I screened Mark Haggard & Bruce Kimmel's The First Nudie Musical last night as a prologue to viewing Thor. If one is seeking a connection, there isn't one.
A friend stopped by who had never seen TFNM, and after spending a few minutes watching the set-up, fell for it's low-budget charms. It was produced for 200k, and partially funded by Paramount.
The film is about the son of a down and out studio owner, who, in order to get the studio back on its feet and keep ownership out of the hands of investors, has turned to porn to bring in the funds necessary to keep things running.
But the bills have come due, and something special in needed. A cross-over to bring in new audiences...
and The First Nudie Musical is born.
The set-up isn't far from the old Judy Garland - Mickey Rooney M-G-M musicals, except the words, "I've got some curtains in the attic..." are never spoken.
Throw in some asides that harken back to the great RKO days of Astaire and Rogers and a bit of WB Busby Berkeley, and you'll have some idea of what TFNM has in store. This is a film created on a shoestring by people love the movies and their history.
When the film arrived in March of 1976 many critics fell for its charms. They loved Cindy Williams, (fresh from American Graffiti and The Conversation, and beginning her long stint on Happy Days) and her sweet dead-pan comedic charms. Even her Happy Days co-star, Ron Howard, makes a cameo appearance at an audition, confused by the trade ad reading "tap shoes, rehearsal clothes, possible nudity, and they don't want any albinos."
As full disclosure is proper, I've known Mr. Kimmel for thirty years. He occasionally posts to HTF. And this is where it gets interesting. The film was shot on 35mm, but after the distribution agreement with Paramount ended, the original negative went missing. The DVD was struck from some used combined prints, which was not what the filmmakers would have liked.
But several months ago, someone located some cans holding pre-print elements, and Mr. Kimmel was brought into the picture. While not the OCN, at least a printing CRI had been found. Those who visit here often will be aware that CRIs tend to have a shelf life of about seven years -- and that time period had expired decades ago.
And this is where full disclosure comes in.
I received a call from Mr. Kimmel for advice. Moving forward to do an HD image harvest from a faded element is hardly worth the investment, so I arranged for him to take the element to my inspection facility of choice, the best in the known Universe, Pro-Tek in Burbank, which is owned by Kodak. The advise was simple. Get a reel on an inspection bench, look at facial highlights, and if they're blue, you're done.
If they're green, you have a viable element.
They were green.
From there, the element went to FotoKem for scanning, and with Mr. Kimmel, who knows a thing or three about color, grain structure, shadow detail, etc. at the helm, there were no concerns about what the final product would look like.
What we have in this new Blu-ray of The First Nudie Musical, is something that even some of the majors don't seem to be able to produce on a continuing basis.
Projected on a large screen, it has the perfect look of film. Audio is in DTS-HD.
The First Nudie Musical is very much a low-budget love poem to the cinema, made by people who love film. It is charming and naive in many ways.
Only with nudity.
If you're going to be offended, steer clear.
But if 94 minutes of a very unusual 1975 production, on an absolutely perfect Blu-ray release sounds promising, then The First Nudie Musical comes Recommended.
Did I mention the wonderfully classic "Dancing Dildoes" number?
RAH
