DORIS DECEMBER: TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN (1968) **

Mike (Buck Starr from A Taste of Flesh) is a loutish pimp who has a hot young college gal (Sharon Kent from Indecent Desires) for a plaything.  He moonlights as a gay prostitute and blackmails his married Madison Avenue client (Bob Oran from My Brother’s Wife) into giving him a job at his ad agency.  Mike then sets his sights on seducing the boss’s daughter (Yolanda Signorelli).  Eventually, Mike’s loathsomeness catches up with him.   

Like all the movies found in Doris Wishman’s roughie period, we begin with a title sequence that plays out over black and white photographs.  The music that accompanies this sequence isn’t one of the best found in Wishman’s films, but it’s not bad.  Other Doris trademarks include scenes of women gazing at themselves in the mirror (in the name of equality, Starr often looks at himself in the mirror too), women showering to an overly bombastic score (a theme that has been cropping up more and more of late), and of course, feet… glorious feet!

Starr’s character is suitably nasty (it seems like the kind of role Sam Stewart should’ve played), but Too Much Too Often (surprising gay S & M opening scene aside) is lacking the punch of Wishman’s other films of this period.  It has a basic Plot… Sex… Plot structure of your average ‘60s skin flick and is missing that certain kookiness that makes Wishman’s films so memorable.  Other than the scene where Starr eats chocolates from Kent’s tits, the sex scenes are mostly forgettable this time around.

Stewart does show up later in the movie as a man previously wronged by Starr who gives him his just desserts.  Unfortunately, the dubbing on Stewart makes him sound like Speedy Gonzalez, which undercuts most of his menace.  Then, just when the movie should be over, there’s an eleventh-hour flashback to explain Stewart’s motives.  This scene probably wasn’t necessary, but it does prominently feature Darlene Bennett naked, so it’s not a total wash.

Starr gets the best line of the movie when he says, “I like my liquor strong and my women WEAK!”

AKA:  Too Much… Too Soon.

DORIS DECEMBER: THE HOT MONTH OF AUGUST (1969) ***

Jason (Yanis Fertis) is a young man who left his hometown for Athens to make a name for himself.  He failed miserably and is now using his last dime to return home first class aboard a cruise ship.  On the boat, Jason bumps into a carefree gigolo who tells him he should think about becoming a male prostitute.  Jason also meets a hot cougar on the cruise, and they begin a mad love affair.  Problems brew when her husband finds out about their fling, and Jason soon finds himself at the center of larger scheme.

Like Passion Fever, The Hot Month of August was another Greek import Doris Wishman got her mitts on, added new scenes, and released stateside.  Thank goodness Wishman didn’t edit this one to smithereens.  She must’ve sensed that the film was just fine in its original form, and she was smart enough to let it play out naturally without too many intrusions.  Her sex scene inserts, while no means seamless, are a vast improvement over the ones found in Passion Fever, and even manage to be a little bit steamy… despite the fact that everyone’s head is cropped out of frame.

Since Doris was only responsible for about 20% of the footage, that leaves very little room for her various cinematic fetishes.  In fact, there is only one random shot of a person’s foot, and it’s hard to tell if it was filmed by Doris or if it was part of the original film.  Of course, one distinctly Doris touch prevails:  The black and white photograph title sequence.  The only problem is the music sucks this time out.  It sounds like something you’d hear at a skating rink.

If you felt burned by Passion Fever, don’t write off The Hot Month of August just because it’s another one of Wishman’s Greek imports.  It’s like ten times better than that haphazard concoction.  The plot of this one is actually rather interesting, and it takes some unexpected twists and turns.  It feels like a Greek attempt at an American film noir but set in bright and sunny locations.  There’s a lot of double crosses and backstabbing, which keeps you invested in the story.  Everyone seems to have ulterior motives and aren’t exactly who they seem.  Except for that poor dope Jason, that is.  

In fact, you get so caught up in the plot that some of Doris’s inserts are kind of a distraction.  The most random insert occurs at a pivotal moment in the movie when a major character’s corpse is discovered and there is a random-ass flashback to her having sex.  Only Doris would do something like that.  

