Last night we dredged out another 1970s classic - The Devil in Miss Jones, starring Georgina Spelvin as Justine Jones. This is a classic from the golden age of porn, when for a brief, glorious period in the 70s porn films were shown in mainstream theatres and were quite the trendy thing to go to. Unlike many other classics from the period (The Opening of Misty Beethoven, Deep Throat, Alexandra) which were light hearted and campy, Miss Jones is a much more serious, arty, film.
Basically, Miss Jones is a rather plain, prim and pure vigin in her 30s, who, in the opening 10 minutes of the film, gets into a bath and fairly graphically slits her wrists. Not quite the usual way to start a porn. In the next scene, we find a very prim looking Miss Jones (wearing gloves and a shawl) being interviewed by Mr Abaca (John Clemens) - the gatekeeper. He advises the newly dead as to which way they will be going - north to Heaven or south to Hell. Well poor Miss Jones is (understandably) a bit miffed when she discovers that she's going to Hell, despite never having done anything wrong. She's still pure, dammit! Turns out the folks upstairs can't stomach a suicide, so for that alone she is damned for eternity. Miss Jones points out to Mr Abaca that she could accept it if she'd managed to do something to deserve it. After some negotiation, they settle on lust (it's one of the Seven Deadly Sins, after all), and he arranges for her to return to life for a short while to experience lust.
The first person she encounters is "the teacher" (Harry Reems) whose job it is to teach her about sex so she can experience lust properly. I guess it would be pretty hard for an uptight virgin to give lust a really good go without some instruction. He first magically removes her inhibitions, then shoves a small plug up her bum, which takes the prim Miss Jones quite by surprise. He then teaches her sex. Oral sex, anal sex, sex sex. The now well and truly non-virgin and inhibition-free Miss Jones is then let loose to experience lust in all its glory. Miss Jones makes the most of her limited time left on Earth, shagging a variety of men and women in a variety of positions and partnerships. Each time we see her, she is a little more debauched in appearance, moving from her quiet virgin look to that of complete vamp by the end of the film.
Eventually Mr Abaca tells her that her time is up and she must now pay her dues. She finds herself in Hell, which appears to be empty except for a long bench to sit on and an odd-looking man (Albert Gork). She tries to talk to him but rapidly realises that he is a complete nutter, and completely useless in the pants department. Poor Miss Jones finds herself condemned to an eternity of frantic, unfulfilling and unsuccessful masturbation, as she can't cum without help, and he can't/won't help her. He, of course, is stuck for all eternity with a crazy, masturbating woman, who keeps talking to him so that he can't hear the spiders coming. Hell is, as they say, other people.
The sex was pretty good for the time, although hearing Miss Jones telling her anal partners to "slow down, it hurts" was a little off-putting (although probably quite appropriate in her first scene with "the teacher"). The film is shot in colour, but it is pretty dark and almost has a gothic feel to it. I have to say though, it is an incredibly depressing film. Although we never find out what drove Miss Jones to suicide, just seeing it was pretty grim. Dave (who is of a squeemish disposition) actually had to leave the room while it was happening, and I must confess I was watching through my fingers. I don't watch porn to be depressed and this is the second classic which has done that (see Anyone But My Husband for the other). Actually, despite the sex, it is more art-house than porn. I still don't think I'd watch it again though. I think it was trying just a little too hard to be a serious, mainstream, art film and forgot to be a porn for a while. A bit like The Devil Inside Her. It is also easy to see that Hannah Goes To Hell took much of its inspiration (and plot) directly from this film.
According to IMDB, Georgina Spelvin was originally hired to cook for and feed the cast and crew. For unspecified reasons she was cast in the lead role, but after that, she still continued to serve as location cook. This wasn't her first porn though, and according to IMDB she continued acting in adult films until 1982 when she was 47. She then went into a career in desktop publishing, but continued to have occasional cameos in various films (including some mainstream, such as Police Academy, as a hooker) right up until 2004 when New Devil in Miss Jones made its appearance. Not bad for a woman who is now 73.
You can buy The Devil in Miss Jones here through Uncut DVDs in Australia.
You can buy The Devil in Miss Jones here through Good Vibrations in the USA.
