After conquering radio and television with his hidden microphones and cameras, Allen Funt next turned his attention to the movies. When his very popular Candid Camera series ended its lengthy CBS television run in 1967, Funt’s next project was a more risqué variation on his tried-and-true formula, What Do You Say to a Naked Lady? To be fair to the filmmaker, the movie does go a step beyond the usual set-ups of capturing people being themselves, but in varying his usual routine, he ends up with a film that’s neither fish nor fowl (or foul, for that matter). There’s some fun to be had, and some sociological insights into the varying ideas about morality captured during the height of the sexual revolution, but there’s not enough of either to make the movie truly memorable.
What Do You Say to a Naked Lady? (MGM MOD)
Directed by Allen Funt
Studio: MGM/UA
Year: 1970
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 anamorphic
Running Time: 86 minutes
Rating: R
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English
Subtitles: none
MSRP: $19.98
Release Date: available now
Review Date: February 16, 2012
The Film
3/5
True to the title of the film, the movie begins by sending a completely nude woman (Joie Addison) walking out of an elevator and capturing the stunned reactions of the people she comes into contact with (she generally stops and asks direction for a nonexistent office). Variations of this involve the nude woman turning a corner and bumping into an oncoming pedestrian, the nude woman waiting on customers in a drug store, and a nude woman trying to hitch a ride on the highway. The reactions are fairly predictable: some stare, others look away, some offer mild protests, and a few don’t bat an eye.
Funt then begins his sociological investigation into the morals and mores of society by inserting at random intervals comments from a selected audience invited to a screening of the rough cut of the film and garnering their candid reactions (the scenes are presented in black and white). Older viewers are appalled by the nudity; one especially angry lady declares the shots pornographic (generally, the nude women carry a large handbag to cover their groin area though this is not always the case). Though most of the younger people in the film have a more casual, even blasé attitude toward the nudity (a sex education class with young people is greeted by a nude female teacher: they sit quietly listening to what she has to say without much visible reaction while a class of older people subjected to the same nude teacher finds some of the adults getting up and walking out before she can even speak), many of the older subjects find it objectionable. Those in middle age show the widest gap in reactions: for some, the male or female figure is seen as natural and beautiful; for others, there’s a decided discomfort. The nudity isn’t handled in a titillating manner at all, and during the film there is both complete male and female frontal nudity though there isn’t that much of either.
To keep things lively, Steve Karmen has composed a half dozen songs to serve as introductions to sections (the title song, “Tailors Like Me,” “Keyhole”) or as commentary like “Rape” (the movie’s least effective sequence as some kind of controlled rape scenarios are attempted) and “The Mirror” (folks spending time fiddling with make-up and hairstyles in a mirror, decidedly off the subject of the film). As the film runs, however, the comic reactions to embarrassing situations become less the focus of the movie as the film begins delving rather randomly into discussions about youthful sexual experimentation and prejudices about interracial dating (look fast to see Richard Roundtree as one of the actors used to spur a reaction, right before he gained international stardom as Shaft). By this time, Candid Camera tomfoolery is almost forgotten as the picture grinds to its inconclusive conclusion.
Video Quality
3.5/5
The film is presented in its theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions. With the hidden cameras and caught-in-the-act style of photography, the film is about as sharp as it’s possible to be under sometimes impossible conditions. Of course, some scenes are better looking than others featuring decent color and sharpness but nothing extraordinary. There are a few stray marks on the transfer: specks of dirt and an occasional gouge but nothing terribly serious to take one out of the film. The black and white interview sections look a bit worse for wear for some reason. The movie has been divided into chapters every ten minutes so there are 9 chapters.
Audio Quality
3/5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound mix is decoded by Dolby Prologic into the center channel. There’s low but decent fidelity in most of the spoken parts of the movie, and the songs come through clearly even if there is some hiss and also some occasional distortion present. A note to buyers: the MGM logo tacked on to the beginning and end of the movie is louder than usual (and it’s usually very loud) with system-threatening volume levels you might need to watch out for.
Special Features
1/5
The film’s theatrical trailer is offered in anamorphic widescreen (even though it’s in terrible condition) and runs for 3 ¼ minutes.
In Conclusion
3/5 (not an average)
There’s some fun and some insight to be had by What Do You Say to a Naked Lady? but it isn’t the laugh riot some episodes of Candid Camera were in its prime. The film is perhaps too ambitious for its own good, but fans of this kind of trickery might get some chuckles.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
