Directed by Joseph W. Sarno: Sleepy Head (1973)

A fascinating, if relatively unknown, offering from legendary director Joseph W. Sarno, Sleepy Head (1973) is an admittedly minor work but it is well-worth seeking out for fans of the much-missed director. Starring adult icons Georgina Spelvin and Tina Russell, and featuring Jamie Gillis and Marc Stevens in supporting roles, Sleepy Head was Sarno's first full foray into hardcore filmmaking and, while it is a far cry from his greatest works, it is a worthwhile edition to his filmography, even though it is often just afforded footnote status in his career.



Bernice Wyatt is a lonely woman approaching middle age living in a small Manhattan apartment. Raised in a strictly conservative environment, Wyatt is constantly battling inner demons in regards to her increasing sexual desire. This battle between repression and desire isn’t helped by her friend Nancy, who is constantly trying to get Bernice to push against her proper upbringing and her explore her sensuality. Bernice’s religion-obsessed sister Tracy isn’t helping either as her sheltered beliefs are only attempting to push her further and further away from her desires.



For at least its first hour Sleepy Head is a successful meditation on desire and repression driven by the fearless and intense performance of Spelvin, who was fresh from her legendary turn in Gerard Damiano’s Devil in Miss Jones (1973). Despite being shot quickly, and on an extremely low-budget, Sleepy Head still contains the adventurous, intelligent and stylish direction that marked all of Sarno's work. Opening very much like a horror film with an unforgettable nightmarish sequence where Spelvin is faced with the personifications of both her repressed and lustful sides, Sleepy Head marks itself immediately as something other than just a typical adult production of the period. The opening also strongly announces that this is indeed the work of Joseph W. Sarno, even though he didn’t sign the film at the time, as its lighting and mood recalls a number of his mesmerizing productions from the sixties. With this unforgettable opening, Sarno immediately establishes the heavy and oppressive atmosphere that never lets up throughout Sleepy Head’s 90 minute running time. Almost completely free of a score, with only a couple of brief library cues used, Sleepy Head is, despite its nonsensical title, an extremely serious work that ventures into the type of melodrama Sarno loved before eventually giving way to a typical adult film of the period in its final half hour.




Sarno, by all accounts, didn't take the decision of crossing over into the hardcore world litely and there is a certain hesitation to his style in Sleepy Head that wasn't typical of his other films in this period, like the freewheeling Seduction of Inga and Young Playthings. Sarno’s camera is more static than usual and Sleepy Head’s biggest problem is that it finally just feels like the work of an exhausted artist. This can of course be credited to the obvious budgetary limitations, and shooting schedule, but considering the fact that Sarno had already completed nearly ten features in the seventies by Sleepy Head's release in 1973 perhaps a bit of physical fatigue was setting in. Maybe Sarno was already feeling some of the limitations of this new explicit era he had just entered. Adult film historian and Sarno biographer Michael Bowen told me last year in an interview here that Sarno, "frequently observed that he felt there were inherent limitations to what one could do with a film with hardcore content, so it wasn’t his favorite way to work", and I think that feeling is felt throughout Sleepy Head. Still, despite the weary feeling present throughout the film, Sarno still brings much of his usual directionally flair to the film but it finally really thrives due to its cast, especially Spelvin who is quite unforgettable here as a woman having a real internal crisis.





Georgina Spelvin was already nearing her late thirties when she shot Sleepy Head with Sarno in 1973. Born Michelle Graham in Houston, Texas in the mid-thirties, Spelvin was quite unlike any other adult-film icon before or since. More than just a typical sex-pot, Spelvin had remarkable acting chops and they are on full display in Sleepy Head, a film that is controlled by her believable and intense performance. While Spelvin is the controlling force in Sleepy Head, the rest of the cast is notable as well.



Pretty Pennsylvania born Tina Russell was only in her mid-twenties in 1973 but she had already shot more than two-dozen adult features. Already well on her way to becoming one of the most popular adult icons of the period, Russell is interesting as Spelvin’s younger bible thumping sister in Sleepy Head, although she clearly doesn’t have Spelvin’s range. A real memorable film-personality, Russell would tragically pass away at the age of 32 in 1981 due to Stomach Cancer.




