Volume 1 dishes out dsytopian sci-fi with THINGS TO COME and a Manson-esque roughie in THE DIRTY DOLLS
Smut Without Smut Vol. 1 was originally released in the US through Vinegar Syndrome as a limited edition and is out of print. This Region B release presents another opportunity to pick up this pairing.
The first THING to really understand before digging into AGFA’s “Smut without Smut” double bill of Things to Come and The Dirty Dolls, is once upon a time, porn was a much different animal than the few minute clips we see on the internet today, that simply get right to business. Once they were films that had real stories, performances and were screened in theaters no less — they just happened to have hardcore sex in them.
It was also seen as a legitimate leg-in to the film industry for directors and technicians who were looking to break into film to get their start behind the camera in the adult industry, famously Wes Craven and Barry Sonnenfeld got their first breaks in the adult films. Given these even ran in theaters, plot and acting were actually necessary to keep folks in seats, and to ensure patrons got their money’s worth.
There’s a great doc called Labor of Love that digs into one possible scenario that wasn’t completely unheard of at the time — an indie film that per the financiers is forced to add hardcore scenes to keep their funding. This would help not only distribution, since now you had two versions of the film to shop around to two different kinds of venues, but if the plot or acting fell through they could always lean on the adult angle. Now this presented these particular players who signed on for a low budget indie flick with the moral question of just what they will do for their big break. But that’s something to keep in mind when digging into this set is sometimes these films didn’t necessarily start out as adult films and just had those elements shoehorned in at the last moment and since these films played in theaters, before the advent of home video.
How I first stumbled upon this series in particular is when I tuned in to the first Agfadrome, a one day celebration of all things American Genre Film Archive hosted by the folks that run the organization. One of the films they screened that day fell under their “Smut Without Smut” banner and was an adult film that had all it naughty bits edited out and was surprisingly pretty damn good. What remained of 1976’s Things to Come was an engaging dystopian DIY science fiction film shot in Texas, that was the story of one woman’s journey to a theme park like Pleasure Dome populated by robots where you can fulfill any hedonistic wish. The film follows Julie as she falls down the rabbit hole of what exactly is going on at the Pleasure dome only to discover a bizarre twist that to be honest gave the film more depth and breadth than I expected. I am a sucker for a good Westworld knock off, and surprisingly this isn’t the only adult riff on Michael Criteon’s sci-fi masterpiece.
Next up was The Dirty Dolls, a mean little film that appears to be inspired by the Manson murders, as the charismatic and unhinged Johnny (John Alderman) leads an all female gang of theives. When a diamond heist goes south, with the women taking both a male and a female hostage and their fence leaving them high and dry, the tension is turned up as the girls decide to take full advantage of their prisoners before they decide if they live or die. The edited version here loses about 20 minutes and feels like a taught potboiler as some girls want to set their captives to go free, while Johnny wants no eye witnesses left alive. This one also had some really decent performances and given the adult angle they swing for the fences by having one of Johnny’s girls being his kid sister, and you know where that’s going to go. Its not an easy watch, but the roughie still works even without its sex scenes.
The set that was originally released by Vinegar Syndrome as a limited edition only to go out of print was also released across the pond by 101 Films in a set that mirrors the Out of Print Disc, albeit region coded (Region B). The films are presented in newly scanned HD masters from the only surviving theatrical prints and they definitely show their age and wear. But presented here are both the edited and regular versions and for those looking to dip their toes in the pool this is a great way since both of these films stand rather well without their naughty bits. I will say Things to Come’s scenes feel like the scenario where the adult angle was more of an after thought compared to The Dirty Dolls. There is also a great commentary on Things by the AGFA crew where they dig into the history of that film and where this concept of Smut without Smut came from.
To be honest removing the droning naughty bits allows you to really focus on not only the performances, but the narrative at work here, which in these cases is surprisingly effective. These two films are more the exception rather than the rule in these cases, but it might be an eye opener to those who’ve written these films off. Things to Come started off fairly standard, but it gains the kind of momentum you wouldn’t expect as it ramps up to its twist, which I really don’t want to spoil here. Lets just say it hit surprisingly hard considering the genre and that is what the folks at Agfa hope to show by releasing this series. The Dirty Dolls was a rougher watch, but held its own with some great performances and the danger this film just radiates, which could be possibly attributed to the real guns you can see everyone handling in the film.
Smut Without Smut Vol. 1: Things to Come + The Dirty Dolls (AGFA) (Blu-ray)
