The World Is Full Of Married Men (1979/Network U.K./Region Two/2/PAL DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C Film: C+
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD set can only be
operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Two/2/PAL
format software and can be ordered from our friends at Network U.K. at the
website address provided at the end of the review or at finer retailers.
Jackie
Collins and sister Joan have had long, enduring careers, but it is Jackie who
wrote the series of potboiler novels that have sold well, always tried to claim
to be loosely based on secret showbiz goings-on and the results are always
trashy. One of the most hilarious is
Robert (Vampire Circus) Young’s
feature film version of The World Is
Full Of Married Men (1979) set in the world of fast sex, sex films, hit
records and Disco music. Now, Network
DVD in the U.K. has issued a very different kind of circus and Collins would
even like for you to think of some of these people as blood suckers. She even adapted her book into the screenplay
used here.
All
single-entendre jokes aside, we have Anthony Franciosa and Carroll Baker as the
older couple whose marriage is falling apart, Sherrie Lee Cronn as the big sex
object in the film (she never did another film), the late Gareth Hunt (just
coming off of The New Avengers) and
Georgia Hale as that other “happy couple” and Paul Nicholas (Tommy, Lisztomania, Stardust)
as the lead singer of the hot new singer Gem Gemini who is not necessarily a
Disco act, but you never remember any song he sings a few seconds when they are
over.
Yes, it
is that kind of film, but the sex, nudity and sleazy implication set against
the era is (along with that cast) enough of a reason to see this howler and no
less than Bonnie “Total Eclipse Of The
Heart” Tyler sings the title song not long after her older hit “It’s A Heartache” sold well on both
sides of the Atlantic. Of course, it is
all the funnier since she stands to the left of the opening credits and sings
the whole song looking into the camera.
Jean Gilpin also stars.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 is on the soft side, though Director of
Photography Ray Parslow (Madhouse)
uses diffusion and lighting to the advantage of the film, while the production
design is a hoot. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
is also flat and at a lower volume than I would have liked, so be careful when
switching to other sources. Extras
include stills and two trailers, one of which is X-Rated, both of which should
only be seen after watching the film.
As noted above, you can order this PAL DVD import
exclusively from Network U.K. at:
http://www.networkdvd.net/
or
www.networkdvd.co.uk
- Nicholas Sheffo