As Bernice’s provocative friend Nancy, Judith Hamilton occupies the other large role in Sleepy Head. Hamilton, who would appear in Sarno’s terrific The Swith or How to Alter your Ego in 1974, made relatively few films but she’s fine in Sleepy Head and brings a real knowingly decadent feel to the film. The rest of the film’s iconic cast only appear in mostly supporting roles, with several just appearing in a scene or two.




Sleepy Head does ultimately collapse in on itself in the final half hour, where Sarno all but sacrifices an interesting story for typical adult-faire, but fans of the great man will find much to love here. Bowen would write in his liner notes to Sarno's Girl Meets Girl box-set that while Sleepy Head, "marked the first time in Sarno's career that he used a pseudonym on one of his films", it still, "clearly retains hallmarks of (his) signature style." Sleepy Head is obviously not a film for everyone due to its extremely explicit nature and many politically-obsessed filmgoers will want to pass on it. For adventurous film-lovers though who love Joe Sarno and swinging seventies cinema, Sleepy Head is an essential title.





Considering the rarity and age of Sleepy Head, VideoXPix's DVD of the film is in very good shape. The colors are slightly faded due to age, and some reel damage is noticeable in spots, but overall the disc offers a relatively clean uncut print of the film and its a fine way to view it. Sadly no extras are offered, save for a trailer to the Sarno directed All About Gloria Leonard. Fellow Sarno fans interested in the disc can visit this (NSFW) link.

Radley Metzger's The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann (1974)

Easily one of the most important archival releases of the year, Distribpix's new collection dedicated to Radley Metzger's The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann is a powerhouse release and essential purchase for Metzger-fans and cinema-lovers. This new double-disc edition of Metzger's first outing as the legendary Henry Paris offers up the film completely uncut and beautifully remastered. Armed with an arsenal of valuable extras, this new version of The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann is not only the best edition of this film ever released but one of the best releases of its kind ever.




Frank is a private detective, and self-confessed peeping tom, who is hired on by a Mr. Mann to spy on his wife Pamela, as he suspects she is having an affair. Frank follows and films Pamela as she makes her way through various Manhattan locations and soon finds himslef involved in a life much more complicated and surprising than he would have ever imagined.



Despite being shot on an extremely low-budget in less than a week, The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann contains the same sort of depth, polish and style as Radley Metzger's more well-known films from the sixties and seventies such Therese and Isabelle, The Lickerish Quartet and Camille 2000. A wonderfully self-aware work powered by a smart script, witty dialogue, terrific performances and Metzger's considerable skill behind the camera, The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann takes all the conventions of a typical adult-film and playfully turns them inside out. As Lawrence Cohen notes in his wonderful analysis in Distribix's near fifty page liner-notes, The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann is a, "legitimate work of art", and, "one that deserves the loving attention of film connoisseurs." Radley Metzger's first Henry Paris film waves a defiant middle-finger to film fans and historians who insist on ignoring the golden age of adult cinema as a viable art-form, and it is an ideal entryway for newcomers interested in 'The Other Hollywood'.




Film historian Benson Hurst points out in his excellent notes for Distribix's booklet that The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann came about due to a few different factors, with two of the most notable being the financial failure of Metzger's previous film, the excellent Score, and the release of Damiano's Deep Throat in 1972. Hurst notes that, "overnight the landscape for soft-core films changed", and that, "the market for stylish fantasy trips made with intelligence and high production values", like the films Metzger had been making for more than a decade, were gone. Audiences were enjoying the new-found freedom to watch more explicit forms of filmmaking and, though he was hesitant to join in, Radley Metzger took the plunge with The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann and for five years he delivered the most exquisite and smartest adult films American audiences had seen before or since.




