Undergraduate, The

Released by: Alpha Blue Archives
Released on: September 1st, 2014.
Director: Ron Black
Cast: Suzanne Fields, Eve Orlon, Alice Friedland, Carmen Olivera, Sandey Carey
Year: 1971
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The Movie:

The Undergraduate doesn't appear to have been directed by Ed Wood but it would seem to have been written by him. As it stands, there's not a whole lot to this feature which appears to have been cobbled together from a pre-existing sex education style movie (presumably The Postgraduate Course In Sexual Love as they share producer credits) and some hardcore material shot and added separately. Does it work? Well, the jarring differences in the footage stick out like a sore thumb but there's some amusement to be had here.

The film introduces us to a few college students who are, at the end of their semester, attending a sex education class of some sort taught by a professor (John Dullaghan) with a knack for unexpected visual aids. As the class settles into their seats he hands out papers that they're to fill in - this would seem to be final exam day. As the students go about their work, we are treated to sexy little vignettes relating to the different questions posed. We learn about different sex positions, about the use of birth control and the like. These vignettes are acted out by the students, one of whom is Suzanne Fields (of A Clockwork Blue).

Once that's over and done with the professor shows his class an 8mm black and white hardcore loop starring Eve Orlon and another curvy and fairly attractive lady. They go at it as ladies tend to do in movies like this and the class all watch. As their class nears its end, the professor shows off two magazines that he highly recommends to them - Penthouse and Screw! - before lecturing them about the merits of keeping clean and not doing drugs to enhance their own personal sex lives.

This one is pretty clunky and poorly put together but we get some bizarre narration to add some unintentional comedy to the mix and to, kinda-sorta, put all of this into context. It's pretty obvious that the classroom material was all shot separately from the various sex scenes that are included and even more obvious that the 'stag movie' the class sees is some completely different source just tossed into the mix for the express intent of padding out the movie to something approximating feature length. It isn't really very good but it is interesting in its own goofy, poorly made way.

Video/Audio/Extras:

The Undergraduate was, according to the box copy, released once and only once on Beta and it's from one of those rare Beta tapes that this transfer is sourced. There are no known film elements left, so you're just going to have to make do until something better comes along. At any rate, the transfer here is pretty stable for something sourced from an old, obscure tape. There are some tracking lines early on but they go away and don't come back. Colors are faded but not so much that it ruins anything and while detail is obviously pretty soft, this is watchable enough. It doesn't look great, but it'll do.

Audio quality, in English language Dolby Digital Mono format, is on par with the video. There's some hiss here and there but the levels are fairly well balanced all things considered. There aren't any alternate language options or subtitles provided, but it's unlikely anyone expected there to be in the first place. The music sounds a little flat but it's not such a big deal. This is perfectly sufficient.

The extras start off with the first of a few bonus features, all starring Suzanne Fields, 1971's Ward Sex, a quick and cheap little smut fest made in 1971 running forty-one minutes. This one focuses on a quartet of nurses who answer to a fast talking doctor with a bad sense of humor and tend to a pair of male patients. As it plays out, the four nurses talk amongst themselves in the staff room about the joys of hunky male patients that you can fool around with if you're coy. One of the newly recruited girls is nervous but eventually gives it a shot and likes what she experiences. Another nurse gets into a two way with the two patients. That's really about it, the movie ends rather abruptly. Fields plays one of the nurses, the others are played by lovely Alice Friedland, Carmen Olivera and Sandy Carey.

Also include on the disc is a fifty-six minute feature entitled The Young Model. It's about as basic as they come - a handsome photographer takes pictures of pretty young woman. The first model poses. Then they have dinner and then they have sex. A few other models show up, they have sex, he gets it on with two bi-sexual chicks who are just as into one another as they are into him. There's a bottle of quality scotch on the floor as he bones them. Eventually he and Fields get it on, taking full advantage of the leopard print area rug he's got in his swinging pad.

The third bonus film is the fifty-five minute long The Sex Spa and it's got an effectively simple premise: sex is a good way to lose weight. A Doctor Van Hooperschmidt (Ken Schmidt) runs a clinic that teaches that very philosophy so when various ladies come in looking to lose a few pounds (none of them need to, mind you), he's happy to suggest various activities of a carnal nature in which they can indulge to do just that. Miss Stuart (Andy Bellamy) teams up with the doctor while the nurse (Fields) teams up with Mr. Johnston (Ric Lutze) to help him out. Simple, yeah, but featuring some good comedic timing and some lovely ladies in reasonably well shot action this one does exactly what it needs to do and it does it well.

Rounding out the extras are a theatrical trailer for Ward Sex (including some footage with the doctor not in the feature version), a Retro-Starlets promo reel, static menus and chapter selection.

The Final Word:

This isn't the best of the Alpha Blue Archives Ed Wood series but it's a fitting inclusion in the line and The Undergraduate, as bad as it is (and it's pretty bad), will be of interest to his fans for obvious reasons. The Suzanne Fields factor is what really sells this disc, however. She's given a lot of screen time here and she's a lot of fun to watch in all four of the features that make up the bulk of the content on this disc. Don't expect wonders in the audio/video department but the content here is pretty amusing.