Some may have a different reaction to the film as I did.  If you come in hoping to see Doris’s many cinematic flourishes on display, you’re bound to be disappointed.  However, after sitting through so many of Wishman’s movies in such a short amount of time, The Hot Month of August felt like a nice change of pace.

Best Dialogue Exchange:  

Jason:  “This is wrong.  You’re only a child.”

Hope:  “But with you… I’m a WOMAN!”

DORIS DECEMBER: THE SEX PERILS OF PAULETTE (1965) ** ½

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.

DORIS DECEMBER: PASSION FEVER (1969) *

Doris Wishman bought a Greek movie called Fever, cut most of the footage out, added some new scenes, and called it Passion Fever.  There’s no passion and no fever to be found anywhere.  It’s only fifty-one minutes long.  You’ll wish it was shorter.

Yarkos (Panos Kateris) is a young man who is happy to be out of his parents’ house.  He spends his free time speeding around Greece and looking for chicks.  (“The only thing that makes life worth living is women!”)  Predictably, his womanizing ways catch up to him, leading to tragedy.  

In typical Doris fashion, the opening titles are arranged over black and white photos from the film.  The music that plays over this sequence is a zippy little Greek instrumental.  I don’t know if the music was present in the original version, or if Doris hired someone to make it sound Greek.  Whatever the case, it’s another fun title sequence.  

It goes without saying that it’s going to be poorly dubbed, but the fact that it’s a foreign film probably gave Wishman license to just lean into the shoddy dubbing.  We’ve all seen terribly dubbed foreign skin flicks before, right?  They don’t try to match the lips, so why should Doris?

And with that, I am quickly running out of nice things to say about Passion Fever.  This is a trainwreck in just about every regard.  The editing is so jarring it’s enough to give you whiplash.  First, Yarkos is at a parade, then he’s on the street getting some gal’s number, then he’s sitting on a park bench talking to a friend… all in the space of like a minute.  Stretches like this make you feel like Doris threw the footage in a Veg-O-Matic and whatever got spit out was held together with Elmer’s Glue.  

To give Doris the benefit of the doubt, it is possible that some of the snippets that are missing might have been stolen from some greedy projectionist at a seedy grindhouse for his own collection.  Even then, that doesn’t excuse the slipshod whirlwind back and forth in some scenes.  

The funniest bits are the Wishman-lensed sex inserts.  The way she not-so cleverly tries to crop out people’s faces and heads is a riot.  What’s worse is that it is painfully apparent that the footage doesn’t match at all.  Like, not even close.  As in, the guy in the Wishman scenes is wearing glasses and Yarkos clearly is not.  Boy, oh boy.  

I haven’t seen the original version of Fever, so I can’t say if it’s better than Wishman’s version, but I know it can’t be much worse.  The set-up is sound enough.  A dude driving around trying to get laid.  It’s hard to screw that up.  Somehow, Doris managed to do just that.  

AKA:  Fever.

DORIS DECEMBER: MY BROTHER’S WIFE (1966) ***

My Brother’s Wife features yet another amazing instrumental theme during the opening credits sequence.  Say what you will about Doris Wishman’s technical shortcomings, but her ability to secure legitimately terrific music for her films time and again is simply amazing.  Once again, the theme plays over black and white images from the movie.  Some would call this repetitive.  For me, it’s that kind of serial adherence to form that I respect from my filmmakers.

The film begins with a brawl between brothers in a billiards hall.  Flashbacks reveal how the trouble all started.  It seems the mildly handsome Frankie (Sam Stewart, getting typecast as a nogoodnik in yet another Wishman movie) came to stay with his tubby, bald brother Bob (Bob Oran) and his sexy young wife Mary (June Roberts).  You know it’s just a matter of time before Frankie and Mary are going to be knocking the boots.  Naturally, Frankie breaks her heart, which leads to tragedy.