The one aspect about Radley Metzger I have always valued the most is just how much this man loves film. The near fetishistic obsession with celluloid is apparent in all of Metzger's best films and this is especially true of The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann. Hurst writes that it just took a few minutes of meeting Metzger before the conversation turned to film and he noted that, "Radley balances an encyclopedic knowledge with a humble and genuine interest in other people's opinions." Radley Metzger, now in his seventies, remains a man fascinated by all things cinematic and this obsession is reflected in many of his most memorable characters, several of which can be found in The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann.







It might be a surprise to those who just know his reputation as an erotic auteur, but the two most repeated images in The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann don't concern sex. Going along with Radley Metzger's love for cinema, the two things we see the most of throughout the film are a camera and projector. Like in his earlier masterwork The Lickerish Quartet, the characters in The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann spend much of the running time watching and studying film, and we, as an audience, are treated to numerous shots of the camera, the inner-workings of the projector and even the film itself. Metzger's first Paris production is a strikingly post-modern work that is so confident in its self-awareness that it doesn't miss an opportuinity to comment on it. Make no mistake though, while it certainly has elements of satire in it, this isn't a parody of an adult-film. It is in actuality an embrace of the genre and what it is capable of. It is also a slap in the face to the conservative groups looking to ban these films and prosecute those involved with the film's most biting moment being a line delivered by Metzger's editor Lola Lagarce, who shows up as a poll-taker throughout the film asking Pamela about heated issues of the day. I won't give away the film's most explosive and funniest moment but I will say that it is perhaps the most jaw-dropping line in all of Metzger's filmography.










It is fitting that such a high quality film as The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann be graced with an extraordinary cast and it certainly is. As the title character striking looking Barbara Bourbon is quite wonderful. Sexy, warm and witty, Bourbon really shines as Pamala Mann and its a shame she only appeared in a handful of films before retiring. Distribpix's booklet features an enlightening new interview with her that will be of great interest to those who ever wondered what happened to one of adult-cinema's greatest disappearing acts. The rest of the cast is made up of some of New York's finest including the uber-talented Eric Edwards and Jamie Gillis (whose sporting a head of hair here that I would kill for) and the iconic Georgina Spelvin, who delivers a very funny and inventive performance as Pamela's friend Linda (her Rhoda to Bourbon's Mary if you will). Also on hand in smaller roles are Sonny Landham, Darby Lloyd Rains, Marc Stevens (excluding a goofy charm), Alan Marlow, Levi Richards and gorgeous Naomi Jason (billed as Day Jason). Naomi, who would appear in the terrific The Passions of Carol in 1976, is a real scene-stealer here as a receptionist dealing with a very particular form of office-harassment.






Shot on 16mm, by furure Oscar winner Paul Glickman (as Marcel Hall), The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann, like so many other of these films made during this period, offers up a wonderful view of New York City in the mid-seventies. With its numerous street-shots, The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann acts as much of a valentine to the city as say a Woody Allen film from the period. For folks, like myself, who have fond memories of the city Metzger's film will be a real eye-opening experience as New York is presented so lovingly and so incredibly well.









While the release of the uncut version of The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann would make Distribpix's new collection a must-buy the Criterion style treatment the film has received as far as extras go make it truly indespinsable. Disc-one offers up a fascinating commentray track from Metzger himself, as well as the original theatrical trailer, a stills gallery and an excellent near 40 minute interview with Eric Edwards. The exhaustive extras continue on disc 2 in the shape of a truly special near 40 minute chat with Georgina Spelvin (such a charmer), a 2011 re-release trailer, outtakes, stills, press-clippings, a then and now look at the locations and a never before seen alternate version of the film prepared for, but not released in, 1976. Add on the impressive almost fifty page booklet and a glossy still of Bourbon and you have one of the most comprehensive and worth-while DVD collections releases of this or any other year.






More information on The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann can be found at Distribpix's official site, order-site (NSFW) and blog. It is one of the essential collections in recent memory and Distrippix's dedication to a film most would be content to ignore is both noble and noteworthy. It is Distribpix's second Radley Metzger release (with the first being the double-disc set of Maraschino Cherry) and the rest of the Henry Paris films are in the works for future release.

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