My review was written in April 1992 after watching the movie at a Midtown Manhattan screening room.
A sequel in name only to the Mickey Rourke-starrer "Wild Orchid", Zalman King's pretentious exercise in softcore erotica is hot stuff only for pay-cable and home video markets.
Filmed as "Blue Movie Blue" and on the shelf since last fall, pic has already been followed by a third "Wild Orchid" feature "Red Shoe Diaries", which debuts on Showtime almost simultaneously with "Blue" getting a theatrical release.
All three films have in common the focus on a beautiful young woman's rites of passage. Here petite Nina Siemaszko portrays Blue, a California teen who's orphaned in 1958 when her heroin-addicted jazz trumpeter dad (Tom Skerritt) dies in a freak car accident.
She's taken under the wing of brothel madam Wendy Hughes and introduced to a life of prostitution. Her sexual flowering has already occurred at the hands of sleazy jazz club owner Joe Dallelsandro.
There's a certain amount of interest generated in Blue's fate as King's slowly paced melodrama unfolds, but Siemaszko's zombie-like performance denies the put-upon character much sympathy. Artsy photography is very distracting, as are several music video-styled interludes.
The picture's original title stems from a ey plot point: Siemaszko is coerced into appearing in an unfinished stag film, or blue movie. Extremely disappointing finale has not one but two white knights appearing to save her: a platonic lover Robert Davi and all-American boy Brent Fraser. King evidently intends this as a story book fantasy but destroys all credibility with such lame devices.
Siemasko's extremely alluring figure (which she bares) counts more than her acting ability this time out. She's briefly upstaged by Canadian thesp Lydie Denier as the lovelost brohel irl. Aussie actress Hughes adopts a neutral accent and severe manner in the villainess assignment. One can infer she's a lesbian doting on Blue, but King plays down numerous opportunities to make this subplot explicit.
Rest of the cast is stuck with stereotyped roles, resulting in overplaying by Davi as the brooding Hughes henchman who turns over a new leaf. Dallesandro as he lech and Christopher McDnald as an evil senator. Fraser is forced to gush unconvincingly as the handsome rich kid who has his first sexua experience with Blue at the cathouse, but does not recognize her before or after without her Louise Brooks-styled wig.
Pic is technically well-made. As with King's Sherilyn Fenn-starrer "Two Moon Junction", there is plenty of camp potential here (e.g., prostitute Blue going back to school as just another bobby-soxer) but it remains still-born under King's ponderous, self-important direction.
