The Curious Female

I like sci-fi and I like watching older movies to see what attitudes were like then. This certainly didn't dissappoint in that aspect. It's odd to see a very forward thinking view on sexuality in the 2177 portion of the film albeit a world controlled by AI and then see the past views of the 60's in comparison to how we feel today.

Warning: it's NOT more like a sci-fi though, you'll get odd looks if you watch this in mixed company.

I found it on TUBI online so I was able to watch it and It's worth a view.

Malcontents in a future polyamourous society ruled by master computer watch prohibited 'ancient' films about sexuality in the late 1960s. While the script includes a bit of sly commentary and satire about contemporaneous morality and taboos, 'The Curious Female' is essentially an exploitation flic that features abundant (but limited) nudity and border-line soft-core sex scenes (some of which are quite unpleasant). There are also some silly sight-gags and badly-dated 'comic' stereotypes, but the 'bad trip' scene is effective and the central framing device (the future movie viewers) is amusingly tongue-in-cheek and well-done in a straight-faced way. A number of actresses sufficiently top-heavy to have been candidates for a Russ Meyer opus are on lingering display, including Angelique Pettyjohn, whose ample charms were likely responsible for the discharge of a number of phasers when she appeared as Shahna, the green-haired gladiatrix in the skimpy silver outfit who fought Kirk in the classic 'Star Trek' episode 'The Gamesters of Triskelion' (1968). Apparently rated X when released, the naughty film has not aged well and will likely appeal only to fans of off-beat science-fiction movies (especially anyone who, like me, enjoyed Doris Wishman's classic 'Nude on the Moon'(1961)). Ogled on Tubi.

This is a sorta science fiction film set in some distant future where marriage and love are illegal, but it's implied that everyone screws like an endless orgy. A group of rebels break the law by screening old movies from the time of marriage, love, and 'morals'. We watch a movie within the movie, about the last three virgins on a college campus, who decide they're ready to give it up.

The Curious Female was rated X, but by present-day standards it's not really a porno, and only occasionally even sexy. It's more like How to Stuff a Wild Bikini without the bikini. All the boinking takes place off-screen, because the movie was made in 1969, and released in real movie theaters.

So it's a so-so movie with tits, but what surprised me is, it's a movie. It's not a *good* movie, but it holds up better than Gidget or any number of other films of its time. It's only slightly sexist, not racist at all, and subtly portrays an omnisexual 'LGBTQ is AOK' future. It handles some serious matters far too fleetingly - the lecherous uncle, the honeymoon disappointment - but such elements are not played for laughs. There's a plot, it's directed, and all three of the virgins are portrayed with actual acting, something you no longer see in X-rated movies.

Verdict: MAYBE.

Ribald 70s exploitation with a bodacious bevvy of nubile sci-fi starlets, all doing what nubile starlets do best: swiftly removing all their friskily fab gear at the soonest opportunity, and, then, like, groovily get it on to the heady, super-fuzzed, way-out Sci-beat sounds of, Herr Stu Philips! While 'The Curious Female' isn't on par with the visually exquisite work of, Radley Metzger, or Joe Sarno it is still hugely entertaining, and genuinely funny to (Go-Go)boot!

Set in a not exactly Orwellian future, this plasticized island of orgiastically-inclined, space-aged, Los Angeles is ruled by the omnipotent 'Master Computer' ,little more than a sonorous baritone voice, and all the translucently-garbed youth must abstain from the dreadful calamity of monogamy; and it is expressly forbidden to watch stag reels from the early 20th century!!?? Basically, one is encouraged to live a polymorphously perverse life, but should you cue up a Russ Meyer flesh flick, 'Master Computer' blows a despotic diode, and slams said errant voyeur into the clink! Theodore Sturgeon this 'aint!, as, 'The Curious Female' is far more 'The Schoolgirl Report' than, say, 'Silent Running', so hardcore SF addicts would best look elsewhere, but skin-seeking fans of far-out Barbarella slap and tickle will find much to enjoy in, Paul Rapp's luridly lava-lamped, psychedelically spangled, scintillatingly spaced-out oddity, 'The Curious Female'.

