freakboy on film: The Films of Doris Wishman: THE DAYLIGHT YEARS (1960-1964)

Here we end this Doris Wishman retrospective at the beginning.  We leave behind her Grindhouse Twilight Years and her Roughie Moonlight Years to bask in the lush sunlight of her Daylight Years.  These six sun-kissed celluloid creations are nudist camp films.  

Yeah, you read that right!  So, slap on the sunscreen, grab a well-placed towel or beach ball, because full-frontal is forbidden, and prepare to go back to nature by going nudist! 

NUDE ON THE MOON (1961) 

written by Jack Caplan & Doris Wishman/directed by Doris Wishman 

Dr. Jeff Huntley doesn’t want to get married because he’s already married to science.  After a rich relative dies, Jeff and his mentor Professor Nichols can finally build a rocketship to fly to the moon.  Once on the surprisingly lush lunar surface, the two men scientifically explore minerals, plants and the topless inhabitants.  Will these Moon Dolls cause Jeff to change his mind about marriage or will he run out of oxygen during his thorough extraterrestrial exploration?  With the debatable scientific jargon, offkilter dialogue, and weirdly effective low budget special effects, this feels like a nudist camp film directed by Ed Wood.  Throw in a swingin’ theme song and the Moon Queen’s haunting voice and it’s not surprising that even I couldn’t resist its early 60’s innocent kitschy charms.  Added bonus is that a chunk of the film was shot at the famous Coral Castle in Florida. 

BLAZE STARR GOES NUDIST(1962) 

written & directed by Doris Wishman 

Where in the world is superstar actress Blaze Starr?  Tony, her fiancé/agent, wants Blaze to attend press events and cocktail parties.  A film studio bigwig named D.W. wants Blaze to renew her contract.  All Blaze Starr wants is some peace and quiet.  After seeing a nudist camp film while escaping into a theater, Blaze decides to go nudist!  Will this brazen display of breasts while playing chess, picking strawberries and doing laundry end her career and engagement?  A swingin’ theme song, some fun dialogue and relentlessly innocent silliness made me enjoy this film.  Unlike Blaze, I do not feel inspired to spend a weekend at a nudist camp, especially if I am forced to attend a nude accordion concert. 

HIDEOUT IN THE SUN (1960) 

written by Eugene Fernett & Doris Wishman/directed by Larry Wolk & Doris Wishman 

Duke Martin has successfully robbed a bank with his brother Steve, getaway car driver extraordinaire.  Well, almost successfully.  They ditch their vehicle and carjack Dorothy’s sweet convertible ride, but the cops have closed all roads out of town.  Dorothy may hold the key to their escape because she is a member of the Hibiscus Country Club.  They can lay low there while waiting for their getaway boat guy to dock.  Of course the club is actually a nudist camp!  Will the brothers go nudist?  Will Dorothy fall in love with one of them?  Will the boat guy dock in time for nude archery?  This is the most low key crime drama ever.  The suspense is barely palpable but the kitsch has a pulse, especially with yet another swingin’ theme song!  However, HIDEOUT IN THE SUN lacks the overall charm of the first two films in this set. 

GENTLEMEN PREFER NATURE GIRLS (1963) 

written & directed by Doris Wishman 

Anne and Tom are secretly married at the office because their boss doesn’t want married couples working for him.  Mr. Bennett is also against nudists and fires Tom when he finds his nudist membership card on the floor.  What are Anne and Tom going to do?  Will Tom find a job at the nudist camp?  Will Anne attempt to convince Mr. Bennett to hire Tom back?  Will Mr. Bennett learn the joy of healthy living through a nude life?  The kitsch cred is knocked down a notch by a lack of a swingin’ theme song, but the amusing swimming pool music almost makes up for it.  Overall, it’s a harmlessly goofy story with yet another nude accordion concert and the new addition of nude teeter-tottering.  All I kept thinking was how those splinters are gonna hurt! 

DIARY OF A NUDIST (1961) 

written & directed by Doris Wishman 

Arthur, the head of a newspaper, gets lost in the woods and stumbles across a nudist camp.  He decides to have Stacy, his blondest reporter, go undercover and expose the shocking facts about nudism.  When Stacy loses objectivity by becoming a sun lover, Arthur must go undercover and write the articles himself.  Will he write the truth about nudism or go for a more sensationalistic angle?  A swingin’ theme song almost makes up for the thinnest of thin plots.  However, there’s still kitsch to go around, especially with the grandmotherly head of the nudist camp, who was playing herself.  I just don’t understand why she didn’t inform Arthur that walking around in swim trunks is not being a nudist. 

