Whatever Happened to Miss September?

For no apparent reason, this excellent porn film has gotten lost in the shuffle. A very big deal back in its day, its absence of a DVD reissue has relegated it (temporarily) to the dustbin of film history.

'Tis a shame, since Tina Russell gives a fine performance (both acting and in terms of sexual stimulation) as Barbie, the title magazine centerfold who is sort of the "Laura" character at the center of this romantic suspenser. Nick Harley (one-shot, pretty flat in the central role) is a private eye hired to track down Barbie for rich old coot Harding Harrison, who is infatuated with her, or "Laura"-style, the idea of her represented on the printed page.

Episodic story unfolds in flashbacks and Harley's non-adventures, leisurely paced but with the hot sex so important to such a film's success. Ultramax is fun as a brothel madam doing a Mae West impression, and other NYC mainstays like Marc Stevens and Eric Edwards are put through their paces. But it is the romantic thrust of Russell's story arc, descending into stag films and prostitution, that keeps the pot boiling.

In these types of films the central investigative/narrative figure does not have to be a powerhouse, witness Dana Andrews in LAURA or William Atherton in DAY OF THE LOCUST or Sam Waterston in THE GREAT GATSBY, but a better thesp than Harley would have helped quite a bit. I would have selected Roger Caine, who Harley vaguely resembles.

Within a poverty budget, film looks good, with some effective romantic lighting. Not to overrate it, I still contend it deserves exposure to the current retro-minded generation as an antidote to the 1-day wonders currently flooding the DVD and DVD-R market.