tom-foolery. In the backdrop of this opening half however, a strange 'out of town-er' enters the story, looking to rob this sleepy little suburb of everything it has.

The second half of the movie shifts gears as Dennis is set up to stay at the Wilsons house when his family has to leave on short notice. When the thief begins a string of house robberies, Dennis spots him and raises the alarm, pushing Mr. Wilson over the edge and leading Dennis to set out to find the guy whos stolen from his friends.

Realistically? This is inoffensive. But it does feel a bit recycled. John Hughes handles writing duties here, less than a year after 'Home Alone 2' and a LOT of this film has the vague whiff of 'This was a half idea from Home Alone 2 that got cut from the script mid redrafting'. Even down the burglar element, this thing really does just feel like Hughes rustled through a few old notepads and pulled whatver he felt he could stick together and make fly into it. And while the slapstick elements here are creative and are funny. Its hard to escape the fact that this doesnt feel authentic to itself, it feels like reformed offcuts.

Outside of that, the pacing is a little on the pedestrian side. its consistently paced across the 3 acts, it never feels a flat or dry, but it does feel at times a little too slow for its own good. The humour is timed well enough to keep me invested, but I couldnt escape the feeling that this should have maybe been a bit more 'revved up' more jokes, more interesting developments and less 'set up'. By the third act it does really start to move at a clip. But it does feel a bit 'too little, too late'.

I will say I feel they get the characters more or less down pat, though its a shame they dont involve more of the comic strip cast more heavily. The script seems to focus a lot more on Dennis and Mr. Wilsons relationship, when I know the strips were a lot more versatile in involving Dennis' friends, his parents, teachers, other neighbours. This feels a bit too micro by comparison.

On the direction and cine front, I have no complaints Nick Castle is basically doing a John Hughes impression for the most part, its not a bad one either. In fact; until the end credits I assumed this was written AND directed by Hughes…In either case, its got a clear vision (homage can be a vision) and the scene setups are very well handled.

The direction of the cast is a little bit spottier truthfully, some of the cast like Walter Matthau and Joan Plowright pretty much nail it. bringing just the right level of 'comic' animation and grounded realism to the performances to bring it to life. While I dont like to comment on Child actor performances however, I feel Mason Gamble as Dennis is a little too retreating for Dennis, theres a distinct lack of extroversion that I feel Nick just wasnt able to capture with Mason. which is a shame, as I think Dennis as a character should be boisterous and a bit unaware of the consequences of his actions. I feel like Nick leant more into Dennis being an accidental and VERY apologetic menace. rather than Dennis not really being aware he's been menacing at all, because he's that busy focussing on the next thing at hand.

With it being a studio pic, the cine was never really a concern to me. Its competent, feels a bit like John Hughes tribute, but its got a decent amount of B-roll, the sequences are cut together nicely, theres some great Matte painting and early CGI elements which work well. the shot structuring is very creative, and I enjoyed the flow and feel of it.

Performance wise I've already talked about the core cast, but just to add, I think Christopher Lloyd is kind of underused in this one. He's kind of a mesh of Judge Doom, His character in 'Taxi' and the sticky bandits. He doesnt get a massive amount of screentime, and they other than his physical presence (which is wonderfully grimy) he doesnt get much in the way of character development to work with. Its a real shame.

All in all, 'Dennis the Menace' still holds up! Its a perfectly fine middle of the road family comedy movie, its maybe a little too slow for its own good and isnt exactly brimming with originality. But I feel that if the kids are driving you nuts on a rainy afternoon, you could do far worse. As for me? I enjoyed it, but I dont think I loved it. It has the John Hughes vibes, but it felt a bit diluted.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dennis-the-menace/

I dont even really know where you begin to talk about 'Let Me Die A Woman' a explotation driven pseudo 'documentary' thats a heavy mix of 'Glen or Glenda' intercut with sympathetic talking head pieces from actual trans men and women, intercut with exploitation elements including graphic footage of gender reassignment surgery, softcore sex scenes and graphic reconstructions of anecdotes from a Doctor who seemingly lives in Doris Wishmans apartment.

Unlike 'Glen or Glenda' The feeling that this was someone working out their feelings on the issue behind the camera isnt there with this one. And a lot of the pro trans messaging that this film puts out is undercut by the sleazier elements of the production and in being a victim of its time and place (once again we find a 20th century production conflating homosexuality, transvestitism and transgenderism)…

What I can say in this films favour is the more sympathetic elements are genuinely engaging, feel sincere and do give context to what it was like to be a trans person in the 20th century. In that regard I feel like it did manage to win me over.

