Hollywood Babylon (1971) User Reviews

Curious mix of documentary and exploitation

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 1 February 2017]

Hollywood BABYLON is a unique film in that half of it is a documentary and half of it a typical sexploitation film, circa the early 1970s. It's clearly inspired by the Kenneth Anger book of the same name, chronicling hedonism among Hollywood royalty in the 1920s. How much of it you believe is up to you, but it does make for interesting viewing/reading material.

The best parts of this film are those which act as the straight documentary. The narrative is sufficiently earnest and accompanied by various clips of silent film stars such as Charlie Chaplin. The sexploitation stuff is mildly interesting and features actors pretending to be greats like Chaplin, Dietrich, Valentino etc. and typically involved in orgy or random sex scenes. There's a lot of mild fetish stuff with cross dressing, S&M, and lesbianism making an appearance.

The sex stuff isn't very interesting and feels quite repetitive, even though a lot of stand-out starlets are used (like arresting Meyer actress Uschi Digard). The scene involving Fatty Arbuckle and his perversions is probably the most shocking. Other than that, Hollywood BABYLON is a curio at best, but the historical/reality ties at least make it worth a watch unlike other entries in this overworked genre.

To sleep with Anger

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 7 May 2016]

Kenneth Anger's book Hollywood Babylon is one hell of an expose of the early days of Hollywood sleaze even though some of it was probably embellished. However I think it cannot be denied that their were wild parties, rampant sex and despicable behaviour with all sorts of cover ups to protect the guilty.

This movie version is loosely based on the book but nowhere near as biting or entertaining. Kenneth has anger but not the wit. This is old public domain footage with some soft porn re-enactments of some sleaze from the stars of the silent screen.

The film starts brightly enough but after a while it stops mentioning the scandalous stars that misbehaved. I guess at the time some of the stars involved were still alive and the producers of the film did not want to be sued.

It is a curious film worth watching while having access to Wikipedia so you can find out more about the stars featured and what might had actually happened in their private lives. I think some of the stories seem less sordid now, even Fatty Arbuckle's use of a champagne bottle to make up for his shortcomings.

Boring and overlong adults only "expose"

[Casey-52 · 11 November 2000]

Based on the Kenneth Anger book of the same name, HOLLYWOOD BABYLON is over 50% public domain silent movie footage with boring narration over it. I can't believe I'm commenting on this, as it is really nothing to comment on, but there are some good sequences of Uschi Digard as a lesbian Marlene Dietrich and the re-enactment of the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. Otherwise, nothing to shout about and certainly nothing to seek out. Maybe if you're a Hollywood scandal fanatic, but even then, more time is spent on Hollywood history (mostly fictional).

Supersleazy companion piece to Anger's book

[Jens-28 · 10/10 · 18 June 1999]

This is pure exploitation (in the best sense). You take some scenes from classic public domain films (Keaton etc.) mixed it with historical WWI footage and then you spice it up with some wild softcore re-enactments of the scandals from Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon" book and, BANG!, you've got a hit! Oliver Stone, eat your heart out! Boobqueen Uschi ("Supervixens", "Scavengers", "Touch Of Sweden" etc.) Digart's portrait of a lesbian Marlene Dietrich is a blast. More informative (and funnier) than Discovery History Channel! The slick but stale flicks of the PC 90's can't hold a candle to the wonderful world of 70's exploitation cinema. So get your psychotronic kicks, daddy-o!

Can You Really Exploit Exploitation?

[Michael_Elliott · 4 September 2015]

Hollywood Babylon (1972)

** (out of 4)

When Kenneth Anger released his now notorious book Hollywood Babylon, most people came out and said it was nothing but lies. In 1972 this exploitation movie was made, which is mostly public domain footage from silent movies with some re-enactments added for "adult" favor. This so-called documentary shows up what the likes of Clara Bow, Charlie Chaplin, Wally Reid, Marlene Dietrich and Fatty Arbuckle were really up to behind the camera.

Anger's book has pretty much been laughed off the map as far as any truths are concerned but there's no question it was a ground-breaker and it really did open the doors for such sleaze as the National Enquirer and TMZ. This film, on the other hand, just uses the book for its title and the rest is pretty much pure exploitation. In fact, it often doesn't even mention the stars that the re-enactments are based around and I'm guessing this is because the producers didn't want to get sued.

We learn about various naughty parts of Hollywood during the 1920s including the drug use that killed the likes of Wally Reid and Olive Thomas. We also hear about how Chaplin had a thing for very young girls and was forced into marrying one. We also see that savage beast Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as he attacks a sweet, young girl at one of his parties. Several other celebrities have their stories exposed here.

Yeah, this thing is pretty darn stupid from start to finish but fans of exploitation might find it entertaining in a strange way. The re-enactments are nothing but sex, nudity, orgies and more nudity. I'm not going to lie, some of the re-enactments were rather funny including the Clara Bow gang bang of a football team. Of course, this has been proved false. The re-enactments are all rather poorly done including the Arbuckle sequence, which really makes no sense and really comes no where near any of the "truths" or "myths" to the story.

Hollywood BABYLON is a pretty sleazy little movie that has no real purpose other than to show many women naked. Exploitation fans will notice Uschi Digard playing Dietrich.