This time out, Wishman uses voiceovers in a rather respectable manner.  When Frankie and Mary first meet, we hear their thoughts on the soundtrack as they sexually size up one another.  The dialogue isn’t bad either and sometimes takes on a noir-ish quality (which is fitting considering all the double-crosses in the third act).

The usual Wishman touches abound.  Extraneous shots of feet?  Check.  Gratuitous shots of strewn undies?  Got it.  Obviously out-of-synch dialogue?  You bet.  Long scenes of women gazing at their reflection in the mirror?  Yup.  A completely random dance sequence?  It’s here.

It’s those distinctly Doris hallmarks that prevents My Brother’s Wife from being just another run-of-the-mill adult drama.  If you noticed, I called it an “adult drama” and not a roughie.  I hesitate to use that term because it’s strangely… normal for a Doris Wishman movie?!?  Yes, there are scenes where Frankie tries to force himself on women (including Darlene Bennett from A Taste of Flesh), but they are quite restrained… again, for a Doris Wishman movie.   

Yes, this is a surprisingly straightforward entry in the Wishman filmography.  Despite the fact that it is lacking a certain sleaziness that we’ve come to expect from Wishman, it is nevertheless a competent (mostly) drama, and remains effortlessly watchable.  If anything, it was proof Doris could make a “real” movie if she tried.  I mean some of the camera angles she managed to pull off in such a cramped apartment are rather inspired (the POV shot of a stool where Bennett’s ass comes rushing towards the camera is a doozy) and the lesbian lovemaking sequence is positively poetic.    

DORIS DECEMBER: ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MAN (1966) ** ½

(Originally reviewed November 30th, 2020)

I’m a big fan of Doris Wishman, although I readily admit I much prefer her wild, anything-goes ‘70s work to the nudies and roughies she made in the ‘60s.  Having said that, this one is pretty good.  It has all the hallmarks you’d expect from a Wishman joint, namely:  Awkward editing during the dialogue scenes (to disguise the fact she didn’t have synch sound), random ass cutaways to planters and clown paintings (again, to disguise the fact she didn’t have synch sound), and gratuitous close-ups of feet and breasts whenever things slow down (again, to disguise the fact she didn’t have synch sound).  

Ann (Barbi Kemp) just got married to Steve (Tony Gregory).  When Steve comes down with a mysterious illness, it leaves their household without an income.  Forced to support her ailing hubby, Ann turns to her former roommate’s lecherous pimp for help, who promptly puts her to work hooking.  Naturally, when Steve finally figures it all out, it leads to predictably tragic results.

A lot of the fun comes from seeing Ann’s transformation from mousy housewife to sexy lady of the night.  By that I mean, the change is almost immediate.  One minute she’s wearing demure wardrobes, and the next, she’s slinking around in a skintight bodysuit and sporting a beehive hairdo.  Her hubby is often hilariously oblivious to the change in her.

Like many of Wishman’s films, Another Day, Another Man looks great.  Wishman’s cinematography is usually on-point, and this is no exception.  The big issue is the odd plot detours that often lead to a bumpy ride.  At one point, the plot stops abruptly and goes into the pimp boyfriend’s backstory.  The stuff with the pimp courting twin sisters into a life of prostitution, and the subsequent subplot about a boyfriend breaking off his engagement because he learns his girlfriend’s a hooker eats up a lot of screen time and gets in the way of main plotline.

Another Day, Another Man is also kind of tame and a lot less seedy than Wishman’s best work.  It’s still fairly enjoyable though.  I’d say it’s about on par with Bad Girls Go to Hell, but it’s far from the dizzying heights of Let Me Die a Woman.

The most memorable part is the awesome music.  The main theme, “The Hell Raisers” by The Syd Dale Orchestra is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.  It later became the iconic Something Weird theme, and if you’ve ever watched one of their videos, you know it will be stuck in your head for days after you hear it.  The rest of the music in the movie isn’t quite as memorable, but it’s still pretty darn good.

The dialogue is often a hoot too; my favorite line being:  “I haven’t seen you since yesterday… and that’s almost twenty-four hours!”