But there are elements of this film that wouldnt be out of place in an anti-trans 4chan shitpost. And there are points where I genuinely struggled to continue watching.

Not for the feint of heart, but an important piece of LGBTQ+ cinema in the sense of this is what the community had to put up with during this time. Wishman is doing what only Wishman could provide. a woman in her 60s who considered herself part of a community I dont think she fully understood. I wont tell you not to watch it, but if your feint of heart, for gods sake approach with caution.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/let-me-die-a-woman/

Continuing my way through the filmography of Doris Wishman, and AGFA's very nicely put together 'Twilight Years' box set. I decided to revisit 'The Amazing Transplant' tonight. A 71 minute short film as I would affectionately 'rib' it.

The plot opens by introducing us to a young man named Arthur who's visiting a girl he's been 'friendly' with, but has recently gone cold on, and is looking to come clean on his mysterious and sudden dissapearence. However shortly after arriving, something overcomes Arthur and he ends up murdering the young lady, before fleeing the house.

A manhunt ensues and a friend/relative (I dont remember which) of Arthurs family who also happens to be a bit of a sleuth, decides to try and find the lad before he gets himself into more trouble than he can handle.

And what follows is a movie thats basically a 'Rinse/Repeat' job of the detective visiting various women Arthur had been known to be 'Friendly' with, it would then turn out that the women and Arthur had had a sexual experience, whether consensual or otherwise, with the tiniest of breadcrumbs being dropped to the audience as to what is ACTUALLY going on…This happens for about 55-60 minutes of the total runtime.

This all builds up to a 10-15 minute 'finale' in which a revelation about Arthur comes to light that put my jaw on the floor, left me with more questions than answers and left me both speechless and reeling with laughter right up till curtain call.

Being honest? This is a 25 minute short film thats been dragged out to 71 minutes via softcore and rape sequences. From a scripting perspective, its a time killer, and not a good one. a handful of half decent lines, and consistent(-ly dull) pacing does not a great movie make. But that last 10-15 minutes is such a tonal whiplash experience, that I almost admire the BALLS of this film for shaking it up as much as they ultimately do. That closing few minutes alone really raised my opinions of this production. And while I wont say its by any means good. It did enhance my opinion of the movie from 'skippable' to 'Definitely worth seeing at least once'.

The plotting, characters and tone of the production are very soft touch, very minimalist, and makes about 90% of the runtime feel ultimately kind of superfluous. Unlike some of Wishmans other productions where the 'hook' is front loaded and pays off across the runtime. This film leaves the 'hook' till the last possible moment for shock factor. And I think a lot of peoples results may vary on this one because of that.

The directions a bit messy, when its good, its great! Wishman really seems to like to get up close and personal with her cast during sex scenes, and the intimacy of her work as a director I feel really pays off in bringing those moments to life. Unfortunatley; due to budget constraints. This production does have a bit of the 'sweaty 70s' vibes to it, Ray Dennis Stecklers work suffers from the same issue, everything looks a bit dirty, sweaty and ill. theres just a sense of everything needing a good scrub. Part of it is just a byproduct of the era. But some of it is the directional and cinematic choices that amplify that seedy low rent vibe. It makes the film feel a bit cheaper than it probably was (which is saying something…)

On the whole, i'd give the direction a pass, despite the technical faults (soft images, rough and ready sequence building and serious continuity errors throughout that make the vision feel very rushed) The Cine suffers a simialar fate, compositions seem rushed, are sometimes overly soft, cutaway shots dont match their wider counterparts and the whole thing feels like it was just shot in several redressed versions of Wishamans apartment, and int he surrounding areas. the sequences dont really hang together well. I can see an attempt at a vision. But I feel like its heavily limited by a lack of skilled crewmenship and budget.

Performance wise, most of the cast feel like their asleep at the wheel. Broadly speaking, everyone feels like their speaking their lines for the first time (and given the budget, it wouldnt surprise me if that were the case due to the cost of film stock) Everyone looks tired, noones putting the energy in, apart from Al Spencer (who plays Arthur) who does have a very stilted, but VERY energetic turn here, in many ways its a shame he gets locked into non speaking repetative physical work in this film, as when he does get lines, he really delivers them with gusto and makes sure to throw his body fully into it.

