Well Deserved Praise

A Disappointing Continuation

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

V.D. (1961) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Jim (Mory Schollhouse) is one of the coolest guys in his high school. He's cute, has a cool car, dates the beautiful Judy (Charlotte Stewart) and he's a star on the track team. One day he and some buddies go out, have a few too many beers and end up banging some hookers. Jim feels guilty but he moves on but before long he notices a spot on his you know what.Warning pictures like this one had been around since the silent era but it's a little surprising to see a feature this late in the game. By 1961 the majority of exploitation features were over yet here's one that sneaked onto movie screens with pretty much everything you'd expect from the genre.For starters, if you're looking for a quality movie then you're simply in the wrong genre. I'm really not sure if any of these "warning" pictures ever led to an actual good film but many of them did have a great amount of entertainment and I'd say this one falls into that group. The performances are what you'd expect from a low- budget movie like this and naturally a lot of the dialogue is extremely silly.Those silly and campy moments are the reason people watch films like this and there are some really funny things scattered throughout. I'd have to say the highlight for me was the scene after the hookers when the four boys are sitting around a campfire and discussing why they feel guilty. Pure laugh-riot. The film also goes the exploitation route towards the end as we see an actual V.D. short where we see the results of untreated syphilis. Yes, it'll make your skin crawl.V.D. isn't a masterpiece or even a well-made film but I must admit that it kept me entertained. I actually liked all of the characters in the film and I thought their story was interesting enough o hold my attention throughout.

DAMAGED GOODS is a hilarious moralistic story about the risks of catching venereal disease from having easy sex. Made in 1961 and shown in schools in the USA, this is tame stuff indeed in which sex isn't shown or even hinted at; instead it's all about inference and implication. The main character is a promising young athlete whose best intentions are put to the test when he ill-advisedly sleeps with a prostitute after a hectic night out.What follows is an amusingly dramatic and portentous story in which the spread of venereal disease is highlighted by the central love triangle. Jim, the lead, is infected, as is his easy bit-on-the-side, played by the scene-stealing Dolores Faith. Jim's chaste and steady girlfriend, with whom he's shared nothing more than a kiss, is safe. There's a little of the sensation film about this, and at the climax it turns into a straight public information film, with an official relying information straight to the camera and some scary real-life facts and, yes, images.

Clean-cut high school track star Jim Radman (amiable Mory Schoolhouse) and his equally wholesome girlfriend Kathy Durham (an appealing portrayal by the pretty Charlotte Stewart) are planning on getting married following graduation from school. However, things go awry after Jim goes out for a night on the town with his male buddies and contracts syphilis from a hooker at a bar.Writer/director H. Haile Chalice relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, maintains a sincere tone throughout, refreshingly avoids being too preachy or judgmental considering the subject matter, nicely captures the strained relationship between Judy and her stern parents, and further nails the guilt and shame one would feel about getting a venereal disease in the early 1960's. The two leads are quite likable and attractive. Michael Bell contributes a lively and engaging performance as Jim's hearty hipster pal Monk Monahan. Best of all, stunning brunette knockout Dolores Faith really sinks her teeth into her juicy role as bold'n'brash bad girl Kathy Durham, who smokes, steals stuff (including snatching Jim from under Judy's nose!), and generally behaves like a blithely wicked stuck-up bitch. The lengthy lecture about STDs complete with gruesome accompanying visuals rates as a real disgusting doozy. The fairly polished cinematography by Vilis Lapenieks boasts a few nifty dissolves and superimpositions. Cool groovy theme by the Ventures, too. Worth a watch.

I think I actually saw this film in Health when I was a high school freshman. It was a moralizing (or demoralizing!) polemic about loose girls, girls with "a reputation" and girls you could drive up to on the street and get to go for a ride with you, called "pick-ups" back then. Dire consequences would surely ensue from straying off the straight and narrow and indulging your urges. If that's the one, it is a very weird, strange, somber little film.