Only House in Town, The (Mr. FAT-W Video) Review

Distributor: Mr. FAT-W Video (Films Around the World) Edition Details: Manufacture on Demand DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Classic, Feature Film, Softcore Also known as: The Only House, The Castle of Dreams Run Time: 54 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1971 Director: Edward D. Wood, Jr. (as Flint Holloway) Written by: Edward D. Wood, Jr. Cast: Uschi Digard (as Mishka Valkaro), Ron Polkee, Paul Sine, Neola Graef (as Patsey Broadston), Jane Tsentas (as Nancy Cortez), Lynn Harris (as Ellen Flintridge), Marv Murray Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Screen, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD-MOD (DVD-R) Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

The Only House in Town appears to be the first foray into directing hardcore adult feature films for notorious film maker Edward D. Wood, Jr. The Only House in Town was produced by Cinema Classics, the same company that produced Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s next adult film Necromania. Like Necromania, The Only House in Town was likely shot with two different versions, a hardcore and a softcore version. Especially since The Only House in Town was produced during the period when adult film companies were transitioning from softcore adult films to hardcore adult film.

Only the softcore version of The Only House in Town has been located at the current time and, if one exists, the hardcore version is still lost. When Fleshbot Films released Necromania on DVD they had plans to subsequently release The Only House in Town as well. The release for The Only House in Town never surfaced though so this release marks the first time the once lost film has been released on DVD.

It appears as if at the time The Only House in Town was made Cinema Classics was more interested in selling loops from the sex scenes within the film than the quality of the overall film itself. The Only House in Town appears to be unfinished with directions to the cast still included in the final version and portions that are completely missing audio. And yet other portions where there is music over the still existing stage directions. Some of the shots included likely would have fallen upon the cutting room floor since they feature the shadows of crew in them. Cinema Classics marketed numerous silent loops from The Only House in Town including “Lesbian Love,” “4 Girls & 3 Men Orgy,” and “Blazing Sex Orgies” (also called “Sex Orgy”). It is unknown if these loops were culled from the softcore or hardcore version, or both, of The Only House in Town.

Despite being a slapshod production, one reviewer at the time was impressed by director Flint Holloway's film.

“The Only House in Town is one of those rare films that makes me glad I turned down a bright future as a shoe salesman and became a reviewer,” wrote Edward D. Wood, Jr., in Wild Screen Reviews Vol. 2, 1st Issue (1970). “This is more than just a good film — in many ways it may be a great film.”

The story that exists and can be comprehended from The Only House in Town is a house, that used to be a whorehouse, is haunted by its sordid past causing the current inhabitants not to be able to sexually control themselves.

Luckily one reviewer actually got what the, at the time, pseudonymous director Flint Holloway was doing with his film.

“The Only House In Town is about lust, rape, crime, hate, sex, love, money, death, blood, lesbians, orgies, whores, bootleggers and ghosts,” wrote Wood, Jr., in his review. “It is also the story of a house and what that house does to people's minds. The house is old and rundown, the paint is peeling and the place is ready to fall apart. A group of young hippies are living in the place since the rent is cheap and the house is away from the rest of the town.”

Of course since Wood, Jr., and Holloway were the same person (which was unknown at the time), Wood, Jr., had the advantage of knowing what Holloway wanted to create, not what he actually created, since bootleggers and ghosts never enter the film that was actually created.

Sadly what the rest of us get to see is the film that Wood, Jr., created. And the film that was created is a complete and utter mess. One can tell that at some point there was a story concept in the mess. It is clear from the abrupt opening where three men and three women chase down another woman in a dilapidated house, in what appears to be modern times, and then ceremoniously rape her that there was supposed to be a story here. Uschi Digard plays the madam of a whorehouse that used to exist in the same house in the early 1900s. She then talks about some of what occurred back then. But none of this ever gets connected.

To make things worse, when making the film no one cared to remove inappropriate items from the early 1900s scenes, so there are electronics and the like in those scenes making some of the time periods impossible to tell. The same cast is used throughout the film as well. So one can't figure out what time the film thinks it is supposed to be from who is on screen at the time. The sex scenes are a mess as well. This version is the softcore version and Wood, Jr., didn't seem to know how to extend the softcore footage long enough to complete the scenes that were called for by the producers. Often the viewer is treated to shot after shot of writhing bodies, completely devoid of any sexuality. Several of the scenes are rape scenes as well, which might have been okay had the plot existed in the film to support such scenes. However as they exist within this mess, they are just awkward.

The music used in the film is all over the place. Portions of it are horror music, others are blues music, and yet others are a tropical feeling music. Only the horror sounding music actually seems appropriate. The dilapidated house works for what I have to assume is modern day, or modern day for when the film was made, footage. However when trying to make the house look like the whorehouse it once was the film fails miserably. The aforementioned modern electronics and other current time giveaways are present in the scene. The house still looks shabby and run down in them and never gives the grandeur of the whorehouse it was obviously supposed to be at one point.

There are some claims that Wood, Jr., left the production and that the direction was finished by one of the producers, Saul Resnick. However that seems highly unlikely. I suspect that claim was started due to the unfinished nature of The Only House in Town. Wood, Jr., was hired again after The Only House in Town to make Necromania for the same company so it is unlikely he left this project. It is far more likely that Cinema Classics was, at the time, only interested in the loops and gave Wood, Jr., a paltry budget to make the complete film. Once Wood, Jr., had burned through the budget what was filmed was edited together to make the feature film and ensure that suitable loops were within the final project to be sold individually.

It is unfortunate that this mess is what exists of The Only House in Town. The film actually has promise when it starts all the way through the beginning rape orgy. However after that the film just completely falls apart, loses all direction, and just serves to confuse and frustrate the viewer. It is also unfortunate that only the softcore version has been found. Reportedly the hardcore version runs longer than the softcore version (possibly as long as 69 minutes) so it is possible that the plot makes more sense in that version than this one. Until that version is found, The Only House in Town is an easy film to skip.

This release of The Only House in Town is presented by Films Around the World, using the name Mr. FAT-W Video, and is currently only available through Amazon's manufacture on demand system. The DVD-MOD only contains the softcore version of The Only House in Town. The Only House in Town was shot on film and according to Films Around the World, this release was mastered from the 16mm color reversal camera negative. The Only House in Town is presented in the academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480i. The video is in poor shape. The print has print damage and artifacts. There are jumps in the print and a lack of definition. On screen motion is blurred and jumpy. All of this makes for a poor video presentation.

The Only House in Town is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. The audio is in poor shape. The sound is muffled throughout the film and can echo at times. The volume is low and variable at that. Dialog is often hard to almost impossible to hear. Mr. FAT-W Video should have remastered this audio far better than they did.

Mr. FAT-W Video hasn't included any extras on the release.

The Only House in Town is a mess of a film that seems to have run out of money and been packaged together with whatever was shot at that point. The story is almost incoherent and the film is riddled with mistakes. The sex scenes are poorly shot. This release from Mr. FAT-W Video contains only the softcore version of the film and the disc itself is poor as well with a subpar video presentation and poor audio. This is an easy title to skip, even if you are a fan of Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s other adult films.

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