RUSS MEYER: The Fellini of the sex-industry. (Internet Movie Database nickname)

"BEYOND THE VALLEY OF DOLLS" - (A NOVELTY VIDEO RISK) The patient movie goer who does not shy away from nudity and violence in a comic book vein will find it amusing and a good change of pace. If you can't get passed the flat soap opera approach, hammy acting, and shear strangeness of the first thirty minutes, this film may not be for you.

To say that the films of RUSS MEYER are sexist and exploitive of women is probably a fairly accurate statement. The early films were, of course, intended to be porn, albeit, soft-core porn with wit and humor--see "The Immoral Mr.Teas" (I haven't) which was reportedly one of the first "skin-flicks" to make real money. Such films are, after all, sexploitation films, sort of "Shaft" with lots of superfluous T&A.

Just from his sexually twisted often bizarre film titles Meyer could entertain and raise eyebrows--see "Eve and the Handyman," "Wild Gals of the Naked West," "Mudhoney" (hey, isn't there a band by that name), "Vixen," and the super cool, maybe the best movie title ever "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (band name also?).

Meyer's films were, however, more than just a one note joke, several have staying power and influence film-making today. Case-in-point: I once met an amateur film-maker in Memphis, TN, whose work was being shown on a big screen television mainly as background in the bar for all the smoky going ons. The film-maker, J. Michael McCarthy, a comic book artist by trade at the time, had adopted much of the Meyer tradition, large breasted (exaggerated) women as heroines. His film "Damselvis" is an example.

INDEPENDENT FILM IN THE MEYER TRADITION

(You won't find this in Blockbuster!)

Sadly, the only Meyer film I have managed to see completely is the most widely available film "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls." This was Meyer's first studio film. Made in 1970, its groovy, depraved, wickedness cleverly sneaks up on the viewer. It bears no resemblance to the (1967) Mark Robson (who?)/Patty Duke trashy adaption of the popular Jacqueline Susann novel "Valley of the Dolls." "Beyond" is a pretty entertaining original film like few I've seen.

"Beyond the Valley of Dolls" is pleasing to look at in a comic book way. It is replete with colorful images and scenery that reminds one subtly of "Boogie Nights" with less edge and a more "General Hospital," "Dallas" soap opera texture and story elements. I dug the doctor who explains to the camera as flat and clinically as possible that one to the characters is paralyzed--quirky corn like that employed in the end of the original and shot-by-shot remake of "Psycho." I snickered and felt like polishing off a martini.

If anything the film is too ambitious, it starts as a fun drama real sweet and playful and then in a twisted turn, grabs the viewer with shocking violence on a fantasy level. I found the film difficult to watch all the way through in a single sitting. It overwhelms with camp and adds on a purposefully tacky moral ending that would end up on the cutting room floor today. Actually, I liked the unexpected fantasy violence which I will not spoil any more than I already have and the tackiness that follows which seemed satirical.

"Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" could easily pass as a perfect background mood setting device for a groovy party (a strange little conversation piece for the anti-Falwell bunch), or the film could just blend in with the smoky goings on.

Jonathan Hickman