The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann
| The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann | |
|---|---|
 Original film poster | |
| Directed by |
Radley Metzger (as "Henry Paris") |
| Produced by |
Ava Leighton (as "L. Sultana") |
| Written by |
Radley Metzger (as "Jake Barnes") |
| Starring |
Alan Marlow Barbara Bourbon Darby Lloyd Rains Eric Edwards Georgina Spelvin Jamie Gillis Marc Stevens Sonny Landham |
| Music by | Robert Rochester |
| Cinematography |
Paul Glickman (as "Marcel Hall") |
| Edited by |
Doris Toumarkine (as "Doris Barrow") |
| Distributed by |
VCA Pictures (USA) Hudson Valley Films |
Release dates | December 26, 1974 (USA) |
Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann is a 1974 American adult film starring Barbara Bourbon and directed by Radley Metzger[1][2] (as "Henry Paris") that is considered one of the classics of the Golden Age of Porn. It was a step forward in the development of the genre, as it had a plot and good acting. The movie can be seen as a meditation on voyeurism,[3] due to the trope of Mann being spied on by a private detective hired by her husband, and the production of pornography itself, as the detective films her sexual encounters.
Porn film star Bill Margold, who went on to be the director of the Free Speech Coalition, has written that "The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann signals an end to the all-balling, no purpose, disposable mastur-movies that go into one orifice and out another.”[4] Filmed in Manhattan, the movie was released in New York City on December 26, 1974 and was nationally distributed in 1975.[5] The film has been inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame.[6]
Plot
Bourbon plays Pamela Mann, a married psychotherapist living and working in Manhattan who has several sexual encounters that are filmed by a private detective hired by her husband. Mann has sex with one of her patients, a prostitute, and also is kidnapped by a couple of radicals. While the male radical orally rapes Mann, the female radical reads the text of a Supreme Court decision on pornography. She also fellates a man she meets on a park bench. At the climax of the film, Mann is revealed to be watching the detective's films in bed with her husband. They have staged the encounters and the snooping for their own private enjoyment. They then have sex.[7][8][9]
Cast
- Alan Marlow as the Husband
- Barbara Bourbon as Pamela Mann
- Darby Lloyd Rains as a Woman
- Eric Edwards as Frank
- Georgina Spelvin as a Woman
- Jamie Gillis as Jamey Gillis
- Marc Stevens as a Man
- Sonny Landham as a Political Candidate
Notes
The Private Afternoons of Pamela Manns was released during the Golden Age of Porn (inaugurated by the 1969 release of Andy Warhol's Blue Movie) in the United States, at a time of "porno chic",[10][11] in which adult erotic films were just beginning to be widely released, publicly discussed by celebrities (like Johnny Carson and Bob Hope)[12] and taken seriously by film critics (like Roger Ebert).[13][14]
Films made by Radley Metzger, the film director, are noted for their "lavish design, witty screenplays, and a penchant for the unusual camera angle", according to one film reviewer.[15] Another film reviewer noted that Metzger's films are "highly artistic – and often cerebral ... and often featured gorgeous cinematography".[16]
Remastered version
In 2011, DistribPix released a complete remastering of the film, with the full cooperation of the director.[17] The result had a limited exhibition in theaters, but the main outcome of the project was the first-ever official remastered DVD version.[17] A listing of the music on the film soundtrack was released earlier.[18]
See also
References
- ↑ Bentley, Toni (June 2014). "The Legend of Henry Paris". Playboy. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
- ↑ Bentley, Toni (June 2014). "The Legend of Henry Paris" (PDF). ToniBentley.com. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
- ↑ Butler, Heather (2004). "What do you call a lesbian with long fingers? The development of lesbian and dyke pornography", from "Porn Studies" (edited by Linda Williams). Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-8223-3312-8.
- ↑ Ford, Luke (1999). A History of X: 100 Years of Sex in Film. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. p. 91. ISBN 978-1573926782.
- ↑ "The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann (1974) Release Info". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
- ↑ "XRCO Hall of Fame". Retrieved August 25, 2014.
- ↑ Jan, Ian (September 4, 2011). "Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann, The (2 Disc Collector's Edition)". RockShockPop.com. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
- ↑ Wood, Cliff (October 19, 2011). "Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann, The - Video X Pix (2 Disc Collectors Edition)". 10kBullts.com. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
- ↑ Staff (1974). "The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann". Mondo-digital.com. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
- ↑ Blumenthal, Ralph (January 21, 1973). "Porno chic; 'Hard-core' grows fashionable-and very profitable". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
- ↑ Porno Chic (Jahsonic.com)
- ↑ Corliss, Richard (March 29, 2005). "That Old Feeling: When Porno Was Chic". Time (magazine). Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ↑ Ebert, Roger (June 13, 1973). "The Devil In Miss Jones - Film Review". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
- ↑ Ebert, Roger (November 24, 1976). "Alice in Wonderland:An X-Rated Musical Fantasy". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
- ↑ Gallagher, Steve (August 7, 2014). ""This is Softcore": The History of Radley Metzger". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ Simpson, Claire (October 2, 2013). "Adults Only: 5 Films By Radley Metzger". WhatCulture.com. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- 1 2 Staff (2011). "The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann - 2 Disc Set (1974)". Distribpix.com. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
- ↑ Staff (2016). "The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann - Original Soundtrack Music listing". IMDB. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
Further reading
- Cook, David A. (2002). History of the American cinema. 9. University of California Press. pp. 274–275. ISBN 0-520-23265-8.
- Heffernan, Kevin, "A social poetics of pornography", Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Volume 15, Issue 3, December 1994, pp. 77–83. doi:10.1080/10509209409361441.
- Lehman, Peter, Pornography: film and culture, Rutgers depth of field series, Rutgers University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8135-3871-8.
- Williams, Linda, Hard core: power, pleasure, and the "frenzy of the visible", University of California Press, 1999, ISBN 0-520-21943-0.
External links
- The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann at the Internet Movie Database
- The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann at the Adult Film Database.
- The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann on the Amazon WebSite.
- The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann – review/RockShockPop.
- The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann – review/10kBullets.
- The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann – 2011 remastering at DistribPix.
- The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann - Trailer (02:55).