AKA:  Another Day, Another Way.

DORIS DECEMBER NOTES:

1) In my original review, I said Another Day, Another Man was “about on par with Bad Girls Go to Hell”.  Now that I have revaluated that film and elevated it to Four Star status, I would amend that statement and say it’s “about on par with A Taste of Flesh”.

2) Once again, we have another title sequence features black and white photographs.  This one has the distinction of featuring “The Hell Raisers”, the best piece of music Wishman ever put into a film.  

3) Like Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls, our heroine has a boss who doesn’t approve of married women working.  Is this a reoccurring theme of strong women rallying against patriarchal expectations and outdated mores?  Or is Wishman just repeating herself?  

4) Another reoccurring element that has been cropping up during Wishman’s roughie period is the random cutaway to a discarded undergarment lying on the floor.  It’s not as pronounced as the shots of feet, awkward telephone conversations, and bad dubbing, but it’s becoming more and more prevalent in each passing movie.

5) Sam Stewart, who had a memorable role in Bad Girls Go to Hell, plays yet another lout who likes to smack women around.

6) Another reoccurring element in Wishman’s roughie period:  The downbeat ending.  All the characters walked happily off into the sunset (nude) in her nudie era.  With the exception of A Taste of Flesh, Wishman’s heroines in this period are left to a depressing fate.  

7) Like The Prince and the Nature Girl, Wishman once again resorts to stealing footage from her earlier movies, in this case, Bad Girls Go to Hell.

DORIS DECEMBER: A TASTE OF FLESH (1967) ** ½

A Taste of Flesh kicks off with a great opening instrumental theme song.  It’s not quite up to snuff with “The Hell Raisers” from Another Day, Another Man, but it is definitely a toe-tapper.  (Luckily for Another Day, Another Man fans, “The Hell Raisers” appears later in the film.)  In fact, all the music in the movie is top notch and helps give it a larger than life feel that a low budget, apartment-bound sex flick might not have otherwise had.  Naturally, like Doris Wishman’s other roughies, the theme song accompanies black and white photos of what we will see throughout the picture.  

The plot is essentially a remake of Suddenly, but because it’s Doris Wishman doing the remaking, it’s Suddenly, but with Lesbians.  

The film begins with a great bubble bath scene where Hannah (Peggy Steffans) is soaking in the tub.  Her friend Bobi (Layla Peters) interrupts Hannah and begins putting the moves on her.  From the awkward cutting to the blank, lifeless expressions on the actresses’ faces, it’s hard to tell if this scene is supposed to be consensual or not.  That just makes it that much more bizarrely fascinating.  

Hannah is in the city for a few days and stays with Bobi and her lesbian roommate Carol (Darlene Bennett).  A pair of gunmen worm their way into Carol’s apartment and take the ladies hostage.  It seems a foreign dignitary happens to be staying at the hotel across the street, and Carol’s apartment has the perfect vantage point for an assassination attempt.  While waiting for the dignitary to arrive, the men amuse themselves by beating, harassing, seducing, and raping the women.  

Because of the cookie cutter plot, you might be inclined to think A Taste of Flesh is going to be more like a “real” movie than a Doris Wishman skin flick.  It’s not one of her best, but if you’re patient, there’s some Wishman-y goodness in store for you.  The foot shots and scenes of dialogue occurring while the actress speaking the lines is off screen are a given, but the most entertaining aspect of the film comes in the form of its padding.  About halfway through, the plot stops dead in its tracks for a long dream/fantasy scene where Bobi dresses like a man, has a romantic champagne toast with Hannah, and then takes her to bed.  Another unnecessary but welcome scene involves Carol undressing, looking at herself nude in the mirror, and then rolling around on the bed for no good reason whatsoever.  

A Taste of Flesh has its merits, but it falls short of some of Wishman’s other roughies.  While there are a few novel bits spread throughout, it’s nothing crazy enough to put it over the top.  The ending is a bit rushed and unsatisfying too, which doesn’t help matters.