NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Screenbound Pictures Blu-ray (February 2021): Screenbound have transferred a handful of feature films and shorts with the English model and pornographic actress Mary Millington, to five Blu-ray discs in a boxset. They are cited as being "new 2K restorations". The films area Come Play with Me (1977), The Playbirds (1978), Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979), Queen of the Blues (1979), Mary Millington’s True Blue Confessions (1980), plus Respectable: The Mary Millington Story (2015.) The image quality is generally acceptable - often with inconsistencies between the films. Come Play with Me can look a shade flat and videoy, but the 'newer' films have some surprising sharpness. Colors can show some fading but are generally pleasing with a modicum of richness and depth. Overall, probably better than I was anticipating.

NOTE: We have added 36 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Screenbound use linear PCM dual-mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. The audio is at the mercy of the source - but generally it is clean, dialogue audible - flat and authentic. There are scores; on Come Play with Me by Peter Jeffries - on The Playbirds, Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair and Queen of the Blues by David Whitaker (Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Scream and Scream Again, Vampire Circus) sounding reasonably consistent. Screenbound offer no subtitles on any of their five Region FREE Blu-rays.

The Screenbound Blu-ray offers a new commentaries for Come Play with Me, The Playbirds, Queen of the Blues, Mary Millington's True Blue Confessions and Respectable - The Mary Millington Story  by executive producer, writer, director of Respectable Simon Sheridan (author of Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema and X-Rated: Adventures of an Exploitation Filmmaker.) He is joined by actress Sue Longhurst (Lust for a Vampire, Keep it Up Downstairs) on Come Play with Me, director Willy Roe on Playbirds, executive producer David Sullivan on Mary Millington's True Blue Confessions, actor Allan Warren (Play for Today) on Queen of the Blues and with BFI's Sam Dunn on 2015's Respectable - The Mary Millington Story the documentary chronicling the extraordinary life and tragic death of Mary Millington - Britain's most famous pornographic actress of the 1970s. Dunn's questions Sheridan's interest in Millington and provides the impetus to this entire boxset project. Also included as supplements are a few 8mm softcore short films; Response, Wild Lovers, Party Pieces from 1974, Arabian Knights, Sex Is My Business from 1975. Plus '8mmillington Documentary' - a 25-minute compilation of the tamer sequences from Mary's hardcore 8mm films. There are other bits and pieces of surviving film with Millington or the era - ex. elements from Mary Millington's True Blue Confessions were re-edited to create this prologue for 1981's Emmanuelle in Soho. There are interviews; In Bed with Josie Harrison Marks with Josie Harrison Marks, the daughter of Come Play With Me's director George Harrison Marks. Confessions of a Photographer is a 1/4 hour new interview with George Richardson, the photographer who snapped Mary topless at 10 Downing Street. Millington/Sheridan runs shy of 1/2 hour and interview with Sheridan. Ten Million Dirty Words is a 13-minute new featurette about Harry Knights, the Nottingham-based porn writer who helped create Mary's image. David Galaxy and Me is dozen minute new interview with actress Sally Faulkner, who recalls working with Alan Lake on Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair. There is also a 1/2 hour video piece, Mary on Location, a new 'Then and Now' travelogue revisiting the main locations in Mary's life and films, narrated by actress Judy Matheson (Twins of Evil.) Aural Sex is 7-minutes of Mary Millington's archive voice recording - with a new introduction by adult actress Clyda Rosen. There are also a handful of trailers and the package has an 80-page book, with an introduction from David Sullivan and notes by biographer Simon Sheridan.     

When The Mary Millington Movie Collection Blu-ray set was announced (and it actually came out last year although we were only sent a review copy recently) , like many, I was... intrigued. I knew nothing about the English model and pornographic actress Mary Millington. Now I do. She is short (around 4 11'), photogenic and has a great body - really standing out from many of her late 70's colleagues. It isn't surprising that there are many fan sites on the Internet dedicated to her. I don't know that many share Simon Sheridan's enthusiasm for this subject, but I appreciate his passion as the major contributor to The Mary Millington Movie Collection Blu-ray set. I didn't enjoy these feature films much - solid notches below the Carry On series of films (did kinda like the plot of The Playbirds) - as much as learning more about Millington from the documentary Respectable which has input from Millington's family, friends and co-stars, including David Sullivan, Pat Astley, Dudley Sutton, Linzi Drew and Flanagan. I should state that I enjoyed the choreographed 'Nurse dance' segment in Come Play with Me. Knowing her better now, I can put the film into context, but I may question the worthiness of such an extensive package. It's quite sad that (from Wikipedia) "After a downward spiral of drug addiction, shoplifting and debt, she died at home of an overdose of medications and vodka. She was 33." Her fame appeared to be fueled by pushing the cinematic sexual limits of the era - reminding me somewhat of Marilyn Chambers in the US. Although, like James Dean, perhaps part of the fascination with Mary Millington stems from her early demise. The Screenbound Blu-ray Set is exhaustive from both a parade of 70's British titillation, whose eroticism, for many, may be past its due date - and the breadth of the supplements; commentaries, interviews, shorts and more - including the booklet. This is nothing if not amazingly impressive and complete while the niche market may gear towards the nostalgic... and the curious. We should note that this is limited to 3,000 copies.

Gary Tooze