And, just for the record, the soundtrack was largely late 60's poppy soft rocky slightly porny sounding instrumentals…its notable by the fact I have nothing to say about it, its there because silence would have been unbearable.

All in all, had it not been for the closing 10-15 minutes, I think i'd have given this film half the score i've ended up giving it. The ending alone doubles its rating. This really should have been a short. Its a fun enough time capsule. definitely one to catch at least once. But I'd struggle to justify watching this one for any other reason than 'im going through a load of Doris Wishman films'.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-amazing-transplant/1/

Boobs, willies and naturism…its the Wishman way.

• Deadly Weapons
• Double Agent 73
• The Amazing Transplant

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/list/the-films-of-doris-wishman-ranked/

'Weird' Al Yankovic by this point in time is essentially an institution. I stop short of 'National Treasure' status purely because I feel he'd balk at the proposition. But in a world of sex scandals, drug abuse and political deviation. Al has stood as a monolith to just being a pretty good guy and having a laugh through almost 40 years of pop culture. We're getting to the point where at least 4 generations can actively claim to have been to have 'been there' when Al dropped an album that just about summed up their generation in acordian form. And in 1989. After years of minor TV and film appearances. They finally let the guy loose to make his own feature.

'UHF' follows George, a down and out fantasist who's eccentric to a fault and CAN NOT hold down a job for more than a few hours at a time. When his latest antics result in him and his friend Bob getting fired from 'Burger World' George really is at a loss as to what comes next. When a chance encounter with his Uncle (who, by sheer chance, has just become exceedingly wealthy) at a party finds the family in possession of the deeds to a run down and crashing UHF TV station 'Channel 62'. Georges Uncle is pressured by his wife to give George a shot at turning the stations fortunes around.

George and Bob jump at the chance, but on arriving, the outlook is bleak, and after pouring everything they have into the place, ratings are still trending down and the amount of time George spends at the station has effected his relationship with his girlfriend Terri, who leaves him after being stood up by accident one too many times.

But things might be about to turn around for George and Bob, as George visits rival (and VERY successful) 'Channel 8'. He's screamed out of the building almost immediately, but on the way out he meets Stanley, a janitor who's just been fired from the only job he's ever had…he's dumber than a sack of hammers. But George likes the guy, so he offers him a job at 62.

Which turns out to have been the best idea he could have had, as Stanley makes his way on air one day and is a BARN storming hit! Soon everyones tuning in to see what Stanley will do on air and George and Bob begin thinking 'outside' the box on what shows they can frame around Stanleys new found success. with everything from 'Wheel of Fish' to In house TV movies like 'Conan the Librarian' UHF is the COOL place to be! and the owners of Channel 8 CANT let that be the case. Mayhem ensues.

And i'll be honest, this is a less than perfect, but ultimately lovable watch. Brimming with creativity and bizarre alternative comedy, its really hard not to like it. A comedy lives and dies by its tone and humour and UHF has a bit of something for everyone really. The hit rate on gags is (in my opinion) more than solid, theres some genuinely big laughs buried in this and the script gives us simplistic, but likable characters who get decent plot and character development across the films runtime.

If I do have to pick fault with this production, id say its biggest issue is pacing, the opening act of the film is a LOT slower than the other two acts, the joke rate is much lower and theres a lot of visual humour gags that just kind of landed a bit flat for me. It takes a while to find its thread and spin up, But, by the time of the second act the lumpiness is starting to subside, and the 3rd act is fully spun up, taking no prisoners and absolutely worth the price of admission.

I'd also say that while the jokes are absolutely more hit than miss, some jokes have aged a little bit poorly and the film commits the cardinal sin of making 'relevent to the day' pop culture gags, which, if you were there are great! if you wernt there, they might as well switch the film off for the duration of the gag.

Direction and cine is solid, theres some really decent visual effects in this one that helps give the film a big budget feel, Orion feels so right for this movie and you really feel like they squeezed every dime out of the production budget.

its a colourful, vibrant production that does push the boundaries of the medium of cinema in some regards, even if structurally its maybe a little tamer than I'd have liked. compositions are solid. I have no qualms with the quality of this production, it maybe could have take a couple more risks, but its a solid and more than enjoyable work.

