Opening of Misty Beethoven, The (Distribpix) (Platinum Elite) (Blu-ray) Review

Distributor: Distribpix Edition Details: Standard Blu-ray (Hardcore and Softcore Versions) Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film Run Time: 85 minutes (Hardcore Version), 81 minutes (Softcore Version) Rated: X Release Year: 1976 Director: Radley Metzger (as Henry Paris) Written by: Radley Metzger (as Jake Barnes) Cast: Constance Money, Jamie Gillis, Jacqueline Beudant, Terri Hall, Ras Kean, Gloria Leonard, Casey Donovan, Mary Stuart, Jenny Baxter, Lorraine Alraune, Marlene Willoughby (as Marlene Parker), Crystal Sync, Nancy Dare (as Helen Simone), Tia von Davis (as Cynthia Gardner), Joann Sterling, David Williams, Ian Morley, Michael Gaunt, Michael Ronds, Peter Andrews, Terry Austin, Grover Griffith, John Christopher, Mark Margolis, Wes Craven, Ursula Austin, Jeffrey Hurst, Bonnie Karrin, Rocky Millstone, Max Packs, Beth Rosen Release Specs: Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (Hardcore Version only), English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese Video: 1080p Widescreen, 1.85:1 (Anamorphic) Video Format: NTSC Format: Blu-ray Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

The Opening of Misty Beethoven is sadly an adult film that could have only come out of the 1970s during what is common referred to as The Golden Age of Adult Films and the Porno-Chic era. Deep Throat had captivated the eyes of America along with the media at the time and suddenly adult films were not as bad as they used to be. Out of this brief period in adult film making came Radley Metzger's The Opening of Misty Beethoven. The movie is based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion. The Opening of Misty Beethoven takes the original story and alters it to truly fit into the adult medium. Viewers used to modern features may be taken aback by the film, which has short sex scenes and incomplete snippets of sexual activity woven into the story line. However, out of the large volume of adult works to come out, The Opening of Misty Beethoven is one of the ones that comes the closest in bridging the gap between adult and mainstream. Not just due to the story but as well the quality of the actors within, the crew, many of which worked in mainstream Hollywood at the time and moonlighted using aliases, and the budget which allowed for New York, Paris, and Rome locations. The Opening of Misty Beethoven is a truly erotic feast that is designed to keep you aroused physically and mentally for the duration of the film. The plot for the film is simple. Dr. Seymour Love, played by Jamie Gillis, finds Misty Beethoven, played by Constance Money, a low-rent prostitute in Paris. Seymour takes on the challenge to transform Misty to the sex symbol status of a Goldenrod Girl.

As for the release, DistribPix has gone out of their way to create an amazing release that will sit beautifully among and DVD and Blu-ray collection. The film is presented in two versions, the hardcore explicit theatrical cut, which runs for 85 minutes, and the softcore non-explicit cut, which runs for 81 minutes. Both versions have been lovingly restored and are presented in 1080p high definition transfers exhibiting their original widescreen aspect ratio. The film has never looked better to audiences of the modern era. The print has been cleaned up and restored through a meticulous process that is shown in one of the extras on the disc. A couple of the scenes look softer than the others. I suspect this was due to how they were originally filmed or the quality of the remaining masters. An occasional blemish can be seen, but in all honesty anyone who goes away upset over the transfer here is being way to critical. The softcore version is not just the hardcore version panned to miss the sex but includes alternate shots filmed for this version, some extended scenes and footage that was cut from the theatrical version. The hardcore version is presented with a remastered HD 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack along with, to my joy, the original mono theatrical track. The softcore version contains a monaural track only.

The release is littered with extras. On the film versions themselves, the theatrical version has a commentary track with Radley Metzger and and film facts subtitle option (in English only). The softcore version has a commentary track with star Gloria Leonard.

There is a roughly fifty minute piece called “Behind the Scenes of Misty Beethoven” featuring Gloria Leonard, Radley Metzger, Paul Glickman (who was the cinematographer of The Opening of Misty Beethoven under the name Robert Rochester), George Craig (the director of music), sex educators Dr. Robert Lawrence and Dr. Carol Queen, and is narrated by Benson Hurst. The featurette goes into detail on the times that Misty was made, Metzger's rise, what wen into making the film, the cinematography, the locations, the editing, the music, the artwork and titling, the release of the film, and the pegging scene.

There is a roughly twenty-four minute piece called “The Outtakes/Deleted Scenes” which has eighteen minutes of silent outtakes from the film. There are roughly four minutes of deleted scenes in rough footage form only with no audio, none are in full scene form. There are also roughly two minutes worth of footage of outtakes with the cast and crew.

There is a slide show that last for about three minutes. A piece called “Euphemera” which shows newspaper advertising for the film, video art, press on the movie and recognition the film received. There are radio spots for Naked Came the Stranger and Maraschino Cherry that last for about three minutes.

Trailers are included on the disc for The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann, Naked Came the Stranger, The Opening of Misty Beethoven, Barbara Broadcast, and Maraschino Cherry. “The Restoration of Misty”, which runs for about 26 minutes and shows the process of restoring the film elements for this release. “Remembering Jamie Gillis”, which runs for about nine minutes, is a remembrance of adult film historian Benson Hurst's encounters with Jamie Gillis. “Desperately Seeking Susan: Constance Found” is a seven minute piece on Constance Money disappearing off the adult scene, who she was, and who she became. “Jamie Gillis: The Final Interview” is the last interview done with the late star Jamie Gillis by Cass Paley, and runs for about eighteen minutes. “Cinetta Studios Revisited” is a three minute piece on what the studio used for the wrap party set looks like now overlayed with shots from the film.

There is a liner release booklet that has sections with an overview, on the players, sets location and cinematography, title and artwork, the music, the pegging scene, an analysis of the film and about the transfer on the Blu-ray. The linear release booklet was a limited item according to DistribPix and is no longer included in this release. Also included is a reproduction card for Henry Paris' nomination for Best Screenplay for The Opening of Misty Beethoven in the 1977 Erotic Awards.

There are a few issues I had with the release. The liner notes provided were designed for the DVD release of the film and therefore do not fit inside the Blu-ray case. The booklet came shrink wrapped to the Blu-ray case. The other is that the Blu-ray release is not a combo release and does not include the DVDs. This is a personal preference of mine but I like to get both the Blu-ray and DVD releases in one package. Overall these complaints are very minor.

It is worth noting that one of my two Blu-ray players could not play the movie itself. It consistently froze when trying to start the film requiring the power to be shut off to the player to unfreeze it. The extras played fine on it. The other Blu-ray player had no problems at all with the film or the extras. I did converse with Steven Morowitz, CEO of DistribPix, about the issue and he said that out of almost 3000 copies sold of the Blu-ray this was the first issue that he had heard of. So it is very likely this is just some incompatibility with that specific model. DistribPix sent another copy of the disc, which reacted in the same manner, so it wasn't due to a bad disc.

Distribpix have gone all out with the Blu-ray release of The Opening of Misty Beethoven providing the best quality version of this film seen yet on home video and a wealth of extras that delve into the film itself. This release is highly recommended for fans of the film, even if they own the previous VCA release, or for any fans of classic adult cinema.

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