THE PRINCE AND THE NATURE GIRL (1964) 

written by Andrew J. Kuehn/directed by Doris Wishman 

According to the Blu-ray liner notes, the plot of this “comedy of mistaken identity” is as follows, “a wealthy handsome ‘Prince’ catches the eye of identical twins who compete for his heart at the office and a nature camp.”  The reason I have to quote the synopsis is because I wasn’t sure what was going on since the film was not in English and my half-blind eyes couldn’t read the subtitles.  According to IMDb, THE PRINCE AND THE NATURE GIRL was a lost film until a German language print was discovered.  There is supposedly a recreated English dub out there, but not in this box set.  Personally, this is the least effective of these films because more than half of it is comprised of scenes from Wishman’s previous nudist camp flicks.  Though I do appreciate the soap opera plot.

All I kept hearing during this box set was Neely O’Hara in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS saying, “Boobies, boobies, boobies.”  Even though nudist camp films come across as innocent propaganda for the healthy, sun-loving nudist lifestyle, they’re really about boobies.  Oh, there are some shirtless men and bare bums, but cinematic nudist camps are mostly populated by perky young women. 

According to the audio commentaries, Doris Wishman has the distinction of being the most prolific nudist camp filmmaker.  Having not seen other nudist films, I can’t contrast and compare.  I can only imagine Wishman’s take on the genre is something special.  I mean, a sci-fi nudist film and a nudist crime drama seem to be proof that Doris truly did her own thing even at the beginning of her career. 

In conclusion… 

The only reason I purchased this box set was because my filmic OCD forced me to complete my Doris Wishman Something Weird/AGFA collection.  I was expecting to just roll my eyes, but I found THE DAYLIGHT YEARS was more entertaining than THE MOONLIGHT YEARS, which I’m sure just caused longtime Wishman fans to collectively gasp.  Who knows though?  Maybe when I rewatch the three box sets, my opinion will change.  However, no matter what I think, the films of Doris Wishman need to be experienced! 

In case you missed it, go back to the future for Doris Wishman’s Twilight Years! 

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S. Is Doris Wishman done with me?  I can only answer the question with a question.  Do you really think I can resist experiencing films with such titles as SATAN WAS A LADY (1975) and DILDO HEAVEN (2002)? 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Click the pic ⤵️ to read a glowing new review of STURGEONS! 📗

freakboy on film: The Films of Doris Wishman: THE MOONLIGHT YEARS (1965-1969)

Here we are again in the wondrously weird world of Doris Wishman!  This time we are taking a step back from the colorful hyper-reality of her Twilight Years to take a walk through the black & white Roughies of her Moonlight Years.  Never heard of a Roughie?  Between the early innocence of the ”Nudie Cuties” and the later hardcore adult films, there was the Roughie.  A Roughie contains some skin, simulated sex and violence, typically aimed at women.  

Doris Wishman obviously had her creative finger on the pulse of the eager theater goers, but what do I think of these 9 forays into her take on the Roughie?  

BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL (1965) 

written & directed by Doris Wishman 

Meg Kelton is disappointed when nagging and shower sex fails to prevent her husband Ted from going to work on a Saturday.  Instead of brooding in bed, she tidies up her apartment and takes out the trash.  This is when Meg’s day goes to hell.  The building’s janitor attacks her on the stairs and then rapes her in his apartment.  Meg bashes his head in with a large bowl, but fears no one will believe her.  So, she flees Boston for New York City, calls herself “Ellen Green” and finds herself in a slew of “hellish” situations.  Just when Meg/Ellen can stop and think by taking a job as an invalid’s companion, her employer’s detective son is coming for a visit from Boston, where he is working on a murder case!  This film may be in black & white and doesn’t contain direct nudity, but it is all Doris Wishman.  Dubbed dialogue, constant music and a story that pulls you in because you don’t know what’ the hell is gonna happen next! 

