“SKIP
THE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND GET RIGHT TO THE SEXâ€
By
Raymond Benson
Kino
Lorber and Something Weird Video continue their collaboration to present
“Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture†with Volume 10—Wages
of Sin. Unlike the other exploitation titles that have appeared over the
last two years, Wages is not an American picture; instead, it comes from
Switzerland and was originally released as a serious drama examining the social
problem of illegal abortions and the need to educate the public in birth
control, as well as make a case for the legalization of a woman’s right to
choose. The original German title translates to, roughly, The Doctor Says… or
The Doctor Speaks Out…
However,
American producer/director/actor Donn Davison, who at the time was a
practitioner in the grindhouse and exploitation film circuit, secured the U.S.
rights to the film and released it in 1966 with the salacious title of Wages of Sin.
The movie was dubbed into English—although the dubbing actors speak with German
accents, so go figure. Davison would appear in a “professional†capacity as a
doctor (it is unclear if he really had any medical credentials) to provide a
short lecture to the audience and hawk “how-to†sex manuals during
intermission. Davison filmed his 15-minute presentation to show at drive-in
theaters, where obviously he couldn’t speak in person. (This filmed lecture is
included as a supplement on the new Kino Lorber/Something Weird disk, and it is
hilarious. He tells us that we “may have seen him on Johnny Carson
talking about juvenile delinquency and sexual matters… but tonight he’s going
to skip the juvenile delinquency and get right to the sex.â€)
These
delicious and suitably sleazy pictures in the “Forbidden Fruit†series were
made cheaply and outside the Hollywood system, and certainly in this case
outside of the U.S. They were distributed independently in the manner of a
circus sideshow, often by renting a movie theater for a few nights, advertising
in the local papers, and promoting the scandalous title as “educational.†For
adults only, mind you, but exhibited all in the good name of science or health
or whatever.
Wages
of Sin is
such a serious and sincere take on the subject matter that it is mind-boggling
to think that anyone would be titillated by it. One can imagine trench coat
wearing patrons complaining to the theater management afterwards and asking for
their money back, because there is absolutely no nudity or sex in the film.
Instead, there is real, clinical footage of childbirth, frank talk about birth
control, and dramatized depictions of back-alley abortions.
And
yet, in the U.S., the picture was promoted with sensational taglines such as,
“Shocking! Beyond Description!†and “No one under 16 admitted without parents!â€
Shocking indeed.
The
new Kino Lorber Blu-ray presents both features in high-def restorations and
they both look remarkably good. Wages of Sin comes with an informative
audio commentary by film historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, who brings a
welcome feminine point of view to the proceedings. Supplements include the
previously mentioned Donn Davison “lecture†and two shorts that were sometimes
also exhibited with the two main features—Life and Its Secrecies (with
clinical footage of various types of childbirth), and Triplets by Cesarean
Section (a silent film of the real delivery of triplets). Both the latter
short films suffer from poor visual quality, but it doesn’t make them less
icky. Trailers from other Forbidden Fruit titles round out the package.
For
fans of exploitation pictures, or for those interested in how the subject
matter was handled both in 1966 and 1929, the Wages of Sin disk is for
you!
Kino
Lorber and Something Weird Video continue their collaboration to present “Forbidden
Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture†with Volume 9—The Lash of
the Penitentes. Like the other exploitation titles that have appeared over
the last two years, Lash is another piece of American celluloid that
will surely elicit jaw-dropping, eye-rolling, and headshaking. How did these
things ever get made and distributed? Who went to see them? How corrupted was
one after a viewing?
These
delicious and suitably sleazy pictures in the “Forbidden Fruit†series were
made cheaply and outside the Hollywood system. They were distributed
independently in the manner of a circus sideshow, often by renting a movie
theater for a few nights, advertising in the local papers, and promoting the
salacious title as “educational.†For adults only, mind you, but exhibited all
in the good name of science or health or whatever. Reefer Madness. Narcotic.
