Corman’s World: Exploits Of A Hollywood
Rebel (2011/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)/Debauchery (1983)/True Story Of A Woman In Jail: Sex Hell (1975/Nikkatsu/Impulse
DVDs)
Picture:
B-/C+/C+ Sound: B-/C+/C+ Extras: C+/C-/C- Main Programs: B/C/C+
Exploitation
films used to be fun and now there is a major glut of them. Home video is one of the culprits and people
who make them are becoming increasingly predicable and formulaic for something
that was that way to begin with. In this
field, there are a few name producers and many independents worldwide, and then
there is Roger Corman.
Corman’s World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel (2011) is a recent look at the history, legacy and
influence on a filmmaker who was frowned upon and made hundreds of forgettable
works, yet he also made memorable ones and also landed up giving some of the
now-biggest names ion the business their first work. Many know the names (Nicholson, Scorsese,
Hopper, etc.) and this nearly 90-minutes-long special does a fine-if-too short
job of showing just what he accomplished as he moved from drive-ins to
grindhouses to home video and is still making features to this day.
The
massive number of interview subjects are like a who’s who of the business and
this is as well made as it is well edited.
Those not in the know will be surprised how prolific Corman really was
and may have even produced hits you were not aware he was connected to. The more films of his you have seen, the more
entertaining this is. It will also make
you want to seek out some of these titles and is a must-see for all serious
film fans. Extras include trailers,
Extended Scenes and Special Messages To
Roger.
Though
there were endless numbers of semi-nude and even topless women in Corman films,
he did draw the line (for the most part) at sex films, which is where many of
his competitors thrived and/or operated worldwide. Nikkatsu in Japan was one such studio that
indulged in such fare and two of their films are now on DVD from Impulse.
Debauchery (1983) is a weak, average tale of
a housewife (Ryoko Watanabe) who throws herself into the world of sex at night
by working for a Madame to save her marriage and of course, it backfires. The locales might be different, but the story
too predictable no matter how sexy she might be, but this is not always
so. True
Story Of A Woman In Jail: Sex Hell (1975) is older, a little better and is
essentially a woman-in-jail film that is on the graphic side and very much of
its era. It also owes something to Roger
Corman.
Both come
with text liner note booklets inside their DVD cases written by Jasper Sharp
and Debauchery add an original
theatrical trailer.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on World is the best here as expected, but it also mixes many
different types of film and low def video with its new HD footage, so it plays
as you would expect from a documentary. The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 x 1 image on Debauchery
and 2.35 X 1 image on Hell are good
for the format with decent prints (if not perfect) and show their age, but both
prints show their age.
The Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 on World is also the best
sonically, but we get all kinds of monophonic and simple stereo audio, so the
surrounds are often filled with music and Corman was not about good sonics to
begin with. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono sound on both DVDs is fine for the low budget films they are, so you get
what you pay for.
- Nicholas Sheffo
