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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: September 22nd, 2015.
Director: Albert Zugsmith
Cast: Lee Gladden, Barbara Hines, Regina Gleason, Lovey Song
Year: 1965/1966
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The Movies:
Two vintage sexploitation pictures from the mind of Albert Zugsmith on one beautifully restored double feature DVD from Vinegar Syndrome? Sign me up! Oh, and these are the 'hot' versions, so they get a little racier than the cuts you might be familiar with if you've seen either picture before.
The Incredible Sex Revolution:
The introduction to this one lets us know that the film is based on The Dr. Gladden Study On Changing Sex Mores In Modern Civilization so you know you're in for a very serious study on human sexuality and not a trashy skin flick.
Here Lee Gladden plays himself, a shrink who serves as our host who tells us of various cases that he's worked on which we then see reenacted for our viewing pleasure. First up is the case of a lovely young woman named Margaret 'Peggy' Bardot (Lovey Song) who sports an eye patch for good measure. She has a tendency to be out running around behind the back of her significant other. She's seeing Gladden to try and sort her life out and we learn a fair bit about her and her relationship to her husband Aaron, a painter.
As we zip back and forth between Gladden doing his thing, we're made privy to a few more saucy tales, but first we travel back in time to visit with Adam (Hampton Fancher - the guy who wrote Blade Runner!) and Eve. They get it on and then we move through the ages and learn about the origins of both polygamy and polyandry. As centuries pass, we discover the ancient Eskimo tradition of wife lending (you can figure out that what is… it's, well, wife lending) and then see firsthand how wife swapping parties started out in the old American west.
Gladden hypnotizes Peggy and once she's under his creepy spell she spills her guts about the swinging lifestyle she's been involved with over the years and about her marital problems with husband Aaron. This leads into a strange bit where she tells Gladden about her incestuous feelings for her dead dad and how after a fight with Aaron she took comfort in the arms of the woman next door, Theresa Morton (Sharon Cintron). It all ends on an odd note when a scavenger hunt she gets involved with takes a twisted turn.
Despite the dark ending this is a fun watch. Lovey Song might have a ridiculous name but good God almighty is she easy on the eyes and not a terrible actress either. In fact, her delivery here is solid enough that she's actually pretty convincing in spots. Gladden is wooden but he does seem to know what he's talking about when he's talking about it. His tactics might be more than a little questionable by modern standards but it makes for interesting enough material to bookend the sexy reenactment bits.
On Her Bed Of Roses:
The second feature, also known as Psychopathia Sexualis (as it claims to have been based on the book of the same name), once again stars Gladden but here he doesn't play himself, oh no, he plays Doctor Krafft-Ebbing and this time around he's treating a patient named Melissa Borden (Sandra Long). Her (Barbara Hines) is more than a little promiscuous and this has caused her to develop an unusually close relationship with her father (Ric Marlow). They've bonded while mom has been out screwing around.
If that weren't enough, Melissa also seems to have a thing for Stefan (Ronald Warren), the strangely immature and paranoid guy who lives next door. Stefan may or may not have something sexual going on with his own mother (hint: he does) but there's more to what Melissa feels for him than just their shared dysfunction.
When Melissa decide to have a costume party at the home one night, her dad gets in on the action and winds up doing the deed with one of the guests (Lovey Song again) but Melissa puts a stop to that as soon as she can. As her therapy continues, it turns out she suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder, but as crazy as she is, she's got nothing on the neighbors. One shooting spree and overly long flashback later and ol' Doc Krafft-Ebbing would seem to have his work cut out for him.
This isn't quite as intriguing as the first feature but it's still got enough twisting and turning going on to hold our attention. The quirky performances add to the appeal and it doesn't hurt that Lovey Song pops up again, this time sans eyepatch unfortunately. Yowza. Gladden is still as wooden as a board but again, he looks the part and stays stoic in the way that you expect a stuffy psychoanalyst would in such situations. The pacing isn't quite as efficient this time around but the jazz score is a killer and the cinematography pretty great.
This is worth watching just for the out of left field ending and the screwball costume party scene.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Both films are presented in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen in new 2k scans taken from the negatives. Generally they both look very good. Yes, there's still some print damage and scratches here and there but it's very minor. Contrast looks excellent and detail is very impressive for a standard definition release. Greys, blacks and white all look very nice and very crisp and there are no issues with compression artifacts, edge enhancement or noise reduction.
Both movies get the English language Dolby Digital Mono treatment, there are no alternate language options, closed captions or subtitles provided. Clarity is fine for both movies, for the most part. There's a bit of hiss here and there and maybe the occasional pop but the levels are properly balanced and there are no serious issues here. The movie sounds fine given their age and obscurity.
Aside from a static menu offering chapter selection, we get four minutes of alternate 'cool version' footage for the first feature and three minutes of alternate footage from the second feature.
The Final Word:
Vinegar Syndrome presents both of these Zugsmith rarities in excellent condition in their full strength versions, making this double feature of On Her Bed Of Roses and The Incredible Sex Revolution the ideal way to give these two sexploitation pictures a spin.
