I'm a Lee Frost fan, but of his later work. This early, phony-baloney effort from his days teamed with producer/distributor Bob Cresse is largely a waste of time.
The Something Weird DVD-R revival is strictly black & white, though its original theatrical run included color segments. Film's self-serving stress on its "hidden-camera" approach is strictly bogus, as the scenes are staged for voyeurs.
Opening few reels are frightening in that the models keep posing and covering up to hide their nipples from the camera -it's prehistoric porn time! Fortunately, more revealing footage is gradually doled out, and casting attractive women makes it almost worthwhile.
Stripper Baby Bubbles is a standout, nipples carefully covered by pointed cups and tassels as part of her act -which almost qualifies as documentary style. Intercuts of the creeps in her live audience are insulting, but meant to be, as Frost & Cresse like to hold up a mirror to the "d.g.'s (that's slang for degenerates) that pay their bills.
There is some information to be gleaned from the film, such as citing a $22,000 budget for an early '60s nudie movie (it would drop to low 4-digit budgets for the 1-day wonder hardcore efforts of the early '70s), a $150 per day pay-scale for actresses of that period, and a $500 annual membership fee for joining a sex club where you might see simulated stage sex (in this case a rather boring lesbian routine by star & servant). The travelogue shots of marquees and facades in L.A.'s adult entertainment zone is also fun to see.
However, the utterly fake material, such as "hidden camera" peeking into the ladies room of a West Coast geisha-styled joint, a ridiculous Pool Party by a leading producer (naturally played by Cresse himself) and other assorted nonsense is a waste of time. Cresse and Frost later repeatedly cashed in on the Mondo craze, but I can't stand this insulting junk -far better if someone were to discover film elements of Frost's lost movie SURFTIDE FEMALE FACTORY and reissue that baby.
The Something Weird DVD-R revival is strictly black & white, though its original theatrical run included color segments. Film's self-serving stress on its "hidden-camera" approach is strictly bogus, as the scenes are staged for voyeurs.
Opening few reels are frightening in that the models keep posing and covering up to hide their nipples from the camera -it's prehistoric porn time! Fortunately, more revealing footage is gradually doled out, and casting attractive women makes it almost worthwhile.
Stripper Baby Bubbles is a standout, nipples carefully covered by pointed cups and tassels as part of her act -which almost qualifies as documentary style. Intercuts of the creeps in her live audience are insulting, but meant to be, as Frost & Cresse like to hold up a mirror to the "d.g.'s (that's slang for degenerates) that pay their bills.
There is some information to be gleaned from the film, such as citing a $22,000 budget for an early '60s nudie movie (it would drop to low 4-digit budgets for the 1-day wonder hardcore efforts of the early '70s), a $150 per day pay-scale for actresses of that period, and a $500 annual membership fee for joining a sex club where you might see simulated stage sex (in this case a rather boring lesbian routine by star & servant). The travelogue shots of marquees and facades in L.A.'s adult entertainment zone is also fun to see.
However, the utterly fake material, such as "hidden camera" peeking into the ladies room of a West Coast geisha-styled joint, a ridiculous Pool Party by a leading producer (naturally played by Cresse himself) and other assorted nonsense is a waste of time. Cresse and Frost later repeatedly cashed in on the Mondo craze, but I can't stand this insulting junk -far better if someone were to discover film elements of Frost's lost movie SURFTIDE FEMALE FACTORY and reissue that baby.
