Russ Meyer's Fanny Hill (1964)

Young, pretty and innocent Fanny Hill has lost her parents and must find her way in life amidst the perils of turbulent 18th century London. She is fortunate enough to find rapidly a place ... See full summary »

Directors:

Russ Meyer, Albert Zugsmith (uncredited)

Writers:

John Cleland (novel), Robert Hill

Stars:

Miriam Hopkins, Alexander D'Arcy, Walter Giller

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Miriam Hopkins	...	Mrs. Maude Brown
Alexander D'Arcy	...	Admiral (as Alex D'Arcy)
Walter Giller	...	Hemingway
Chris Howland	...	Mr. Norbert
Ulli Lommel	...	Charles
Helmut Weiss	...	Mr. Dinklespieler
Letícia Román	...	Fanny Hill
Cara Garnett	...	Phoebe
Marshall Reynor	...	Johnny
Syra Marty	...	Hortense (as Syra)
Karin Evans	...	Martha
Christiane Schmidtmer	...	Fiona
Hilde Sessak	...	Mrs. Snow
Albert Zugsmith	...	Grand Duke
Billy Frick	...	Percival

Storyline

Young, pretty and innocent Fanny Hill has lost her parents and must find her way in life amidst the perils of turbulent 18th century London. She is fortunate enough to find rapidly a place as chambermaid of the effusive Mrs. Brown. Mrs. Brown lives in a large house teeming with female "relatives" in négligée and with very relaxed manners. She also insists that Fanny meets alone various gentlemen who show an ardent interest in Fanny.

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Plot Keywords:

18th century | woman | cult film | female protagonist | sex | 

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Taglines:

Banned for 200 Years...Now a Feature Film by Albert Zugsmith

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA West Germany

Language:

English German

Release Date:

10 March 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

Filming Locations:

CCC-Studios, Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Central Cinema Company Film (CCC), Famous Players, Favorite Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cara Garnett receives an "introducing" credit.

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Quotes

Mrs. Maude Brown: She's fresh as a young heifer still romping among the daisies in her innocence, almost mooing for her mama.
Mr. Dinklespieler: So you say, my Dear, so you say. But I have noted in the past a slight tendency on your part to exaggeration. Some of your heifers have turned out to be overblown milk cows.
Mrs. Maude Brown: Dear Dinklespieler, I am not asking you to purchase sight unseen. You may investigate fully.
Mr. Dinklespieler: Fully? How fully?
Mr. Dinklespieler: Fifty guineas worth.
Mr. Dinklespieler: 'od's blood, you ask more for an untried maiden than the government asks of me in ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

"The End of the Beginning, To Be Continued"

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Connections

Referenced in Motorpsycho! (1965)

User Reviews

Very weak, atypical film from Russ Meyer

Fanny Hill proved to be something of a one-off for famed sexploitation director Russ Meyer. For one thing, it was a film he made in West Germany and it was also a period film based on a literary source. It was hardly, therefore, the kind of material that Meyer was used to tackling. As such, it is definitely one of the less personal films he ever made, where he truly seemed like no more than a director-for-hire. The story follows a young woman who falls on hard times but is welcomed in a house populated by women; which the wide eyed innocent doesn't recognise as a brothel.

Whenever Meyer veers too far out of his comfort zone it often ends in trouble and Fanny Hill is unfortunately no exception. It is a film which will be unlikely to satisfy many Meyer fans nor those who liked the novel I should imagine. It's neither erotic nor funny and also commits one of the worse cinematic sins in being over-long too. Definitely a film which Meyer completists should at least see but it is something of a slog to get through though, so be warned. The most interesting aspect of it for me was the appearance of Laetitia Roman in the lead role. I had hitherto only known her from her starring performance in Mario Bava's highly influential year-zero giallo The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963), which needless to say was a considerably better film than this one. But it was nice to see her in something else at the very least.