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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: June 26th, 2018.
Director: Joe Sherman
Cast: Desiree Cousteau, Jesie St. James, Sharon Kane, Holly McCall, Mike Horner, Starr Wood, John Seeman
Year: 1979
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The Movie:
This 1979 XXX superhero parody from director Joe Sherman opens in space with a bit of a prologue that then segues into a scene where an alien named Kreeta Borgia (Jessie St. James) arrives on Earth, landing in a supermarket parking lot, accompanied by four cohorts, two male (Jesse Adams and Vernon von Bergdorfe) and two female (Sharon Kane and Starr Wood). Why are they here? To destroy Ms. Magnificent (everyone's favorite curvaceous cutie, Desiree Cousteau), Earth's mightiest superhero and the only force in the universe capable of stopping them from gaining ultimate power of some sort for themselves. Details aren't important here.
Kreeta figures the best way to do this is to draw Ms. Magnificent out into the open and challenge her to a fight. To make this happen she kidnaps her boyfriend John (Larry Davis) and whisks him off into space - elsewhere, Ms. Magnificent, who has no idea what's going on, blows some guy (John Seeman) to keep him from killing himself. Truly a heroine for the ages. Once that's over with and she learns of the alien presence, thanks to her alter ego newspaper reporter Linda Kent, she tracks down Kreeta's assistants and does what she can to put a stop to this. Unfortunately for her, at the same time her friend Lois Lay (Holly McCall) winds up getting involved with a tough that she's hoped to interview. Ms. Magnificent shows up just in time to save Lois, but not before Lois does the dirty deed, of course.
Things get even more complicated with newspaper associate Clark Click (Mike Horner) and, yeah, Lois, get kidnapped by Kreeta all as part of her master plan to do away with Ms. Magnificent once and for all using a dildo made of the only substance that Ms. Magnificent is weakened by. Before that can happen, however, one of Kreeta's assistants tries to free Ms. Magnificent's boy toy in hopes of running off with him after getting a taste of his dong. It doesn't quite work out for her. Kreeta, however, is still bound and determined to kill Ms. Magnificent… but of course there's a weird twist or two before it all finishes up.
Originally released as Superwoman, Joe Sherman's 1979 superhero sex comedy got 'caught' by DC Comics at which point it was retitled Ms. Magnificent and reissued with the offending and all too familiar 'S' logo quite literally scratched out (you'll notice the scratch marks wiggle around as the image moves in front of you). It's also pretty obvious that anytime the word 'Superwoman' was uttered it's been blanked out on the audio. Additionally, promotional materials like one sheets and advertising materials were done away with (though some survived and pop up from time to time) - basically, the producers of the picture had to do away with anything that infringed on DC's copyright.
The movie itself is… goofy. It's fun, sure, but it's goofy. Not a bad goofy, a good goofy, but goofy nevertheless. Desiree Cousteau fans will appreciate seeing her in the lead, her considerable charm giving Ms. Magnificent more appeal than it would have otherwise. Honestly though, Jesse St. James and Holly McCall are more impressive here than the typically reliable and endlessly appealing Ms. Cousteau.
Production values here are pretty slim, limited to a few cheap costumes and a goofy looking spaceship interior. There are spots where we see spaceships exploring the cosmos and a shot where Ms. Magnificent flies, but don't expect these to ever convince. Still, the movie has charm, even if it was clearly made fast and cheap. Most of that charm comes from the female cast, but it's a fun watch even if it could and should have been a whole lot more memorable than it really is.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Ms. Magnificent arrives on DVD from Vinegar Syndrome in a 1.33.1 fullframe transfer that preserves the film's original aspect ratio, transferred from archival 16m elements. The 'S' logo is still scratched out on Cousteau's chest, indicating that it was probably a print used for the transfer (the negative is MIA), but quality is pretty decent. There's some minor print damage here and there and the image is, not so surprisingly, heavy with grain but detail isn't bad given the source material and the image is quite stable.
The film gets the Dolby Digital Mono treatment. Clarity is just fine and balance is good but range is, understandably, pretty limited. There are no problems with any hiss or distortion. Dialogue is clean, crisp and clear. There are no alternate language options or subtitles provided.
Aside from menus and chapter selection, there are no extra on the disc.
The Final Word:
Ms. Magnificent is more interesting than it is 'good' but fans of Cousteau, McCall and St. James will appreciate seeing all three of the film's lovely ladies in various stages of undress and involved in various acts of both bumping and grinding. The film is quick in its pacing but cheaply made, and you can't help but wish it had turned out better than it did, but it's got enough going on for it to make it worth checking out for less discerning fans of wacky seventies porn.
