I like a good docu every now and then, and I dig Bettie Page - so this one was a pretty safe bet. THE GIRL IN THE LEOPARD PRINT BIKINI had a lot of interesting material, but often when in directions unrelated to Bettie herself, and felt a bit disjointed...
The film chronicles Bettie's life, from birth up to her self-imposed seclusion. Told narrative-style and using mainly stock-footage clips - we learn not only about Bettie herself, but also the political and sexual "climate" of the nation at the time of Bettie's upbringing and subsequent "fame". There is some information provided about her family life and personal life, including her parent's divorce, Bettie's life in an orphanage, and her several failed marriages. We are also introduced to the most "important" aspects of her modeling career - her work with Irving Klaw, which boosted her in to pin-up star status. After several years in modeling, and with no leads in any legitimate acting capacity (as was always her main goal) - Bettie faded into obscurity following a religious "revelation" - and quit the business for good to pursue missionary work and make a complete change of her life.
LEOPARD PRINT BIKINI is definitely worth checking out for Bettie fans who want to know a bit more about her background. The problem with the film, is it often gets side-tracked with other historical information (especially towards the end of the film) that has little-to-nothing to do with Page herself. My other BIG gripe, is that during the last few minutes, the company who put the film together threw in a shameless plug of some sleazy looking GIRLS GONE WILD-style poker video that they also produce - I found this EXTREMELY tacky and unnecessary. Overall, an interesting bio-film, and I enjoyed the way that not only was Bettie focused on, but also the country's situations at the time that played a part in how pin-up material was viewed at the time. Towards the end, the "U.S. history-lesson" goes a little overboard and starts to related less and less to Bettie, but some of the material examined still proved interesting. I'd suggest this one to Bettie Page fans, just understand that it is somewhat flawed when viewed as a "whole"...7.5/10
The film chronicles Bettie's life, from birth up to her self-imposed seclusion. Told narrative-style and using mainly stock-footage clips - we learn not only about Bettie herself, but also the political and sexual "climate" of the nation at the time of Bettie's upbringing and subsequent "fame". There is some information provided about her family life and personal life, including her parent's divorce, Bettie's life in an orphanage, and her several failed marriages. We are also introduced to the most "important" aspects of her modeling career - her work with Irving Klaw, which boosted her in to pin-up star status. After several years in modeling, and with no leads in any legitimate acting capacity (as was always her main goal) - Bettie faded into obscurity following a religious "revelation" - and quit the business for good to pursue missionary work and make a complete change of her life.
LEOPARD PRINT BIKINI is definitely worth checking out for Bettie fans who want to know a bit more about her background. The problem with the film, is it often gets side-tracked with other historical information (especially towards the end of the film) that has little-to-nothing to do with Page herself. My other BIG gripe, is that during the last few minutes, the company who put the film together threw in a shameless plug of some sleazy looking GIRLS GONE WILD-style poker video that they also produce - I found this EXTREMELY tacky and unnecessary. Overall, an interesting bio-film, and I enjoyed the way that not only was Bettie focused on, but also the country's situations at the time that played a part in how pin-up material was viewed at the time. Towards the end, the "U.S. history-lesson" goes a little overboard and starts to related less and less to Bettie, but some of the material examined still proved interesting. I'd suggest this one to Bettie Page fans, just understand that it is somewhat flawed when viewed as a "whole"...7.5/10