Thursday, June 09, 2005
It's A Little Late For Modesty Now, Dear!
What with being on holiday and all, I've missed some fun stuff. This post, in particular, caught my attention.
It seems that an Anouska Hempel, now Lady Weinberg, is somewhat embarassed at her history of soft-core porn. She starred in the Russ Meyer film 'Black Snake', which is soon to be on DVD in Britain. According to the 'Times' article the Bunny links to:
'The former proprietor of the chic London hotels Blakes and the Hempel is rumoured to have offered to buy the video rights to ensure the film was forgotten for ever. In its celluloid version the film is thought to have been shown in Britain on only a handful of occasions. But it will now be sold in video stores and the Ann Summers chain of sex shops.'
Tut-tut. That's for two things - first of all, for a journalist with a national newspaper starting a sentence with 'but', something that angers me inordinately, and secondly for an actress attempting, by distinctly dubious means, to remove something regretted from the public domain.
It seems that her concern is not only related to her nudity. The film allegedly (I haven't seen it) contains some distinctly dubious racial epithets, and is set upon a slave plantation. It sounds a little like a soft-core porno version of 'Mandingo.' Although, in fairness, 'Black Snake' came first (by two years). Russ Meyer clearly disagreed, however - according to the IMDb 'Trivia' page for the film, Meyer 'stated in an interview that this film was his "statement" film against racial bigotry.' Who knows? If anyone has seen it, I'd be interested to hear your views.
Incidentally, given that the main review for the film calls it 'Susan, She-Wolf Of The Plantation,' a clear nod to 'Ilsa, She-Wolf Of The SS' (interstingly, according to the IMDb, banned in Australia and Norway), a Nazi sexploitation film, it doesn't sound terribly edifying.
Sadly, there is actually nothing that can be done to stop people from buying the rights to their own films. It seems, given that the film is being released, that Hempel's attempt must have failed. Anyhow, it emerges that Hempel's soft-core career didn't end in 'Black Snake' - the Bunny mentions another film called 'Tiffany Jones', which sounds like a true trash classic. I think I shall see if I can't get hold of a copy.
I belive that the tagline 'When the going gets tough, the clothes get going!' may be my favourite film tagline ever. It's sheer genius.
It seems that an Anouska Hempel, now Lady Weinberg, is somewhat embarassed at her history of soft-core porn. She starred in the Russ Meyer film 'Black Snake', which is soon to be on DVD in Britain. According to the 'Times' article the Bunny links to:
'The former proprietor of the chic London hotels Blakes and the Hempel is rumoured to have offered to buy the video rights to ensure the film was forgotten for ever. In its celluloid version the film is thought to have been shown in Britain on only a handful of occasions. But it will now be sold in video stores and the Ann Summers chain of sex shops.'
Tut-tut. That's for two things - first of all, for a journalist with a national newspaper starting a sentence with 'but', something that angers me inordinately, and secondly for an actress attempting, by distinctly dubious means, to remove something regretted from the public domain.
It seems that her concern is not only related to her nudity. The film allegedly (I haven't seen it) contains some distinctly dubious racial epithets, and is set upon a slave plantation. It sounds a little like a soft-core porno version of 'Mandingo.' Although, in fairness, 'Black Snake' came first (by two years). Russ Meyer clearly disagreed, however - according to the IMDb 'Trivia' page for the film, Meyer 'stated in an interview that this film was his "statement" film against racial bigotry.' Who knows? If anyone has seen it, I'd be interested to hear your views.
Incidentally, given that the main review for the film calls it 'Susan, She-Wolf Of The Plantation,' a clear nod to 'Ilsa, She-Wolf Of The SS' (interstingly, according to the IMDb, banned in Australia and Norway), a Nazi sexploitation film, it doesn't sound terribly edifying.
Sadly, there is actually nothing that can be done to stop people from buying the rights to their own films. It seems, given that the film is being released, that Hempel's attempt must have failed. Anyhow, it emerges that Hempel's soft-core career didn't end in 'Black Snake' - the Bunny mentions another film called 'Tiffany Jones', which sounds like a true trash classic. I think I shall see if I can't get hold of a copy.
I belive that the tagline 'When the going gets tough, the clothes get going!' may be my favourite film tagline ever. It's sheer genius.