Performance wise, Weird Al leans into what he does best, Michael Richards gives a proto-kramer style performance that is bizarre to say the least, and Kevin McCarthy chews the scene like a mule eating an apple as the evil corporate owner of Channel 8 R.J Fletcher. The rest of the cast are a bit of a who's who of alternative comedy 1970-1989. with cameos from the likes of Emo Philips, Dr. Demento and the Kipper Kids. Honestly, I had more fun spotting the obscure comedy acts at times than I did paying attention to the performances.

All of this is wrapped up in a lovely 'easy breezy' Weird Al sanctioned soundtrack thats a mixture of 80s world pop instrumentals and Al authorised parody songs and jingles. I cant really imagine they'd have done it any other way, or rather, a Weird Al movie without a Weird Al Soundtrack would be like an Ice cream without the cream. Its an awesome little score, probably not my favourite 'Al' album, but the titular 'UHF' is an absolute powerhouse and an earworm to boot!

'UHF' to me feels a bit like the inverse of Al's most recent cinematic outing 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story'. Whereas that film was trying to consistently stay serious, but peppered in absolute absurdity to create a consistently toned, but maybe less intense on the joke delivery piece. This is the opposite, its a little bit lumpy in tone and what its trying to do/say, but theres jokes and creative ideas exploding out of every ounce of the celluloid, to the point that even if your very selective in your humour, you wont have to wait long till something you like will swing by.

Absolutely worth catching at your next convenience if you havent seen it before. Its a really solid 90 minute comedy where you're always likely to spot something new on every rewatch.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/uhf/

Another Latter day entry to the filmography of Doris Wishman, and the 2nd of two films to feature 'Chesty Morgan' the magnificent wonderwoman with the 73 inch bust. 'Double Agent 73' feels like a refinement in some ways over the last outing 'Deadly Weapons' but in exchange for enhancements in some areas, I do feel a little is lost in spirit on this one.

The plot follows Morgan as 'Jayne' (Codename: Agent 73) a undercover spy working to bring down a large criminal outfit up to multiple misdeeds. Jaynes reluctant at first to get on board, but ultimately doesnt need much coaxing to take up the job. her main priority? to capture photos of documentation showing the organisations criminal activities, and to photograph proof of the deaths of some of the key figures within the organisation.

How will Jayne get these photos? Well! its simple really, she'll have a camera surgically inserted into one of her breasts, and a large stock of film inserted into the other of course! When she sees something of interest or needs to confirm a kill, she simply lifts her left bosom and BAM! instant hard copy proof captured in an instant.

And so! Jayne gets to work, schmoozing and 'offing' the criminal underworld, capturing everything and anything she can, while the perps quickly realise someones onto them and begin to try and figure out who it could be!

When I say this film is a refinement on the work shown in 'Deadly Weapons' Im specifically referring to the direction, cine and performances. All of these elements feel significantly upgraded over the previous entry. with a much tighter and clearly set of shots, clearly thought out sequence building and a tighter and stronger edit that feels much more professional in its execution.

The direction feels a bit more creatively charged with a more inspired range of directional choices (particularly around camera placement within scenes) The set spaces feel a bit more detailed and thought through (even though a majority of it is still shot in Wishmans Apartment) and Wishmans work with the cast feels a lot more specific, a lot clearer in its execution and the performances themselves feel brighter, a bit campier and much less stiff and more engaging than 'Deadly Weapons.

Unfortunately however, what this film gains in clear creative vision and talent. it loses in scripting and plotting. This entry definitely leans more into the campier side (something I really wished 'Deadly Weapons' had done) but thats really about as positive as I can be towards the plotting and scripting of this production.

For a start, the main plot itself feels a lot less considered. a great deal of the film is essentially a formulaic repetition of Jayne going to a location, getting an update on who or what to photograph, followed by her going to another location, and either photographing evidence while dispatching a security guard, or seducing a member of the organisation and then murdering them and photographic the body.

Theres not a lot of variation, and it quickly becomes quite dry as we go through the motions until the final 10 minutes or so. he plots much more pedestrian than 'Deadly Weapons', the character development IS a lot better handled, but the trade off is a lot less characters to be invested in across the runtime. Morgan herself doesnt get a whole lot to do as the main character in this movie, other than using her boobs to take photos and occasionally pushing someone over to death.

