haineshisway
Senior HTF Member
Boobies, boobies, boobies - yes, Valley of the Dolls is on Blu-ray, a new Criterion release. There's never been anything quite like it, especially if you were around when it actually came out, which I was. Back then, before I was told it was a camp classic, I just watched it as, you know, a movie, and despite my being a fan of its director, Mark Robson, I thought it was pretty dreadful, and yet fascinating and kind of irresistibly bad. I've seen it a few times over the years, especially in its various home video incarnations VHS to laserdisc to DVD, none of which, for me, have looked very good.
Watching it again, it's still irresistibly bad, still fascinating, and still pretty dreadful, but it's just one of those movies that you have to give in to. Of course it has become a camp classic, and it became one within a year of its release and people laugh both with it and at it, but I suspect mostly the latter, although with fondness. Patty Duke is in a whole other universe, Susan Hayward is fun, Sharon Tate is actually lovely and sweet and delivers, for me, the film's best performance simply because she's playing it real, Barbara Parkins enunciates very well, Paul Burke is Paul Burke and a Lyon, and the rest of the folks are fun (including the young Richard Dreyfuss).
And now, finally, we have a wonderful transfer of it. It looks just great - lots of opticals, but they look pretty damn good, and the color is finally perfect. So, if you're in the mood to Sparkle, Neely, Sparkle, this is a prize Blu-ray.
Watching it again, it's still irresistibly bad, still fascinating, and still pretty dreadful, but it's just one of those movies that you have to give in to. Of course it has become a camp classic, and it became one within a year of its release and people laugh both with it and at it, but I suspect mostly the latter, although with fondness. Patty Duke is in a whole other universe, Susan Hayward is fun, Sharon Tate is actually lovely and sweet and delivers, for me, the film's best performance simply because she's playing it real, Barbara Parkins enunciates very well, Paul Burke is Paul Burke and a Lyon, and the rest of the folks are fun (including the young Richard Dreyfuss).
And now, finally, we have a wonderful transfer of it. It looks just great - lots of opticals, but they look pretty damn good, and the color is finally perfect. So, if you're in the mood to Sparkle, Neely, Sparkle, this is a prize Blu-ray.