Les Fantasmes de Miss Jones

I recently saw this film on video, and it turns out to be merely the French-dubbed version of Radley Metzger's THE PRINCESS AND THE CALL GIRL.

Light and frothy, but not sexy enough by a long shot, film is hardly among the maestro's better efforts, though the French dubbing credited to Gerard Loubeau is very well done in terms of lip-synch. Given the glamorous Monte Carlo setting to which our leading lady Carol Levy is whisked away to, the French track fits, and perhaps was considered an improvement by Continental audiences.

Levy is a striking actress whose very unfamiliarity (she never got a career going) is a plus. One suspects Metzger was in a quandary by the time this film was produced in the burgeoning VHS era, as he had been used to being a trailblazer in erotica since his distribution efforts of the early 1960s right through to his classic Henry Paris hardcore films of the mid-'70s. Resulting PRINCESS (or call it MISS JONES) emerges as neither fish nor fowl and definitely derriere garde when it comes to porn.

...but still not very good. Lead actress Carol Levy is gorgeous and more importantly shows herself to be a capable actress, carrying off the double roles of Audrey and Lucy with poise and charisma. Almost everything else in the movie works less well. First, the movie aims to be stylish and jet setting, but the budget leaves a fair bit to be desired on the style front - a lot of screen time is taken up sitting in the open air cafes and bars of Nice sipping drinks or walking about its streets. Also, the tone is supposed to be that of a light sex comedy, but the pace of the movie is way too leisurely. Comedies should not have this much dead time on screen, plus the material is weak. A few jokes work almost by accident, but a typical episode of Two and a Half Men manages to be funnier, smarter and bawdier than anything here. Lastly, the movie is almost totally lacking in erotic sizzle. It's a sex romp with most of the sex missing or toned down!

I really don't know what to make of this whole affair, where in the end TPATCG doesn't really add up to much, as in it's offering, but you're glad you went on it's ride. The film is about two lookalikes trading professions over a night, played competently by it's lead, where as Audrey our debutante, she's much more memorable and striking, spouting a catchy and cute tagline. The catalyst is that the call girl has developed a crush on someone, and has to be somewhere else, after making plans to meet him, where from here, we sit back and watch the fun begin, among some nudity and kinky sex scenes, a couple involving a threesome. Yes "No one does it like Lucy Darling", and sexy lead Levy indeed makes a lasting impression, the best thing about the film, where you feel she deserves better material. The soft core sex flick has it's moments, and style, and in it's own respect, it's not a bad movie, featuring one surprise star, the late short lived actor, Scott Plank, as the smitten stud, Stanley. Just don't go looking for anything deep here.