The tone is more consistent, but also I feel doesnt go far enough. its still way to serious for me to really accept it for what it is, its screaming to be a LOT more over the top and farsical. But it never really delivers on the goods.

It opens strong, sags BADLY in the middle and ends on a relatively good note. But not to the kind of high that felt satisfying. And to add insult to injury, the soundtracks kind of unremarkable as well.

In my ideal world, elements of this film and 'Deadly Weapons' would have been combined to create a damn near perfect campy spy pastiche (A spy called Jayne finds out her husbands been killed by a large criminal organisation, and goes undercover to expose their antics and murder anyone who gets in her way by smothering them with her enormous breasts). But instead; we have two movies that are kind of, sort of okay. But both feel like they're missing elements that the other has in droves.

Im less inclined to this one purely because, while it is a lot more polished, it doesnt quite have the sincerity or heart of the previous entry. Never the less, I will also say that this one probably worth seeing at least once, just for the sheer bizarreness of the premise and for its higher production values, espcially when viewed in tandem with 'Deadly Weapons'. Best enjoyed after a good whisky in the small wee hours.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/double-agent-73/

A latter day offering by the late great Doris Wishman and the first of 2 cinematic outings for 'Chesty Morgan', a woman regarded for the longest time as having the biggest bust in cinema. Indeed, Morgans 73 inch bust and day job stripping seemed almost to be the perfect fit for Wishmans…'interesting' revenge movie.

The plot follows Morgan as 'Crystal' a loving fiance to Larry. Larry is in with a bad crowd, and has put himself at great personal risk running jobs for 'the boss'. But Larrys getting tired of constantly risking life behind bars, or worse. So he's decided to screw over 'The Boss', take a big slice of the pie, stick the theft on another guy and flee to Hawaii with Crystal for a romantic wedding and life where palm trees sway…

Unfotunately; The Boss catches up with Larry, and; while on the phone with Crystal, he gets whacked. Crystal however hears everything over the phone, including the names of the guys who've whacked her future husband AND where they're heading next. So! With no time to spare and nothing left to lose, Crystal packs a bag, flies out to vegas and gets a job as an 'exotic dancer' The goal? to find the men who killed her lover and smother them to death with her colossal Honganonganonologongas!

The films 85 minutes long, keeps a gentle, but moving pace and feels about as long as it times out to. The plot is very simple and straightforward, its a good background movie and one absolutely best enjoyed 'under the influence'. The plots light on character and character development with most lines being exposition driven or overly simplistic descriptions of whats happening on screen.

Where I end up with complex feelings towards this production, is that the setup, characters and scenarios are absolute pure cut camp, but Wishman and the cast play it a lot more serious than I feel it should be. This is a film in which a woman with incredibly large breasts smothers several men who killed her partner to death with her gigantic breasts…but they play a decent chunk of this film sincerely…and the end result is a somewhat maudlin and seedy affair in places, and while the campiness does shine through and offer a contrast. The end result feels a bit lumpy, like a clown driven pie fight in the middle of 'midnight cowboy'. The two elements dont mix well, and I wonder whether the film playing more straight cut, or leaning more into camp would have endeared me to it more.

Other than that, the directions actually remarkably good given the budget and timing constraints, it feels like a lower/mid budget production of the time. theres some nice 'big' location sequences. decent choreography on the handful of fight scenes across the runtime and Wishman guides the cast well across the runtime. In fact, i'd go as far as to say that Wishmans direction of the cast in this production is the strongest attribute and reason to check this film outside of Morgan herself.

The cine is maybe a touch on the basic side, composition of sequences are fine and theres a few 'arty' and playful shots thrown into the mix which I appreciated. But they're few and far between, I feel this production lacks a kind of zeal to really help prop up whats happening. At times, it feels a bit rough. Particularly on the edit front.

The performances range from stiffer than a cadaver in a meat truck freezer. to…if anything; overly eccentric. At its worst, its SUPER dry and hard to keep attention on the cast. At its best, its a riot of EPIC proportions (in every sense of the word) Only helped by a soundtrack that comprises largely 'liberated' instrumental of 60s and 70s psychedelia and soul, intercut with library tracks. It fits the bill perfectly and is used well across the runtime.

