COLLECTOR'S CRYPT - BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRAVIXENS (SEVERIN FILMS BLU-RAY)
Throughout February, we’ve featured two of the three Russ Meyer films that Severin Films have restored and released, and today we reach the end of the “Vixen Trilogy.” A wave of emotions rushes over us as we round out this coverage of one of cinema’s greatest mavericks and a true boundary-pusher in every sense of the word. We started this journey familiar with Meyer by name only, but now we feel like residents in the weird, whacky, and sex-filled world that Meyer articulates in his films. It has caused us to migrate out of our comfort zones and indulge in softcore cinema with a socially conscious edge, for the most part, while ironically featuring some of the most politically incorrect humor ever to grace 35mm film. The final film, for now, is “Beneath The Valley Of The Ultravixens” which comes to us again from Severin Films. Is this the peak of Meyer’s cinematic universe, or merely an exercise in overindulgence?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Believe it or not, even Smalltown USA still has people who are unfulfilled and unrelieved in the midst of plenty. Levonna and Lamar could have the perfect relationship, were it not for Lamar's obsession with rear entry.
HOW IS IT?
The final film that Russ Meyer ever released theatrically is “Beneath The Valley Of The Ultravixens” (“Ultravixens” for short) and in many ways, it is the pinnacle of Meyer’s unique aesthetic and narrative style, for better or worse. In his interpretation of “the greatest American play ever written,” “Our Town” Meyer’s take on Smalltown, USA is anything but small as he lavishly adorns the town with his particular brand of large-breasted women, sexual hijinks, and some of the most off-color jokes you’ll ever see committed to film. This is a film that revels in excess more so than the previous two films, which can be admired for its audacity while being critical of how slapped together the whole affair feels. While it isn’t without some merit, “Ultravixens” is the least interesting of the Vixen Trilogy even if it is the most daring in Meyer’s filmography.
The first thing that may throw some viewers off is the narrative, or rather lack thereof in “Ultravixens.” Opening with a narrator (Stuart Lancaster) who is present throughout most of the film, and a returning actor and character from “Supervixens” the narrator talks us through the people and places of Smalltown, USA. While there is a sort of “main character” in both Lavonia (Kitten Natividad) and Lamar Shedd (Ken Kerr) there isn’t much characterization to them except that Lavonia is a sex fiend and Lamar can only get off when he takes a woman from behind. The different stories all involve either one or both of the characters as they go through the town causing all kinds of kinky havoc while the narrator helps to contextualize this as best as they can. In contrast to Meyer’s other two Vixen films, this one is noticeably more risque with the use of nudity and likely has something to do with the rise of hardcore theaters in the US which makes something like “Ultravixens” look like a PG movie. The sexual stuff doesn’t offend us, and while the humor is as broad as it has ever been there are some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments like when a strip club patron puts a napkin over his beer that Lavonia has her crotch above, and even some of the narration feels like it is ripped from highfalutin literature and not the script for a softcore sex comedy. The unfortunate thing about “Ultravixens” is that it’s just not very interesting.
We won’t claim that “Vixen” or “Supervixens” are narrative masterpieces, but they at least followed a plot structure that propelled the scenes forward with some meaning. All of that is gone in favor of what feels like a Russ Meyer anthology film about the various sexcapades the horniest town that ever existed experiences on a daily basis. Such as the religious radio sounds of Eufaula Roop (Anne Marie) where every baptism comes with a climax or in one of the most egregiously unfunny scenes, a gay dentist who tries to have his way with Lamar while Lavonia and his assistant share a double-sided…well, you can fill in the rest. These sporadic scenes of sexuality are nothing new, but they do feel more rudderless than they have in prior films considering that the Roger Ebert co-wrote the script with Meyer under a pseudonym. While there is no correlation between being a great critic and a great screenwriter, it is baffling to wonder what parts of this script Ebert penned and how that creative partnership worked. In some ways, the creation of “Ultravixens” is more interesting than the film itself despite a fourth-wall-breaking ending where Meyer himself espouses his epilogue for the folks of Smalltown, USA that is part swan song and part summary of Meyer as an auteur. One thing is clear, if you love Meyer’s work you will love “Ultravixens,” and once you buy into the ridiculousness it makes it far easier to enjoy the silly and the sultry, even if it isn’t as good as what came before it.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
Visually, Severin has once again made a miracle with this restoration and transfer. As a title card in the opening denotes, the original elements that were used for this restoration and transfer were in bad shape due to improper storage, and Severin spent over 100 hours on the restoration for just this film and that alone is worthy of the utmost praise. Cinema preservation is becoming more and more important in the digital era, and Severin is doing the movie lord’s work here. As before, the original 35mm camera negatives were used to bring “Ultravixens” to 1080p HD and the film maintains the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Despite Severin’s “warning” that some parts may not look as good as others, it’s pretty hard to spot those errors and even when you do, they are passing and not lengthy.
