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directed by John D. Lamond
Australia 1978

 

Dr. Leonard B. Lovitt decides to show his stop-motion class a film on the ABC's of sexual education, which gives director John D. Lamond (NIGHTMARES) license to string together sex scenes of varying explicitness together with library music and legitimizing narration. "J for Jealousy" humorously illustrates sexual double standards with a role reversal in which a lecherous woman buys a guy a drink expecting him to put out. "I for Innocence (or Ignorance)" the possible dangers of sexual ignorance (as well as the shift from pre-marital purity to "try it before you buy it"), and contrasts the idyllic fantasies of the first time with the likely realities (cutting from a soft focus lakeside encounter to the backseat of a car at the drive-in). "D for Dreams" takes us from the Mile High Club to a twenty-six story elevator interlude to making your own "living blue movie" by installing mirrors in the bedroom. Although still pretty explicit, the film has dated in some ways (not necessarily including the catchy Madeline Bell theme song). The section H for Homosexuality presents states that not all "feminine men and masculine women" but illustrates it with a party of stereotypically "bitchy queens" (before cutting away to a more audience-pleasing Sapphic interlude). On the other hand, "R for Rape" is treated soberly, emphasizing that it is no fantasy. Despite the amount of nudity and simulated and real sex scenes, there is an awful lot of padding as well. F for Fun, U for Understanding, X for Excellence are lengthy and uninteresting interludes. On the other hand, the long montage Y for You is somewhat more interesting because it is composed of outtakes from the various interludes (including actors taking offscreen direction). Some hardcore interludes (definitely real, but the more clinical shots are shown only long enough to make the point that they are indeed real) - which were cut upon theatrical release, but presented here uncut - were shot by Lamond's second unit crew in Sweden (Lamond had previously gone to Sweden to have AUSTRALIA AFTER DARK blown-up from 16mm to 35mm) using sex club performers from the famous Chat Noir club. TV children's entertainer John Michael Howson (who also played a sleazy critic in Lamdon's NIGHTMARES and a lingerie salesman in his FELICITY) appears in a leather orgy interlude and the Swedish Institute for Sexual Research's Maj-Brith Bergström-Walan appears intermittently to lend some legitimacy.

Eric Cotenas

Theatrical Release: March 1978 (Australia)

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DVD Review: Intervision Picture Corp. - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

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Distribution

Intervision Picture Corp.

Region 0 - NTSC

Runtime 1:22:51
Video

1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.69 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate

Audio English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
Subtitles none
Features Release Information:
Studio: Intervision Picture Corp.

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
• Audio Commentary by director John Lamond, moderated by NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD's Mark Hartley

DVD Release Date: 10 January 2012
Amaray

Chapters 16

 

 

 

Comments

As with Intervision's AUSTRALIA AFTER DARK, he running time suggests a PAL source of the uncut version first released on DVD in Australia by Umbrella Entertainment in 2009 (the previous VHS release ran 77 minutes), although the conversion defects are not as painful to the eyes as on the aforementioned disc (according to moderator Mark Hartley on the commentary track for AUSTRALIA AFTER DARK, ABCs was the recipient of a new transfer). Lamond and Hartley appear again on another commentary track. Since ABCs was heavily censored for its theatrical and video releases, Lamond speaks more about his run-ins with censors on this track. Hartley identifies some of the less recognizable cast members and mentions model Katie Morgan's attempted injunction to keep the film from being screened (Hartley can be a bit nasty in discussing some of the players). As with AUSTRALIA AFTER DARK, the case promises a "John Lamond Trailer Reel" that is not present (it was likely intended to be the same one that appeared on the Severin DVD of Lamdon's NIGHTMARES).

  - Eric Cotenas

 


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DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

 

 

Distribution

Intervision Picture Corp.

Region 0 - NTSC

 




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