
02/26/2008
DVD:: 0 comments: by Madison Carter

I’m always amazed by the sheer amount of Z-level films I’ve never heard of before they are released on DVD. The genres suffering the most acute cases of this are the stuff of drive-ins and grindhouses. And companies like Alternative Cinema are more than happy to keep tossing this stuff out for the masses. The good news is that even when the film is a complete dog, it’s still often a fun and goofy way to kill a couple of hours. And if there’s boobs involved, even better. The Sexperts certainly meets the criteria here.
Made in 1965, Sexperts is the same basic story we’ve seen before: Girl with stars in her eyes heads to the big time (this time Broadway instead of Hollywood) in hopes of making it, only to get pulled into a world of sex and degradation. Here, Liz (Lana Lynn, doing her best Elizabeth Taylor imitation) is the girl in question. Unlike other girls in these type of films, Liz isn’t a naïve young thing; she goes in knowing full well what it’s going to take to land the roles. Sure enough, she’s making time on casting couches at the drop of a dime. On the other hand, her roommate Connie (Rusty Allen) wants out and wants redemption.
If Mystery Science Theater 3000 had allowed nudity, this would have been a perfect fit for them. Like many of their best, this film has little actual dialogue. Most of it (roughly 75% by my estimate) is filled in by a narrator; and not one of those deadly-serious moralistic ones you hear in most exploitation shlockers. No, our narrator here is one of those that seems to have worked on all of the “Johnny at the Fair” type shorts, with a laid-back, happy-go-lucky voice.
For no real reason, color inserts of women stripping are added in to spice the normally black-and-white film up. Cut out of most showings, these were only seen in the most seedy of dive theaters. Then there’s the matter of the quasi-wraparound story, with a “director,” “writer,” and “producer” discussing the film they’ll be making – which it turns out is the film we’re watching.
Alternative, on their Retro-Seduction Cinema label, have put together a nice little package for the film. The print they use is quite nice and, while not pristine, is close to it. The color inserts suffer for this, as they aren’t in anywhere near as good of shape. The disc allows you to watch the inserts separately if you’d like. There’s also a television commercial starring Audrey Campbell included. She’s a famous exploitation actress who has a role in Sexperts. A bonus disc entitled “Naughty Nudes of ‘65” is another collection of the era’s stag reels.
It’s great to see stuff like Sexperts make it to DVD, if only because I’m in the mood to sit down in front of it and laugh at what was once considered ribald and scandalous.