I did enjoy seeing the nightclub Lothario do his oily schtick on one of the reluctant 'virgins', as he was also clearly the voice for 'Master Computer'! There was an equally jocular sequence in a day-glo hippie 'joint' whereby another of the film's 'virgins' was accosted by two idiotic, octogenarian bikers, and is then rescued by the most unconvincing martial artist since an especially irksome clutch of turtles took up Tai Chi! Apparently she was simply 'looking for trouble'? Obviously this fellow was a seer, with a far more acute sense of perception than mere mortal man; as the girl in question was simply sitting in a bar huffing on a desultory fag! So, naturally, this being the late, and oh-so permissive 60s, said lunkhead demanded the brutal sex from her that she so clearly craved, and gave her one real savage beneath an epic psychedelic light show worthy of 'Holy Mountain'.

While The Curious Female's rather incongruous blend of clumsy SF and bawdy comedy is not exactly on the same exalted level as a, Radley Metzger/Jess Franco masterpiece of erotica, it works brilliantly as a giddy microcosm of super-contrived 1960s grooviness! And it would make a suitably Sci-saucy pairing with the likes of, 'Valley of The Dolls', or 'Galaxina' etc.

The Curious Female evolves around a futuristic (Year 2157) cultist society of moviegoers, whom gather secretly to watch old, prohibited works; as it happens, generally anything from the old world is forbidden by 'Master Computer' and therefore enforced by the laws of the time. This gathering of toga-wearing movie enthusiasts, entwined in emphatic orgiastic embrace, soon settle to watch their latest slice of Hollywood, acquired by Liana (Bunny Allister), their female host, accompanied by her male companion, Jorel (David Westberg).

Their evening's viewing, introduced as "The Three Virgins" is described as a moralistic view of the old world – An era perceived to cling to the ideals and principles of marriage – Which essentially transports us back (relatively speaking) to a "Hi-Tech" dating agency, set in modern day Los Angeles, which utilises the same actors/actresses again to great effect!

While much of the Curious Female is seen through the sometimes raunchy, soft-core lens of "The Three Virgins", the film is nonetheless punctuated with a periodic return (Between reel changes) to the future, while our cultists ask questions, like that of children about the world they have seen on film. "What is a Virgin"? one woman asks, while another questions "Marriage" in the same manner. These discussions induce shock and provide insight for the viewer, as the moral and ethical state of this very restrictive, Romanesque futuristic society unravels itself in brief, narrative exchanges...

Although very cheaply made and extremely dated in tone, this 1969 effort from Paul Rapp (The Wild Angels (1966), The Trip (1967), Boxcar Bertha (1972)) is extremely well executed and does occasionally contain elements of sheer brilliance, though perhaps a second viewing may be the only way of revealing these narrative subtleties! Made at a time when computers were perhaps just beginning to eek into the mainstream fabric of industrialised civilization, there is a prevailing sense of hysteria being depicted here, perhaps suggesting that we might one day rely on computers a bit too much – Emphasised in no small part by the futuristic 'all-seeing' prohibitive eye of Master Computer (an early Big Brother metaphor?) and the dating machine, seen here to over-load when prompted for some data!

In relation to the futuristic segments of this film, one might argue that constantly eroding boundaries of previously unacceptable sexual relationships, marriage and other formerly illicit practices within our own society might one day lead to such a future, though this is indeed a stretch of the imagination; within this context however, the restrained mastery of the Curious Female, whether intentional or otherwise, does occasionally shine…

Despite being an admittedly average film, The Curious Female brims positively with 60's psychedelic euphoria and is, by all accounts, incredibly hard to find here in the UK! It's obscure, one-time video release, compliments of Iver Film Services (circa 1981) being it's only lease of life here.

Currently unavailable on DVD anywhere, this forgotten gem surely deserves a reissue – Particularly when other, less deserving (and often atrocious sub-standard VHS print quality) movie product is routinely unleashed into a saturated and often ambiguously represented video market!

On a closing note, let me just say that the soundtrack however is brilliant, oozing with 'original' Austin Powers confidence – Personally, I'd grab it immediately, if it were readily available! ( Personal Rating 6 / 10 )