Next in our list of classics to be reviewed is The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann, directed by Henry Paris (director of Barbara Broadcast and The Opening of Misty Beethoven) and released in 1975. This is definitely classic porn, but one with a twist, so I won't be giving it all away. I also have to be upfront here. We have reviewed the VHS release, not the DVD release, which VCA (openly) edited and removed some scenes from.
Pamela (Barbara Bourbon) is married to Mr Mann (played by Alan Marlow). Pamela seems to be the perfect wife, as she keeps herself nice, does charity and political work, fund raises and fulfils just about every stereotype you can think of. Despite all of this Mr Mann suspects his wife of something. Even though it is their wedding anniversary, he wants her tailed to see what she gets up to. Pamela starts being tailed by Frank (played by Eric Edwards) the private dick hired by her husband. Frank seems to specialise in infidelity cases, and offers Mr Mann pseudo-psychiatric assessments of what turns Pamela on. And plenty does.
Pamela picks up a man (Marc Stevens) in a park and gives him a blow job. She has vigorous and enjoyable lesbian sex with the prostitute she is meant to be social worker for. She is abducted by a man (Jamie Gillis - Barbara Broadcast, The Opening of Misty Beethoven and New Wave Hookers) and a woman (Darby Lloyd Rains - Farewell Scarlett and Dark Dreams), held at gun-point and orally raped (although she later appears to enjoy it) - this scene was cut from the DVD release, in accordance with a VCA policy. I must admit, when I first saw it, I was rather horrified, but it made more sense as the film progressed.
Pamela also has an encounter with a politician (Sonny Landham) which has some amusing moments. They have hurried sex in a back room while the political matron hosting the event introduces the politician, describing him in high moral ground terminology, at complete variance with what he is currently doing with Pamela.
Pamela becomes aware that she is being followed and ends up having sex with Frank, in a scene that is a little longer than the others and is well done. Oh, and I should mention that not all scenes have a cum shot. Finally we get to see a very intimate encounter between Pamela and her husband.
Pamela is not the only person to have sex in this film. The film opens with a woman (Linda Lovemore) giving a man (Leo Lovemore) a blow job, filmed by Frank and screened to his client (Kevin Andre), who is disgusted that his male lover would touch a woman. Her social work prostitute, Linda (Georgina Spelvin, from The Devil in Miss Jones) has sex with Hiram Wood (John Ashton, aka Levi Richards). Wood is an out of work actor, pretending to be gay in preparation for a role, working on the theory that if he can convince a prostitute that he is gay, he can convince his audience. In a later telephone call with Pamela, she reveals that she knew he wasn't gay, but as she'd wanted to bang him for some time, she let him get away with the pretence.
Interspersed with Pamela's activities, we also get to see Mr Mann's receptionist (Naomi Jason) getting a facial from another office worker, David Savage. At first she tells him he's disgusting. The next time, he's disgusting but she's wearing a paper bib (like you wear eating lobster or ribs). Third time, he's disgusting, but she's trying to discretely turn her head to get a mouthful. By the last scene, she's lapping it up.
This film is unusual in that although the sex scenes occur rapidly, there are definite plot links between them, and they aren't sex scenes just for the sake of having a sex scene.
There is also a running gag throughout the film of a poll-taker constantly catching Pamela and asking her long-winded and leading questions. At the end of the film, Mr Mann asks her who she is, and her reply of "I'm here to give the film socially redeeming values" caused us both to chuckle.
As I mentioned earlier, this film has a twist, and the ending was something that I definitely did not expect, nor will I reveal it here. Even knowing it now, I'm inclined to think that this is something that we would watch again. If you can get hold of the VHS release, this is the one to go for, despite the obvious limitations of VHS. If you can only get the DVD copy, know that a significant scene has been cut, and some supporting footage has also been cut (you'll understand if you see it). Despite the (initially off-putting) rape scene, this is definitely a couples film, and well worth it.
You can buy The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann here through Uncut DVDs in Australia.
