Le sexe qui chante

Wow! What a horrible movie! It's so bad, it's funny. If you really want to see something that is -

A) In poor taste

B) Contains REALLY bad acting

C) Makes you want to scream ...then this is your movie! It's not a film you will forget any time soon.

A young woman who works in a beauty parlor (Candice Rialson) discovers that her vagina can talk, which causes her no end of trouble.

Although American International Pictures may be best known for their low budget horror and Roger Corman films, they were not afraid to make a quick buck here or there from something a bit racier. And this is definitely racy. While not the "soft-core pornography" that some have labeled it, the lead actress is naked for a good portion of the film and the very plot simply cannot be PG.

Unlike vagina dentata, whatever happened to Penelope is hard to explain -- apparently her female parts not only have a voice (and hence vocal chords, a tongue, and whatnot) but also eyes and ears, because Virginia seems to know a whole lot about what is being said and done around her...

Candice Rialson has something of her own interesting history. While she did some real acting, such as in "The Eiger Sanction" (1975) and "Logan's Run" (1976), she ended up getting typecast as a "sex kitten" and ultimately died prematurely at age 54. As an odd consolation, Quentin Tarantino based a character off of her in "Jackie Brown", no doubt in part inspired by "Chatterbox".

Director Tom DeSimone is the ultimate mystery, and no one seems to even know how old he is. He started out in adult films, moved to exploitation, and then rose to horror, making a few memorable flicks (most notably "Hell Night" with Linda Blair). How he was able to transition to legitimate director is beyond me, but well played, good sir.

Compared to the lunkheaded, overly graphic sex comedies of today, this film comes off actually as innocent, sexy fun. 70's starlet Candace Rialson is gorgeous (and often naked) and really makes this goofy premise believable. Too bad she left acting after the 70's. For all the goofy sexual situations, including one where Rialson makes love to a guy in a suit of armor, this is nicely paced and has some genuine laughs. Throw in disco dancing, musical numbers and guest appearances by old school crazies Rip Taylor and Professor Irwin Corey and you have a movie that deserves a better reputation than a "World's Worst Film".

Chatterbox may be the strangest comedy I have ever seen. It reminded me of Eating Raoul, the Paul Bartel/Mary Woronov flick of the same era. Penelope(Candice Rialson) works in a beauty parlor as a hairdresser. One night, as she and her boyfriend are getting it on, her vagina speaks to her lover, with insults. He thinks that Penelope is making fun of him and leaves. Her lower half also loves to sing. She visits a psychiatrist to demonstrate her dilemma, and he comes up with the idea to enter show business. Dr. Pearl takes her on the road and she and her partner become stars by singing show tunes. Chatterbox is not graphic, but sort of soft porn with typically bad acting and a very cheap look to the camera work and sets. At seventy two minutes, it never becomes boring; so if you are in the mood for a light farce, and extensive nudity on the part of Ms. Rialson will not offend you, Chatterbox is a short diversion from the troubles of the world.

Chatterbox is a great movie. Candice Rialson's performance is spot on. The musical intermezzo's a hilarious, especially the one where Candice performs before a live audience for the first time. And the happy end (with a twist) is just great.

The overall tone is tongue in cheek. It's obviously they weren't trying to make Citizen Cane here.

For those people who say this is a bad movie, I'm just wondering. Did they really expect an insightful drama about a woman with a singing vagina?

It is what it is: a wonderful piece of cult-trash cinema. And I loved every minute of it...