Ingagi. Test Tube Babies. She Should’a Said No!. Mom
and Dad. That sort of fare.
The
Lash of the Penitentes, from 1936, is sort of a documentary with re-staged and
fictionalized elements. Los Hermanos Penitentes, the “Penitentes†of the
title, (were? are?) a real religious sect in New Mexico and Colorado that
practices extreme rituals on Good Friday of every year. The main course is a re-enactment
of Christ’s passion by having “penitents†carry crosses up a mountain while
being flagellated by the religious leaders, and then ending with the “chosen
penitent†being crucified on a cross (not with nails). The film implies that
the man dies, but that is unlikely. Apparently, for decades, these activities
were public until more recent years in which the whole gruesome spectacle is
performed in private and probably with more care not to really hurt anyone.
However,
back when the picture was made, this was some seriously twisted stuff. And much
of the real thing is caught on camera.
It
has an interesting history, too. A cameraman named Roland Price (we think) went
to New Mexico and surreptitiously filmed some of the ritual for the purposes of
a future documentary. However, nothing was done with the approximately 18,000
feet of footage. Then, in early 1936, a journalist by the name of Carl Taylor
went to write about the Penitentes. He was caught spying on the ceremony, which
is forbidden to outside parties. He was murdered. The crime made headlines.
Enter
exploitation moviemaker Harry Revier (also responsible for another “Forbidden
Fruit†entry, Child Bride). He somehow acquired the rights to the
documentary footage, fashioned a fictional murder mystery plot to wrap around
it, and shot new material with actors. Of course, the mystery is based on—or at
least inspired by—the true killing of Taylor.
The
approximately 48-minute movie was titled The Penitente Murder Case.
Besides the (for the time) violent depiction of the flagellation and the creepy
religious sect stuff that would assuredly freak out “normal†American
Christians of 1936, the motion picture also contained footage of actress Marie
DeForrest also being stripped and flagellated on the mountainside, and
then “crucified†naked. Why this was included is unclear plot-wise, but it has
something to do with her helping Mack in his mission.
The
censors (the Hays Office) understandably would have nothing to do with the
movie, so Revier edited his masterwork down to 35 minutes—deleting DeForrest’s
footage and making other trims. This version was then released to the public as
The Lash of the Penitentes and this is what grindhouse cinemas on the
exploitation circuit have shown since. It was even released on VHS and DVD in
this version by fly-by-night companies in the past.
Now,
Kino Lorber has issued a high-def Blu-ray of the full-length 48-minute version
that looks about as best as it can get. It comes with a highly informative
audio commentary by Bret Wood, co-author of the book Forbidden Fruit: The
Golden Age of the Exploitation Film and curator of the “Forbidden Fruitâ€
series for Kino.
Also
included is the 35-minutecensored version. What makes the entire thing
even more mysterious is the inclusion of the theatrical trailer, which contains
scandalous footage that does not appear in either edit of the film. The trailer
has scenes of a woman being assaulted by her boyfriend, saved by a young boy,
but then flagellated while hanging from her arms. Full nudity. In a trailer.
None of it is in The Penitente Murder Case or The Lash of the
Penitentes. One supposes that this was the only way the distributors could lure
an audience—mostly male, it is assumed—to come see the picture when it opened.
Since
both versions of the feature are short, Kino Lorber and Something Weird
probably could have added another “Forbidden Fruit†title to the disk; after
all, several other Volumes in the series contain double features. Why not this
one? With that the only quibble, The Lash of the Penitentes should
appeal to those fans of film history, exploitation films, and just plain kooky,
weird stuff.
SOLD OUT ON AMAZON. CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM KINO LORBER.
Lately
there has been a new trend in film books that are more like biographies than
simply non-fiction treatises on the making of a movie. A “biography of a film,â€
as critic Molly Haskell calls it, treats a particular motion picture in the
same way a researcher would examine a person’s life—from the inception to its
lasting influence and impact today, meticulously illustrating each step and examining
the personnel involved along the way. The recent Space Odyssey by
Michael Benson (a “biography†of 2001: A Space Odyssey) is a fine
example.
