Hot Action (1978)

I wish I spoke French. Watching La Vitrine du Plaisir (“The Showcase of Pleasure”) in its native language is, I’m sure, a far superior experience to the Caballero release, Hot Action. 

Accounting for slight differences in opening and closing credits, and NTSC v. PAL frame rates, the Alpha France release is some six-ish minutes shorter. Scrubbing through the different versions, there doesn’t seem to be much appreciable difference in the content included. I’m going to assume the English translation sticks mostly to the French dialog, though there are a few parts that I’m pretty sure took some bizarre artistic liberties. Since the resurrection of this blog was inspired by critiquing Robert Rimmer’s Collector’s Choice picks, and since he reviewed and rated Hot Action, unless specified otherwise, that’s the version I’ll be talking about.

According to the description of the Alpha France DVD release (via Google Translate):

Both a cult film and an exceptional document. Directed in 1977 by Gerard Kikoine, this film shows us Brigitte Lahie, actress and daring, on the set of Fine Parts, one of her best films. A record number of spectators thus discovered for the first time the hitherto unknown undersides of the shooting of a blockbuster X during the release of this film on August 30, 1978 in Alpha France theaters.

The description makes it sound like a straightforward behind-the-scenes documentary, but there’s a fictional framework into which the “making of” scenes are set.

Freelance journalist Patricia Gordon (Dawn Cummings), just finishing up a series of articles on fashion, is contacted to write an “expose” on adult film-making. 

Yes, that is a glittery DICK on her shirt.

After a series of fruitless phone calls, she finally finds a filmmaker (Alban Ceray) that will let her get a behind-the-scenes look at the process. Over the course of multiple days of production, Patricia watches scenes being filmed and conducts interviews with the director, actors (Guy Royer, Brigitte Lahie, Jacques Gatteau), a stunt cock for inserts (Cyril Val), the Chief Lighting Technician (uncredited), and mysterious masked woman (Marion Shultz).

Oooookaaayy....

Based on the French version, the interviews seem unscripted, but I have no idea how faithful the English dubs are. In the English version, for instance, before her interview with Cyril Val, she’s told that he’s only ever used for cock shots because when his face is on camera, the audio gets all fucked up. (“Only his prick is a sweet talker.”) And lo and behold, during the interview, as soon as he opens his mouth, Patricia’s recording sounds like a jet engine. This does not happen in the French version. Similarly, while we first see the masked woman in a closed-set blowbang (that Patricia only gets access to when Alex, the lighting technician, sneaks her in as a photographer), she’s introduced to the viewer as the director of a “special scene” and is heard giving blunt direction during Sylvie’s (Susan Deloir, credited as Sylvie Dessatre) solo scene. Based on the lack of female narration in the audio from the French version, I’m guessing this isn’t the case in the original.

Sylvie is a smokeshow.

Speaking of voices, most of the actors providing the overdubs are fine. The choice for the masked woman wasn’t ideal, but isn’t terrible. The same can’t be said for whoever did the sex noises for Diane Dubois during her anal scene with Dominique Aveline. Jesus Christ. In the French version, she sounds like a human being having sex. In the English dub, she sounds like possessed walrus being exorcised. It is awful. Additionally, during the production scenes, there are frequently no less than five people (the director, camera operators, etc.) talking - often including Patricia’s inner monologue - with everything mixed at basically the same level. I suppose it could imply how chaotic shooting is, but it’s enough to give you an aural seizure. Again, this isn’t the case in the original.

Time and again, Patricia is struck by how normal everyone involved in the film is - except for some slight pearl clutching in regards to Sylvie’s future since Patricia doesn’t think she’s mature enough to be making decisions concerning her porn career - and ultimately is so intrigued by porn that she decides to try her hand (and mouth!) at it, even if it alienates all her journalism friends.

Ready for her debut!

Let’s check in with ol’ Robert Rimmer (filed in "Classics" in the "Update"):

“If you’d like to know what goes on filming a porno in France, this one is a behind-the-scenes look with a real sense of humor.”

No quibbles there, I guess. Does Rimmer get anything wrong in his recap? You bet he does!

“Patricia...discovers...that ‘jackoffs and freight trains’ are guys who are kept around to provide erect pricks but no faces.”

He’s referring to Patricia being told that the stunt cock she asks about interviewing is called “jet or freight train” because of what happens to the audio track when his face appears on screen. It’s not a term for stunt cocks, generally.

Prior to this assignment, I knew basically nothing about classic French pornography. (I’ve recently taken an interest in Dorcelclub’s productions, but that’s neither here nor there.) This was probably a weird one to start with, given it’s semi-documentary nature. I’m definitely curious to see Parties Fines now, though it wouldn’t be a part of the CC Series (Rimmer did review the Caballero release of the film, Education of a Baroness, but did not deem it Collector’s Choice). The only other Gerard Kikoine film I’ve seen is Aphrodesia’s Diary, but it was so long ago I have only the vaguest recollection. (Aphrodesia’s Diary is a CC pick, though, so theoretically I’ll revisit eventually.) Now, I know that hardcore pornography was legalized in France in 1974, and that it took off like gangbusters. So much French hardcore was being produced that some critics bemoaned that it was the end of French cinema. (I know I read that somewhere in a Google Books search, but I wasn’t able to immediately find it, and I don’t need to cite shit for this blog anyway.)

Cursory internetting didn't reveal much of Alpha France's history. Context clues seem to indicate they were a production company and chain of adult theaters, but I'm not so sure. Regardless, whether they were indirectly responsible for the death of French cinema or not, Alpha France certainly seems to care about the legacy of their hardcore films. They may not be as feature rich as some Vinegar Syndrome releases, but every Alpha France film I've come across (no pun intended) in my recent research has been a really beautiful transfer. They must have a vault somewhere of pristine prints.

Were this a subtitled version of the Alpha France release, I could see myself going as high as CC50 for this film. As it is now, I'm going to rate Hot Action as (yet another) CC250.

RANDOM NOTES

° As far as I can tell checking Hot Action against Parties Fines, about half the hardcore scenes in the former were actually shot for the latter. The new scenes include Patricia’s “preconceived notions” about filming a porno - somewhat amusingly featuring Brigitte Lahaie fully blonde, whereas she’s dark haired in the rest of the film - and the masked woman parts.

That is deffo how pornos are made.

° The masked woman’s blowbang was the most visually interesting part of the film and her “airtight” scene the most surprising.

° Parties Fines was Gerard Kikoine's first film. It’s wild to think that someone thought to document the making-of for a director’s maiden voyage. Or maybe that’s commonplace? I have no idea.

° The music in the French version is much better. I didn’t mind the English song at first, but it wears out its welcome.

° Coincidentally, a link to this post about Brigitte Lahaie popped up in my Twitter feed right before I was going to watch Hot Action. Some nice background on the star.

The End!

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Okay, so on to the next:

Staying in 1978 with a film that probably doesn't need any more written about it....