Before starring in cult favorites like The Honeymoon Killers and God Told Me To, Tony LoBianco made his screen debut in this Doris Wishman flick. He plays Allen, the boyfriend of Paulette (Anna Karol). He wants to know why she won’t commit to him, so she tells him the long story of her sordid past. A long-ass flashback reveals why.
Paulette moves to New York with dreams of being an actress. She moves in with Tracy (Darlene Bennett) who introduces her to a sleazy agent named Sam (Sam Stewart). She attends wild parties, is disgusted when Sam and Tracy bang in the floor in front of her, and quickly realizes the Broadway producers won’t give her the time of day. Paulette tries her hand at waiting tables and when she fails at that, she eventually resorts to a life of prostitution to make ends meet.
Karol is quite good as the innocent waif who slowly becomes corrupted. Her best scene is when she takes a seductive bubble bath. It’s also fun seeing all the usual Wishman regulars on hand yet again. Bennett in particular is becoming a favorite of mine. She especially looks great while lounging around the house wearing nothing but her bra and panties.
I’ve watched so many Wishman movies in the past thirty-two hours that when one of her cinematic trademarks appear, it’s cause to triumphantly fist-pump in the air. A title sequence with black and white photos and snazzy theme music? Characters taking a walk in Central Park that utilize footage from other Doris movies? Random shots of feet? Impromptu dance numbers? (One of which reappeared in My Brother’s Wife.) Shots of discarded undergarments lying on the floor? The same couple of apartments used in her other movies? All these moments are cause for celebration, and The Sex Perils of Paulette has a lot of them.
Oh, and how could I forget the lack of synched sound? Since the whole thing is told in flashback, Doris can get away with narrating nearly the whole dang thing without even attempting to match the actors’ dialogue with their lips. Oh, and did I mention Doris herself provides the narration?
Too bad Paulette doesn’t get into any Sex Perils until the last five minutes of the movie. Because of that, it’s ultimately more tease than please, and lacking a generous helping of sleaze. But as a vehicle for Doris Wishman to trot out all her cinematic fetishes yet again, it works. Almost.
AKA: Love Perils of Paulette. AKA: Paulette. AKA: The Perils of Paulette. AKA: The Problems of Paulette. AKA: The Depraved, the Demented, and the Damned.
No comments:
Post a Comment