Glenn
Frankel’s Shooting Midnight Cowboy—Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the
Making of a Dark Classic is one such biography of a film, and it is a
magnificent tome. Besides dissecting the all-important sociological milieu that
was in the background while Cowboy was being made, the book is an
excellent lesson in the filmmaking process.
Frankel’s
book begins, as it should, with novelist James Leo Herlihy. Tall and handsome,
Herlihy in many ways was a more intelligent and sophisticated version of his
character, Joe Buck, although Herlihy was not from Texas. Novelist, playwright,
and actor, Herlihy was also a gay man in a time and place in which one must
remain closeted—although he was anything but. His early work, which included
more plays for the stage than novels, had subtle homosexual themes and characters.
His novel Midnight Cowboy was published in 1965. It did fairly well, but
it didn’t take the literary world by storm. Luckily, the book landed in the
hands of British filmmaker John Schlesinger, another gay man who struggled with
his sexual identity in public.
John
Schlesinger was coming off the success of his 1965 “swinging Londonâ€
eye-opener, Darling, which had garnered Oscar nominations of Picture and
Director, and had awarded Julie Christie with Best Actress. As he embarked on
making his period adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd,
he teamed up with producer Jerome Hellman to make Cowboy after that.
It
was a rough road for both the producer and director, especially when Madding
Crowd (1967) bombed at the box office. Luckily, the duo found an ally in
David Picker, an executive at United Artists. UA was known for its liberal
policies of allowing filmmakers to do their thing without interference, as long
as they stuck to an agreed upon budget. Picker’s instincts were canny—he knew
that Schlesinger would deliver a work of art, so he convinced his colleagues to
go with Midnight Cowboy.
Casting
the film was a challenge. Dustin Hoffman was an early contender for the role of
Rico “Ratso†Rizzo, even before the release of his star-making vehicle, The
Graduate (1967). Hoffman had to convince Schlesinger he could do the part
after The Graduate came out by improvising a costume and showing up in
character for a meeting on the streets of New York for a “meeting.†The pivotal
protagonist role of Joe Buck was more problematic. Schlesinger had his eye on
Michael Sarrazin, but newcomer Jon Voight was also in the wings hoping for a
chance. The casting director, Marion Dougherty (whose contribution to the film
is duly emphasized in Frankel’s book), fought for Voight. When Sarrazin’s agent
asked for more money than what was originally agreed upon, both Hellman and
Schlesinger decided to go with Voight. While Sarrazin might have performed in
the role quite well, the choice of Voight was a significant move.
And
then there is screenwriter Waldo Salt, formerly blacklisted during the HUAC
witch hunts, who brought another set of baggage to the production.
The
book also provides the reader with a history of the Times Square area of New
York City, and how it changed in the 1950s and 60s to the sleazy hunting
grounds for hustlers that we see in the film (and it would get worse in the
70s—witness Taxi Driver!). All of this is vitally important to how Midnight
Cowboy was conceived and shot, and the background is fascinating.
One
of the most surprising revelations about Shooting Midnight Cowboy is the
story of its X-rating. The book tells us that the movie ratings board initially
rated the movie R for Restricted Audiences! It was Arthur Krim, the head of
United Artists, who on the advice of a psychiatrist friend, insisted that the
picture be rated X because of its depiction of homosexuality. Later, after the
film won the Best Picture Oscar, UA went back to the ratings board and asked
that the movie be re-rated to R. The board, befuddled by the request (“hey,
that’s what we originally rated it!â€), did so… and to this day, Midnight
Cowboy is still rated R without any cuts.
Glenn
Frankel’s Shooting Midnight Cowboy delivers a filmmaking lesson, a history
lesson, a candid portrait of all the personages involved (complete with
interviews with Hoffman, Voight, and others who are still alive to talk about
it), and a snapshot of one of the greatest American films—seen through the eyes
of a British director—ever made.