INDECENT DESIRES (1968) 

written & directed by Doris Wishman 

Zeb is a loner who appears to spend his days walking around and finding treasures in the trash.  When he finds a discarded ring and a doll, and spots someone who resembles the doll, Zeb’s life is about to change.  Ann is a nice office worker whose life is also about to change when she begins experiencing a strange phenomenon.  An invisible force is touching her and controlling her movements.  Unbeknownst to Ann, Zeb is somehow using the ring and doll like a puppeteer.  How far will Zeb go and what will happen if Ann makes him angry?  Well, I’ll just say this stalker Twilight Zone fantasy ends with a real twist, but it takes its time getting there. 

A TASTE OF FLESH (1967) 

written by C. Davis Smith  and Doris Wishman/directed by Doris Wishman 

Bobi and Carol are roommates in for a different kind of evening.  It starts with Bobi bringing home Hannah, a woman she met in Europe, who shows much interest in a visiting foreign dignitary.  Then two phone company representatives stop by and hold the women hostage because the two men are there to assassinate the dignitary staying at the hotel next door.  The plot takes a bit to reach its conclusion, but it all makes sense, I think.  In my opinion, the highlight is a dream sequence where Bobi, dressed in traditionally male attire, dines and dances with Hannah.  It’s a beautifully shot 1960’s lesbian/trans romantic scene that is unfortunately ruined by a hetero-centric cis man, of course.

  
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MAN (1966) 

written & directed by Doris Wishman 

Ann is a woman with secrets.  Her boss doesn’t know she’s married to Steve.  Steve doesn’t know Ann’s roommate Tess is a prostitute for a pimp named Bert.  After Steve gets a promotion, Ann leaves her job and fulfills her dream of being a housewife because it’s 1966.  Tragedy strikes when Steve is laid up in bed with a mysterious illness, but Ann has a plan to bring home the bacon by becoming one of Bert’s working girls.  Weird enough to hold my attention, with an ending that surprised me! 

MY BROTHER’S WIFE (1966)

 written & directed by Doris Wishman 

Bob and Mary have a marriage that is easily torn asunder when Bob’s drifter brother Frankie turns up at their door.  Frankie immediately seduces Mary but he is also reigniting his past flame with Zena.  Which woman is Frankie serious about and which one is he playing, or is he playing both?  This feels like a sexier version of a daytime soap opera, so I obviously appreciate the sudsy scheming and dreaming. 

PASSION FEVER (1969) 

written & directed by Stelios Jackson and Doris Wishman 

Yarkos is a gigolo, picking up women here, there and everywhere, until he falls in love.  Will love triumph or will one of his past conquests throw a wrench in his happily ever after?  I knew nothing about PASSION FEVER when I sat down to watch, so I was confused how sometimes it seemed like a Doris Wishman film and sometimes it really didn’t.  According to IMDb, Wishman purchased a Greek film called PYRETOS but lost the English dub.  Being who she was, Doris edited the original film down, wrote her own English dub and filmed a few nude insert shots.  The result is a disjointed, entertaining mess. 

THE SEX PERILS OF PAULETTE (1965) 

written & directed by Doris Wishman 

Paulette feels she must confess everything to her boyfriend Allen.  She came to New York to become a famous actress but has just been taken advantage of by big city users.  Her first mistake was renting a room from Tracy, a loose and easy woman who drinks too much.  Then Paulette shouldn’t have listened to Tracey about Sam.  Sam won’t hell Paulette’s acting career, unless the role is that of a prostitute.  For having such an incendiary title, THE SEX PERILS OF PAULETTE is the tamest of this Wishman batch, but the plot as a flashback kept things interesting. 

THE HOT MONTH OF AUGUST (1966) 

written by Sokrates Kapsaskis/directed by Sokrates Kapsaskis and Doris Wishman 

Jason meets a gigolo on a ship but is repulsed when the man suggests they team up to coerce older women into having sex with them for a price.  However, Jason has an affair with Alexis, a married woman, while simultaneously falling in love with a younger woman named Hope.  To complicate matters even further, Alexis and the gigolo are in cahoots to murder her husband.  This is yet another film from Greece (O zestos minas Avgoustos) dubbed and edited by Doris Wishman.  It’s interesting, with a couple of surprises, but it can’t compare to her own films.  

TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN! (1968) 

written & directed by Doris Wishman 

Whether he is getting paid to whip a middle-aged man and then blackmailing him for a job at an advertising company or he is seducing any willing woman, Mike Torson is all about playing fast and loose, causing destruction before moving on.  His past might catch up with him when he seduces his blackmailed boss’ secretary Midge and daughter Sara!  TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN is the perfect way to end this box set.  It’s all Doris Wishman with a crazy plot, unbridled characters and will ultimately leave you wondering what the hell you just watched! 

So, I blew through Doris Wishman’s Twilight Years, but I struggled with her Moonlight Years despite, according to the liner notes and audio commentaries, this era being hailed as Wishman’s best.  Even when I thoroughly enjoyed the films, they often dragged a bit for me.  I think one of the reasons is the plots are slim and very similar to each other in theme.  Another reason might be lengthy scenes of naked women without equally naked men.  At least Doris was an equal opportunity exploitation director in her Twilight Years, but that might have more to do with the still somewhat repressed time of these Roughies. 

 
In conclusion… 

While this AGFA/Something Weird box set didn’t WOW me like my initial experience, these films still provided an entertaining second helping in my anachronistically reverse Doris Wishman feast.  So, pull a chair up to the table for 9 crisply shot, black & white time capsules which must be seen to be believed!  

Now I must step out of the shadowy moonlight and into the colorful, sun-drenched atmosphere of Doris Wishman’s THE DAYLIGHT YEARS…

Freak Out, 

JLH 

The hot month of August is the best time to grab DARK EXCURSIONS!  

freakboy on film: The Films of Doris Wishman: THE TWILIGHT YEARS (1970-1977)

I went a bit mad during Vinegar Syndrome’s Halfway-To-Black Friday sale.  Along with low budget horror and an Ed Wood film or two, I purchased three box sets collecting a large chunk of Doris Wishman films.  Technically, I became sort of aware of this exploitation writer/director thanks to John Waters’ SERIAL MOM (1994).  In a memorable scene, a sexually amped up character seriously enjoys scenes of the extremely busty actress Chesty Morgan in DEADLY WEAPONS and DOUBLE AGENT 73, but I never researched those films at the time.

Fast forward to my Andy Milligan obsession over the last few years.  The name Doris Wishman kept popping up in the books I was reading about Milligan, but, for some reason, I let her name slip by like a whisper.  Maybe I wasn’t ready for Wishman or I needed a trigger.  Well, when the Bill Landis biography briefly described the plots of THE AMAZING TRANSPLANT and LET ME DIE A WOMAN, I was more than ready to pull that trigger and blow myself into the cinematic bizarro world of Doris Wishmam, starting with the third box set first because that’s how i roll, baby…

All films directed by Doris Wishman

DEADLY WEAPONS (1974) 

written by Judy J. Kushner, Wishman’s niece

All Crystal (Chesty Morgan) wants is to be a good daughter to her father and to marry her mobster lover Larry.  After Larry double-crosses his boss and gets whacked, Crystal is out for revenge.  The weapons of choice are her two massive mammaries, which she will use to suffocate the men who killed Larry.  With low-budget violence, unusual nudity, great music and what often sounds like dubbed dialogue (a Doris Wishman staple), this is the crime drama/revenge picture Quentin Tarantino wishes he had made!  Harry Reems, as a mobster, gives one of the better performances, but maybe that’s because his real voice is heard.  Let’s face it though, the real star is obviously Chesty Morgan’s 73-inch bust! 

DOUBLE AGENT 73 (1974) 

written by Judy J. Kushner & Doris Wishman

Secret Agent 73, aka Jane Genet (Chesty Morgan) just wants to settle down with fellow agent Atlantis 7, aka Tim, but first she must track down and eliminate members of a drug ring.  She must also photograph their faces using a camera implanted in her left breast, but, unbeknownst to her, the camera is also a bomb!  This is a delirious film with a similar vibe to DEADLY WEAPONS.  The sound of the camera clicking followed by a flash of light whenever she lifts her left breast is a continuously funny gimmick, but I much more enjoyed the shock of seeing Chesty suffocating men with her “deadly weapons” in the previous film.  What does that say about me? 

