The film adaptation of Valley of the Dolls, based on Jacqueline Susann’s novel of the same name, is one of those films that is so bad in so many ways that it becomes good, and as mentioned in the review here on the site, it really was a cutting edge piece of cinema considering some of the content. Then there’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a film that actually is not based on any of the works of Jacqueline Susann, and simply based on the title one might assume that it’s a sequel since studios love to cash in as quickly as they can on a films success.

That’s where you’re wrong.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is in no way a follow-up to the 1967 film and the movie is very up front about this fact in the opening credits. If you were to look up a definition as far as how “camp” relates to cinema, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls would be among the listed titles. The movie however is still follows the idea that fame and fortune can lead someone on a downward spiral and in this case we find a struggling rock band heading out to California. The singer, Kelly McMamara (Dolly Reed), has an aunt living in the Hollywood area who has been overseeing a rather vast family fortune that Kelly should rightfully inherit part of, but the money soon becomes nothing more than a plot devise to get the band to relocate.

Kelly and her friends soon meet up with aunt Susan (Phyllis Davis) who is in with the hip crowd and in turn, she brings the band to a party thrown by the outrageous (and androgynous) Ronnie Barzell (John Lazar) known more commonly as Z-Man. After hearing the band, he puts them on the fast track to fame and now The Carrie Nations look as though they will be the next big thing in music, but that’s when the promise of fame takes over and turns friends into enemies.

At the start of the 1970’s, the hippie sentiment was still being felt and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls really tends to be like watching the original film on acid to a certain extent. But, this movie is meant more of a parody of the original, and that’s all thanks to not only the legendary Russ Meyer, but also Roger Ebert. No, you didn’t misread that, the very same Ebert who everyone knows as a film critic, and he did in fact take part in coming up with the story and working on the script. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls certainly isn’t something you might normally associate with him, and by no means is it a piece of brilliant work, but the fact that it is so bad and so outlandish at times is really what makes it so good.

The movie really does follow along to some degree many of the same things see in Valley of the Dolls. Kelly is, for the most part, a sweet girl, but with the promise of an inheritance, she soon starts to use people to get what she wants. She drops the bands manager and her “boyfriend” Harris Allsworth (David Gurian) in favor of an actor and soon takes to trying to seduce Susan’s financial advisor, Porter Hall (Duncan McLeod.) Porter has it in for Kelly from the beginning, but she soon finds a way to get him out of the picture. The band soon finds one of its members falling under the sway of pill popping and heavy drinking, but that’s only the start of things, and we discover later that Casey Anderson (Cynthia Myers) is actually a lesbian.

As the film moves on, we even find one of the characters hospitalized, much like in Valley, but Harris ends up there in a much different fashion and certainly not for drug abuse. In his depression because of the bands rise to fame as well as being dumped by an adult film star and doubting his own sexuality, Harris decides suicide is the best solution and takes a dive head first right into the middle of a television performance by the band. Shocking? Absolutely not but instead this scene illustrates some of the ludicrous nature of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and actually ends up being a scene that is uproarious. The script is equally as bad and poorly written, but that’s just the thing that ends up making it fun.

Knowing that this was a film directed by Russ Meyer, I didn’t go into watching this expecting some masterpiece of some kind of social commentary. After all, this is the same man who directed classics like Wild Gals of the Naked West, Mondo Topless and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens, and sexploitation is really the name of the game here. You watch a Russ Meyer’s film because you know it’s going to be bad and regardless, you’re going to have a good time watching it, and that’s exactly what Beyond the Valley of the Dolls delivers. Like many of his other films, you can also expect to find a great deal of nudity and sex, but without those, it really wouldn’t be a Russ Meyer film, and though some might consider his contribution to the film world to be nothing more than border line pornography, he really was a master at what he did.

Like with Valley of the Dolls, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls comes packed with extra features in a two-disc set. The film itself has commentary featuring Harrison Page, John La Zar, Dolly Reed, Cynthia Meyers and Erica Gavin, but there is another commentary track that I really think makes the release. Roger Ebert does commentary himself, and considering the film, the content, and everything else about it, it does come as a bit of a surprise. While many people would simply sweep some of their past films under the rug or even denounce them, Ebert doesn’t, and that certainly is a credit to the person that he is.

The second DVD is where all the hip action really is. After taking in the introduction but John La Zar, fans will find a wealth of featurettes included. There is a making of feature, though it’s more interviews, still photos, and history on how Beyond the Valley of the Dolls came to be, and I do enjoy hearing about an obsession that Russ Meyer has through his career that I’m also quite a fan of. You can figure that one out I’m sure. There are also shorts about the music, how the film was trying to reflect the late 60’s, the sex seen in the film, and virtually every aspect of the film is covered to some degree and provide both entertaining and educational background on a film that has become legendary and a cult classic. Also included are the original trailers for the film as well as screen test and a collection of still. Also, the DVD comes packaged with reproductions of the lobby cards and an informative insert. Not many cult films get this kind of treatment.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is Russ Meyer at his best, and while it may be a film that was backed by a major studio, none of the trappings and commonalities usually found in big Hollywood features are found here. No, instead you simply have a film that has the goal to give you a good time, and that’s exactly what you’ll get. Watching a movie like this, you’re sure to get a contact high.
 

-mike-
 

Directed by: Russ Meyer   Written by: Russ Meyer & Roger Ebert   Cast: Dolly Read Cynthia Myers Marcia McBroom John Lazar Michael Blodgett David Gurian Edy Williams Erica Gavin Phyllis Davis Harrison Page Duncan McLeod James Inglehart Charles Napier Henry Rowland Princess Livingston

DVD Features: Disc 1 Audio Tracks: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo & Dolby Digital 1.0, French Dolby Digital 1.0 English & Spanish Subtitles Commentary w/ Roger Ebert Commentary w/Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Harrison Page, John La Zar & Erica Gavin Disc 2 Introduction by John La Zar Above, Beneath and Beyond the Valley: The Making of a Musical-Horror-Sex-Comedy Documentary Look on up at the Bottom: The Music of Dolls" featurette The Best of Beyond featurette Sex, Drugs, Music and Murder: Signs of the Times, Baby! featurette Casey and Roxanne: The Love Scene featurette Actor Screen Tests Teaser Trailer Original Theatrical Trailers 6 Photo Galleries