Autumn Born

Dorothy Stratten is a haughty, self-absorbed girl who spends recklessly and goes to discotheques in the middle of the day. She's going to turn 18 in a few months...at that time she will accede authority in her late father's financial empire, much to the chagrin of her uncle who is currently in-charge. He concedes that the only way to avoid her interference in the family business is to have her drugged and swept-off to a covert and very pricey corrective obedience-training facility overseen by a hatchet-faced lesbian and her deranged lackeys. Gradual disempowerment through physical, sexual, and psychological torment proves successful. The girl's spirit is broken, rendering her a docile and obedient subordinate(with a "thing" for the "ladies"). Surprise! She also gets the family fortune.

Ms. Stratten was a stellar beauty, and that beauty is showcased here in a multitude of ways...we see her helplessly tethered, trussed, and fettered, and donned in a variety of lingerie, corsets, and slinky dresses(when she's not nude, of course). It shouldn't surprise that her presence is the cynosure attraction of AUTUMN BORN, and that the production itself is patternedly frugal. This is not to say it's a BAD picture, just that it's traveling noticeably light in several departments. And, as is often the case with erotic cinema, it's pitched with that recherché, pseudo-European sfumato-softness...an obvious effort to veil the film's sleazy soft-porn bedrock beneath a gauzy layer of feigned Left Bank delicacies and specious artistic intent.

Not too bad of its type, actually, and with Dorothy on board, any old thing becomes watchable(even the otherwise abortive GALAXINA).

4.5/10.

If you're a fan of the films of Doris Wishman, you have got to check out the first film featuring "Star 80" Dorothy Stratten. It's a torrid tale of a young heiress who's kidnapped and locked in a room until she agrees to give up her fortune. Beatings, torture and really awful acting ensue.

See Dorothy yell at the walls for the awful music to stop! See Dorothy get whipped repeatedly! See Dorothy bond with a wind-up toy mouse! See Dorothy look humiliated as she takes a bath! See Dorothy engage in softcore lesbianism with a woman that looks like Mary Woronov!

Why this film hasn't gotten a cult rep I don't know. Well, here's my shot at trying.

My review was written in July 1983 after watching a Monterey video cassette.

Made in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1979, "Autumn Born" is an unreleased softcore pornography feature which would have undoubtedly have remained in the vault except that it toplines the late Dorothy Stratten, former Playboy playmate and victim of a sensational murder. Of obvious curiosity value, this amateurish film is currently circulating on the home video market.

Already the subject of a tv biopic starring Jamie Lee Curtis and an upcoming Bob Fosse-helmed biopic starring Mariel Hemingway, Stratten is featured here in the film's lead role, that of heiress Tara Dawson, who is kidnapped on her uncle's orders and taken to Morgan Estates, an "obedience" school for girls.

Tedious picture lamely attempts to present Victorian-era porno in modern guise, with poor Stratten subjected to frequent birching and sensory deprivation in four months of isolation, in order to break her spirit and have her sign over her inheritance to the uncle. Bondage motifs and a stock lesbian head mistress of the school are the primary diversions of the repetitive, uneventful footage.

Though there are some nude scenes. The sexual content of "Autumn Born" is quite tame by contemporary standards. Stratten is literally on display in her undergarments for voyeuristic purposes, but the device ultimately becomes fetishisticl Amidst generally awful, one-take acting by the cast, her transition from sexy 17-year-old to submissive little girl is earnestly portrayed and projects some of the appeal shown in her smaller role in Peter Bodganovich's "They All Laughed" and far more interesting than her walkthrough as a robot in her other film "Galaxina".

Ragged editing, sloppy sound and a dull keyboards musical score create a dull film, which is heavily padded by opening and end creidts to reach a 75-minute feature length.

Wow, what a terrible movie! If not for the star of this "movie" nobody would give this story the time of day. Dorothy is very attractive and gives an ok performance of an 18 year old girl being forced to submit. The only problem is that the story drags on with no interesting characters besides Dorothy. Also, the story goes nowhere! The ending is total garbage as the audience is left confused at what is happening. Who wins? What is going to happen? Is this a happy ending? If you are going to make a movie about dominating, show it! The movie teases its audience. Very little nudity for an 80 minute movie. Unless you are a fan of the former Playboy model, this movie is junk.

It's really much too bad that Dorthy Stratten, who was probably one of the prettiest females to grace this planet, wasn't around longer to make more and better movies. We are left with Galaxina and Autumn Born, the former being the much better known of her two movies. This movie Autumn Born is good at what it is, which, in addition to being a "sexploitation" movie, is almost a perfect, text-book account of how to brainwash someone. Though certainly an unpleasant subject, people should realize that this is a real technique that is used upon unwilling people to cause them to be subjective to other people "the masters". It's a fairly well-made film, for a low-budget feature and one of the only two movies you'll find Dorthy Stratten in, so if your a Stratten fan or interested in brainwashing, then go for it.