NIGHT PLEASURES could have been a classic, but no such luck. Talented but throwaway filmmakers Hans Christian and William Dance cast well, set in motion a dynamite story, and then...well, it fails to deliver. Something Weird has reissued it on Vol. 190 of its Dragon Art Theatre series.
I watched it back to back with the same director/producer team's romp THREE SHADES OF FLESH, both made the same year (1976) in Frisco, and poles apart in tone. What they share is an unwillingness to commit -the porn analogy to latter-day Orson Welles' infamous fear of completion syndrome. The cinematic contrast would be Rainer Werner Fassbinder (almost mainstream) and Joe Sarno (porn division), who cranked out 100% finished, perfect in their own way miniatures like clockwork. Christian and Dance subconsciously must have feared getting a report card, so they took the easy way out -underachieving.
It's a shame, because the sustained neo-noir atmosphere of the early reels is compelling, before the movie collapses in shambles (I'm evaluating the obviously truncated SWV version). John Leslie and John Seeman have a rundown Frisco bar, kept afloat by sexy strippers including Desiree West. Auditions include an impressive topless femme fire eater.
Leslie is a sellout, while romantic Seeman still has illusions of someday opening a wonderful piano bar where he can tinkle the ivories and feel fulfilled. But noir-style, this being post-Viet Nam but emotionally similar to those post-W.W. II dark classics, the mood is glum and hopeless, with sex the only (temporary) release.
Handling the sex is my fave Joan Devlon, a glamorous but seedy cocktail waitress who has sex with all and sundry at the drop of a hat. These basic characters, had they been fully developed, could have been the core of a terrific tale, but scripter Joseph Drury settles for hip dialog and tantalizing situations, but no satisfying conclusions.
The truncated SWV print might be at fault, as two couples in the credits, the Howards and the Stevens never even show up. But what exists on the DVD seems pointless. Drury's earlier credits, two exploitation films that I've seen in both softcore and insert-enhanced XXX versions, are likewise promising stories that fail to add up.
In NIGHT PLEASURES the main protagonist turns out to be lovely young Melba Bruce, who IMDb notes committed suicide after a career lasting only a year, mainly in support roles. She's sympathetic as a girl desperate for a job, who will basically do anything (and does). Seeman falling for her in the traditional dark romantic noir fashion is his undoing.
Haphazard construction (at least in the print I watched) has a violent climax involving Seeman followed by a sexy three-way for Leslie, West and Devlon, ending abruptly and pointlessly. It's frustrating.
Along the way, the girls are fabulous and the sex is hot -the typical porn cop-out that precludes criticism. All three leading ladies are cast for their spectacularly alluring nipples, lovingly photographed. The moody lighting, claustrophobic nightclub setting (we never leave the damn place) and downbeat performances (other than Joan's) add up to commendable art. I just wish these guys had worked harder and made a real film.
I see that writer/producer Dance went on to some famous porn films, including hits directed by Joanna Williams, and even moved into the R-rated territory later on. Our IMDb porn pal in Belgium speculates Dance and Christian are one and the same person - a likely if unprovable theory.
