Behind the green door (Marilyn Chambers 1972)

Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 13 January 1973 (UK)
Also Known As: A zöld ajtó mögött
Filming Locations: San Francisco, California, USA
Runtime: 72min


Description
A beautiful woman is abducted and initiated into a live sex act on a private stage, participating in lesbianism, interracial sex and a public orgy.
Two men enter a fast food place. The owner asks them about a mysterious matter. After some considerations, one of the two guys accepts to tell the story. Here starts a long flashback: the two men are in a terrace, next to a lake, and one is telling the other a story. A woman sits at a table nearby. Later the same woman is kidnapped. When the blindfold is removed, a woman welcomes her. After a relaxing massage, she is accompanied by 6 women, into a stage, in front of masked men, and women of all kinds. A speaker explains that the woman will be pleased, by all means. The 6 women first, and later some men make love to her, while the audience progressively move into a orgy. This is the end of the flashback. The owner of the fast food place asks what happened after that time, but the men refuse to tell...
Along with Deep Throat (1972), Behind the Green Door (1972) was the most celebrated film of the Golden Age of porno. Directed by the Mitchell Brothers, who got their start when they founded the O'Farrell Theater in San Francisco where audiences could take in live sex shows, and starring former Ivory Soap girl Marilyn Briggs (now Marilyn Chambers)

Comment:
I became interested in seeing Behind the Green Door after seeing Marilyn Chambers in David Cronenberg's Rabid. She had a charisma and sex appeal that stayed with me long after the movie ended. Having finally gotten a chance to see it, I ultimately found it disappointing.

Simply put, I did not find the film erotic. As an adult film, its ultimate goal is to create arousal, and this is the first criterion on which it should be judged. The action takes place largely in silence, with the participants in its central orgy forbidden from speaking. Chambers has no actual dialogue other than sighing and moaning. This prevents the viewer from engaging with the characters.

The film does deserve kudos for trying to establish a narrative, however limited. It is also noteworthy as a time capsule of a period when pornography was on the cusp of mainstream acceptance. It features cameo appearances by football star Ben Davidson and by local San Francisco celebrity Toad Attel. (Imagine a major celebrity like Davidson appearing in an adult film today!) It gives a glimpse of an era of sexual freedom that was sadly lost with the AIDS crisis and the incursions of the religious right.

Scenes
Scene 1. Lisa Grant, Marilyn Chambers
Scene 2. Barbara Bryan, Barbara Parker, Bernice Mayo, Bunny Brody, Kandi Johnson, Marilyn Chambers, Rabin Dranthra
Scene 3. Marilyn Chambers, Johnnie Keyes
Scene 4. Marilyn Chambers, Ariel Porny, Mike Jones, Rick Dayton, Ted McKnight, Tyler Reynolds, Tom Kloud
Scene 5. Angela Castle, Cindy Taylor, Erin Lee, Jan Harmon, Leticia Torrez, Linda Chapman, Martha Strawberry, Mira Vane, Nancy Willson, Barry Vane, Bill Hadley, George Marconi, George S. McDonald, Hadley V. Baxendale, Jon Martin, Johnnie Keyes, Kirt Harmon, Michael Gebe, others, Richard Coburn, Tony Royale, Yank Levine
Scene 6. Marilyn Chambers, George S. McDonald