Images from this release are used throughout this review, and please note, that these are from the Blu-Ray, not the 4K UHD edition.
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
The sound elements for “Ultravixens” are a hodgepodge of 35 mm prints and one master audio track that was used to create a “complete composite track.” In other words, the audio was pieced together from different surviving elements to create a “best of what’s left” audio track that sounds flawlessly executed. Just like the other films, the dialogue is clear and never feels overwhelmed by the music and other sounds.
ANYTHING SPECIAL?
Even if you don’t find yourself to be a fan of Meyer’s films, fans of cinema are eating well with the special features that Severin has wrangled up for these releases. The “Ultravixens” disc offers another archival commentary as well as some old recorded interviews. The first feature we checked out was Talk It Over a 23-minute television interview recorded in Tucson, AZ while Meyer was in town promoting “Ultravixens.” The host, Ellen Adelstein handles herself well as Meyer lathers on self-praise and takes a default position of being defensively boastful. The first ⅔ of the interview makes him seem like he’s trying to consistently sell himself and his work as Adelstein tries to probe into the pathos of Meyer. He brags about how he only makes successful movies, and when asked how the emergence of hardcore films has impacted him he brushes it off despite clearly aiming to compete with them in “Ultravixens.” When pressed about the difference between “softcore” and “hardcore,” Meyer defers to some funny, but crass remarks about the “clinical closeup” and a slang use for “clam” that we don’t think we need to elaborate on. It’s a great interview because it shows Meyer in an environment where there is genuine curiosity about his early career, and no attempts are made to play “gotcha” despite him being ready to pounce on any and all critique.
The next feature we watched was a newly commissioned interview that follows up with Ellen Adelstein in Still Talking It Over. It’s a short, 7-minute interview, and Ellen is as sharp now as she was then as she recounts the show and its purpose and how Meyer came to be involved. One of the best anecdotes we’ve heard so far came from this interview when Ellen described how Meyer presented her production team with a clip to show with explicit instructions to only show 29 seconds, but not the full 30. When the clip was aired, a mistake was made a giant penis showed up on the screens and monitors which didn’t seem to phase Ellen much, but she recalls how the camera operator was blushing away as if she’d never seen male genitalia before. These kinds of “tell all” stories aren’t just entertaining, but they help us to better understand the person, in this case Russ Meyer, and how people who interviewed him received him. A full list of special features is listed below.
Bonus Materials
Disc 1: Blu-ray
Archival Audio Commentary With Co-Writer/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor/Director Russ Meyer
The Latin Brünhilde – Interview With Actress Kitten Natividad
Talk It Over – Ellen Adelstein Interviews Russ Meyer For Her Tucson Talk Show In 1979
Still Talking It Over – New Interview With Ellen Adelstein
Trailer
LAST RITES
The Russ Meyer “Vixen” trilogy comes to a close with “Beneath The Valley Of The Ultravixens” and while it is the most Meyer film of the three, it also suffers from diminishing returns as it takes a more crass and less socially-conscious approach to softcore sex comedies. Still, film fans should entertain this for their collections because of the amazing archival features Severin continues to wrangle up and to own a piece of softcore cinema history!
THE GORY DETAILS
Thank you to the fine fiends over at Severin for providing a review copy for the crypt! Beneath The Valley Of The Ultravixens is available NOW and can be purchased via Severin Direct!
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