Ultimately; 'Deadly Weapons' is worth catching at least once. If only for the absurdity of the premise. Its not the best made film, tonally its a bit all over the place. But it undenyably has a lot of charm and warmth behind it, Chesty Morgan is a bit stiff, but endearing and I could see myself revisiting this one in future, if only while in a haze of cheap whisky

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/deadly-weapons/

And so, we arrive at the end of AGFA's 'Krazy Kidz Video Party' anthology, and…well, it closes out with a title thats better than the worst of this set, but not quite as good as the overall offerings. 'Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors' is a Soviet era kids folk/fantasy movie that was exported to the US and redubbed in the process. and I feel like some of the plots…point, was lost somewhere in translation.

The film follows Nella, a mischiveous schoolgirl who stays out late, does what she wants and disrespects her grandma. But she takes things too far and on accidentally destroying a jar of preserves, is transported to a weird 'Mirror' world where she meets her twin mirror counterpart 'Allen'.

The pair emerge in a strange and eccentric world where everyone is seemingly suffering from violent cognitive dissonance. But its soon revealed that the dissonance in question is being caused by an evil ruler of the mirror world, who's using slaves to mine and create 'Crooked Mirrors' that warp reality, showing the inhabitants of the mirror world warped versions of themselves, depending on what they want or expect to see.

When one of the girls friends refuses to continue this bizarre charade any longer, the rulers of the land arrest him and throw him in prison. Leading to Nella and Allen to team up, defeat the evil rulers, rescue their friend and free the land of crooked mirrors…and maybe…just maybe…learn a little about themselves in the process.

The single biggest problem I had with this film is that its about half an hour longer than it really should have been. The premise itself is pretty interesting, but after setting up its stall in the first act, the film gets WAY too comfortable just idling along, resulting in a VERY saggy 2nd act that largely amounts to strange looking characters lore dumping RIGHT up to the final 10 minutes or so, when the action kicks back in. And this pacing fundamentally impacts my feelings about the film. Because it plods SO mercilessly, that even the eccentric whimsy it brings with it, isnt enough to really fully keep my attention on the production.

There were several points through this where I lost track of what was actually supposed to be going on, or what the main characters motivations were supposed to be. And the end result was a film that I just…really struggled to get fully invested in, despite everything going on within it.

Outside of that though, as is the case with other entries on the AGFA set, this films feverish in what it depicts, eccentric colourful characters, strange make up and effects, Colour and direction provided by Russias answer to Dario Argento. From a direction standpoint, this films nuts, and has some VERY memorable and bizarre imagery to offer. It was quite impressive to me and pretty much the only thing leaving me clinging on to this film by the end.

Unfortunately; the budget does appear to have been an issue with this production, as vast swathes of it are largely doing the 'Doctor Who' method of direction and production by filming the vast majority in an old quarry or woodland. The knock on effect creates a cheap, and even MORE surreal experience that im still on the fence about whether I think works in the films favour or against it.

The cines a bit ropey too, sequences are a bit looser than i'd like, the camera work is a touch more experimental (as is to be expected with this kind of eastern european film work) but It didnt quite work for me completely. Not in the way something like 'The Singing Ringing Tree' or 'The Big Bad Wold' or 'Jack Frost' did.

As for the performances, its a mixed bag. I dont really review child actor performances as I dont think its fair to judge someone starting out in the industry honestly. But the adult cast are a little bit stiff, with the overdubbed vocal performances (more on those in a min) doing all the heavy lifting. Noone really caught my eye all that much on a physical level…which is a bit of a shame.

On the audio front, the redubbed voices are bombastic to say the least and also work in this films favour as one of the few reasons to keep watching. Though; as mentioned, I do feel a bit of this scripts purpose and point got lost in translation, as the redub seems pretty happy to sacrifice telling us what the hell is going on in favour of getting a frankly giddy vocal performance down on tape. The dub quality is fine enough, though it clearly doesnt match the movement of the mouths underneith at all. And the soundtrack itself is fine if not a little generic.

'Kingdom of Crooked mirrors' is a bit of a mixed bag production. While the visuals are very interesting, and its nice to see more Eastern European Kids folk stuff making its way onto bluray. The plotting being as messy and plodding as it is really hurt this film for me honestly. I'll probably watch it again to see if it brings the score up. But honestly? all I can say on this one is, if your into strange a feverish visuals and can take or leave on the story side of things…This may be worth your time, otherwise, you may want to look elsewhere.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/kingdom-of-crooked-mirrors/