In the mid 1970's, a group got together to skewer the porn industry of the era. With a mainstream film. The end result is:
The First Nudie Musical
Important Note: First and foremost, please be aware that this is a film about the production of a pornographic feature, or, as it was called in the era, a ‘nudie,’ and as such has a significant quantity of (mostly casual, non-erotic) nudity, language, and the portrayal of ‘non-sexual’ sexual scenes.
Kritzerland releases a Paramount Pictures film, The First Nudie Musical. The film is written and co-directed by Bruce Kimmel, with the other co-director being Mark Haggard. It stars Stephen Nathan (Harry Schechter,) Cindy Williams (Rosie,) and Bruce Kimmel (John Smithee.)
This Bluray disc has the feature framed at 1.77:1, and runs approximately 94 minutes, and has been divided into 28 chapters. The audio is a DTS-HD Master Audio monaural track.
On loading the disc, there is an FBI slate, a Kritzerland slate, a standard disclaimer, and then the menu.
The package is a fairly standard Bluray case, with an insert. The outside of the single-fold is program-related advertising and images; the inside is fairly detailed essay “about the transfer” by the director.
This disc has not been captioned or subtitled for the deaf or hearing impaired.
The feature has been rated R by the MPAA, most likely for frequent nudity and ‘adult themes,’ and some language. This disc seems to have an official street date of November 5, 2011, and has an MSRP of $29.98, but is already available and shipping directly from Kritzerland’s website.
The Feature — 
½
The First Nudie Musical follows Harry Schechter (Nathan,) the up and coming producer, heir to Schechter Studios, provided he can keep possession of the studio, and not have it turned into a shopping center. When challenged by the finance people, he manages to sell them on the notion of a ‘nudie film’ with a gimmick: not cheerleaders, stewardesses, or even particularly “licking,” but rather, a musical nudie. In the grand tradition of musical theater, the opening expositional scene breaks out into a full-scale musical number, complete with (naked) dancing girls. The money people agree, but promptly saddle him with three impossible conditions: the same budget (nonexistent,) a tight schedule (two weeks or so,) and, just in case it’s not enough, one of the guys’ nephew, John Smithee (Kimmel,) who has never been involved in film in his short life, has been appointed director. With his secretary and love-interest Rosie (Williams,) we then follow the trials and tribulations of no-budget porn production, with a fairly happy, campy perspective. And lots and lots of donuts.
It is an entertaining cross-time romp; seventies styles and sensibilities, crossing with the low-budget porn sector, crossed with the styles and traditions out of Depression era Broadway, with plenty of diversions to fill out a nicely shaped satire of the film industry.
The Picture —
The saga of finding film elements, the transfer, and so on, is interestingly recorded in the insert in the case. This covers some of the saga of making the disc, and also has a discussion on the aspect ratio. In the 1970’s, this film was presented in 1.85:1; the director always felt it “too tight,” and had the frame opened up to the full HD frame. This being a reasoned decision by the director and restoration team, and being a relatively slight adjustment (rather than, say, taking a 2.4:1 ’scope film down to 1.77:1,) I do not have any particular issue, other than to say, for the purists who recall, yes, it is different.
The transfer is— pretty good, all things being considered; the surviving negative sounds like it should not have survived. (Clarification: this is not meant to be an editorial comment, but more rather a reflection of the fact that the color reversal internegative (CRI) not only had not been lost or destroyed, but that it had not faded.) Film grain is visible throughout — with a comment, again in the insert, about its preservation. The colors are surprisingly good and, for the most part, natural.
In a good player and a good projector, the picture was quite good.
The Sound —
This is, obviously, a low-budget feature from the mid 1970’s, and as such, has a mono soundtrack. They went to some efforts to make a clean and clear copy for this disc, and it is preserved, warts and all, in a DTS-HD Master Audio mono track. It played well, and was intelligible through either a conventional home theater system or a decent pair of headphones.
Of note, the soundtrack was recorded in stereo, and stereo elements are used in the accompanying documentary, From Dollars to Donuts.
The Extras —
This disc includes quite a lot of “extras,” including the following:
• Feature Commentaries. First by the cast (Bruce Kimmel, Cindy Williams, and Stephen Nathan,) and a second with Bruce Kimmel and Nick Redman (directed the documentary.) The cast commentary is especially entertaining.
• From Dollars to Donuts: An Undressing of The First Nudie Musical, a documentary by Bruce Kimmel and Nick Redman. Standard definition, 4:3, 54½ minutes, stereo. There is also a commentary track for this documentary by Bruce Kimmel, Nick Redman, and Michael Rosendale.
• A deleted scene, 2:47, HD, 1.77:1, mono.
• A deleted musical number, 4:58, recovered from a bad BetaMAX tape, 4:3, mono. Alternate audio track includes a commentary track, talking about why it was deleted, as well as some of the things that they were proud of in the scene.
• A deleted musical number that was never filmed. Audio only. 1:37.
• A costume test reel, about 4½ minutes, silent, black and white, HD.
• An early trailer, the soundtrack lost. 2:41, HD.
• The theatrical trailer, with sound. 2:48, HD.
• A Photo Gallery. With lots of stills of promotional photos, reviews, posters, one-sheets, and more.
• A radio spot. 30 seconds, audio only.
Some of these, especially the commentaries, may have been ported from the previous DVD release.
In The End —
Before I get to the wrap-up, I need to take a moment to make a few comments about the technical operation of the disc. The disc navigation is slow, and as one explores the disc, all of the menu and navigational access is painfully slow. Even on a good, fast player, the start-up was painfully slow. While the feature is divided into chapters, the documentary program (just shy of an hour,) is presented as a single chapter. Choosing alternate audio programs (commentary tracks) for either the feature or the documentary is done from the main menuing system, and at least on one player of mine, could not be changed ‘on the fly.’ Another thing that I am perhaps more sensitive to from my day-job, rather than my personal need, is that none of the material on this disc appears to be captioned or subtitled.
The film itself is quite entertaining. The picture and sound are remarkable for the source elements of the era. There is a fairly interesting depth to the supplemental features, and the cast commentary is fun to listen to. The disc programming and operation, however, feels clumsy.
This is a remarkable restoration project of a quirky little film that unexpectedly turned out to have some staying power. Maybe camp; maybe cult — but the film is great fun. Especially if you have any background or love in film-making or American musical theater.
In spite of it’s operational lumps, recommended.
Please note another related thread, A Few Words About by Robert Harris.
Edited by Leo Kerr - 10/26/11 at 6:51pm