THE AMAZING TRANSPLANT(1970) 

written by Doris Wishman 

Mary Thorne just wants to lounge around naked while playing her harpsichord  (not a metaphor) but Arthur Barlen wants to get back together.  Just when a compromise seems to be reached, Arthur kills Mary during sex.  What happened to drive this boy next door to commit such a ghastly crime?  It’s up to his detective uncle to discover the lurid reason for Arthur’s criminal behavior, leading to a mysterious doctor and an unethical surgical procedure.  This detective story of rape and murder is less gritty and more Ed Wood, but I couldn’t look away as the truth of gold earrings and a penis transplant is revealed.  With some of the backstory details, I think Arthur can be seen as a repressed queer man who believes a different penis will make him hetero-centric.  That’s just my opinion though. 

LET ME DIE A WOMAN (1977) 

written by Doris Wishman 

This quasi-documentary examines transsexualism in a scientific and often sympathetic light.  However, at its core, this is an exploitation film.  The scientific jargon is overlayed with scenes of sex and violence meant to shock and titillate.  Personally, the subject matter did not shock me, but how it was presented was often uncomfortable and bizarre.  Much like Ed Wood’s GLEN OR GLENDA (1953), LET ME DIE A WOMAN feels simultaneously progressive and backwards in its attitudes.  In the end, this is an ultimately fascinating film that must be seen to be believed!

THE IMMORAL THREE  (1975) 

written by Judy J. Kushner & Robert Jahn 

Agent 73, who is either a different agent or she got a breast reduction surgery, has been murdered!  Now it’s up to her three surprise daughters, who never even met their mother, to find the murderer and inherit One Million dollars each.  The catch is the inheritance will be divided between the surviving sisters if any should die, but the attorney gets the money if all of them die.  Trippy, funny and absolutely bonkers, THE IMMORAL THREE answers one of the great cinematic questions of all time…What if Russ Meyer and Ed Wood had a baby daughter and nursed her on Andy Milligan’s THE GHASTLY ONES (1968)?  Ok, maybe I’m the only one who asked. 

KEYHOLES ARE FOR PEEPING (1972) 

written by Doris Wishman & Louis Burdi 

Stanley Bebbles (Sammy Petrillo, sort of a low-rent Jerry Lewis), is a schmuck who lives in an apartment with his mother.  Against all odds, he has somehow become a marriage counselor.  As Stanley is slipping his cards under the neighbors’ doors, Manuel (the super, not the janitor) is peeping through keyholes at randy couples.  Yup, that’s pretty much the plot and it drags between some amusing moments.  Speaking of drag, one highlight is Petrillo doing double duty as Stanley’s nagging mother.  This is easily the least effective film in the bunch, but has its charms, in a way. 

LOVE TOY (1971) 

written by Judy J. Kushner & Lawrence Perrin

Marcus has just lost his home, his factory and his money to Alex in a game of cards.  Instead of bankrupting the man, Alex makes an indecent proposal.  He will give everything back if he can spend one night with Marcus’ daughter.  Yeah, talk about a skeevy premise, but just when you think you know what’s going to happen, things get weird and then even weirder.  Nothing can quite prepare you for this psychosexual therapy session from Hell!  I mean that in the best way possible. 

The one, the only…Doris Wishman!

What have I learned about Doris Wishman (1912-2002) from her films and the various audio commentaries?  She got into filmmaking after her husband, a film distributor, died.  She was a savvy businesswoman.  She had a sharp sense of humor and was a shameless flirt.  She was very short in stature but was the center of every room she entered.  She was a contradiction in being a proper, classy lady who made these wildly crazy films.  In other words, Doris Wishman was a 4th of July firecracker disguised as a grandmotherly figure.  She even supposedly didn’t agree with the feminist movement of the ‘70’s, but she sure as hell embraced the revolution by being a female exploitation filmmaker at a tine when women of authority were nearly as scarce in the film industry as a print of Tod Browning’s LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (1927).  

In conclusion…

This AGFA/Something Weird box set proved to be a seriously memorable introduction to Doris Wishman!  Her hypnotically colorful idea of filmmaking held me riveted in place.  In other words, I laughed, I screamed and I wondered what the hell I was watching!  The mind-bending experience has left me wanting more because she is definitely my brand of crazy!  If you’d care to join me, dress in your 1970’s Sunday best and mentally prepare yourself for the wondrously weird world of Doris Wishman! 

BTW, even though this collection is called THE TWILIGHT YEARS, Doris Wishman was a combustion of creativity and would continue making films into the 21st Century!  However, before I can go forward, I must take a step back to THE MOONLIGHT YEARS… 

Freak Out, 

JLH 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hot month of July is the best time to visit the town of STURGEONS…