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“Burlesque Lives”

By Raymond Benson

Kino Lorber and Something Weird Video continue their collaboration to present “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” with Volume 12—the double bill of Peek-a-Boo and “B” Girl Rhapsody, two documentations of burlesque revues from the 1950s.

The delicious and suitably sleazy pictures in the “Forbidden Fruit” series were made cheaply and outside the Hollywood system. They were distributed independently in the manner of a circus sideshow, often by renting a movie theater for a few nights, advertising in the local papers, and promoting the scandalous title as “educational.” It’s certain, however, that in this case both features in Volume 12 were not educational in any way except to provide the experience of burlesque shows to audiences who were unable to view them in person.

This reviewer, who usually welcomes and enthusiastically supports all the volumes in the “Forbidden Fruit” series,...

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“Welcome To The Club”

By Raymond Benson

Kino Lorber and Something Weird Video continue their collaboration to present “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” with Volume 11—Girl Gang/Pin-Down Girl, a double bill of so-bad-they’re-funny early 1950s “crime” movies. They were marketed as such, but they were really what passed for softcore in those days. If the movie ratings had existed then, these two gems would likely have been rated “R.”

These delicious and suitably sleazy pictures in the “Forbidden Fruit” series were made cheaply and outside the Hollywood system. They were distributed independently in the manner of a circus sideshow, often by renting a movie theater for a few nights, advertising in the local papers, and promoting the scandalous title as “educational.” It’s certain, however, that in this case both Girl Gang and Pin-Down Girl are not...

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“Skip The Juvenile Delinquency And Get Right To The Sex”

By Raymond Benson

Kino Lorber and Something Weird Video continue their collaboration to present “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” with Volume 10—Wages of Sin. Unlike the other exploitation titles that have appeared over the last two years, Wages is not an American picture; instead, it comes from Switzerland and was originally released as a serious drama examining the social problem of illegal abortions and the need to educate the public in birth control, as well as make a case for the legalization of a woman’s right to choose. The original German title translates to, roughly, The Doctor Says… or The Doctor Speaks Out…

However, American producer/director/actor Donn Davison, who at the time was a practitioner in the grindhouse and exploitation film circuit, secured the U.S.

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“Whipping Out A Story”

By Raymond Benson

Kino Lorber and Something Weird Video continue their collaboration to present “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” with Volume 9—The Lash of the Penitentes. Like the other exploitation titles that have appeared over the last two years, Lash is another piece of American celluloid that will surely elicit jaw-dropping, eye-rolling, and headshaking. How did these things ever get made and distributed? Who went to see them? How corrupted was one after a viewing?

These delicious and suitably sleazy pictures in the “Forbidden Fruit” series were made cheaply and outside the Hollywood system. They were distributed independently in the manner of a circus sideshow, often by renting a movie theater for a few nights, advertising in the local papers, and promoting the salacious title as “educational.” For adults only, mind you, but exhibited all...

“Another ‘Forbidden Fruit’ Exploitation Relic”

By Raymond Benson

Here’s another one, folks! Another entry in the “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” series, this time it’s Volume 8. Presented by Kino Lorber in association with Something Weird Video, we have for your pleasure the controversial “hoax” documentary, Ingagi (1930), a shocking example of racism and circus sideshow-style cinematic exhibition.

There have always existed what have been termed in the motion picture industry “exploitation films,” even back in the silent days. The 1930s and much of the 1940s, however, saw a deluge of cheap, not-even-“B” pictures made, usually independently of Hollywood and marketed in guerilla fashion as “educational” adult fare. You know the type. Reefer Madness. Child Bride. Mom and Dad (all previous titles released in the Forbidden Fruit series).

Kino Lorber and Something Weird have been doing a bang-up job on releasing some of the best...

Two years ago, Jane Chika Oranika posted a Twitter video of a freestyle rap verse admonishing Kanye West’s political antics — over West’s own “Jesus Walks” beat, no less. It’s been viewed more than 6 million times. But the 23-year-old from Montgomery, Alabama, says that even if she hadn’t gone viral for her hip-hop songwriting, she would’ve found another way to get her activism across to the world.

“Whatever occupation I landed in, I would’ve used that position to say the words that need to be heard,...