Mania Grade: B-
Disc Grade: B+
Reviewed Format: DVD
Rated: Not Rated
Stars: Claude Emmand (narrator), Bob Cresse, Lee Frost, Judy Adler
Writer: Bob Cresse
Director: Lee Frost
Distributor: Image Entertainment / Something Weird Video
Original Years of Release: MONDO BIZARRO - 1966; MONDO FREUDO - 1968
Retail Price: $24.99
Extras: commentraks; short; trailers; gallery

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MONDO BIZARRO / MONDO FREUDO

Ever since exotic documentary features such as NANOOK OF THE NORTH and GRASS made a hit with the public, less honest filmmakers have been rolling into theaters with documentaries of their own. Staples of the roadshow circuits, these features were often built around footage filmed in distant locales by adventurous travelers, spiced up with more sensational footage faked in the director's back yard. In 1962, Italians Franco Prosperi and Gualtiero Jacopetti (along with Paolo Cavara) caused a worldwide sensation with MONDO CANE, a mishmash of weirdness filmed all over the world intended to illustrate the point of the basic bestial nature of man. Although it's never been substantiated for sure which sequences were real and which were faked, it's been accepted as fact from the beginning that a certain percentage of footage was fabricated not that knowing this spoils its entertainment value. Since then, these "mondo movies" have been frequently imitated, from scores of such films produced throughout the 1960s, up to today's "reality TV" epidemic.

Seeing the success they were having by distributing the Italian ECCO in the USA, adult filmmakers Bob Cresse and Lee Frost (HOUSE ON BARE MOUNTAIN) decided that they could cash in easily with their own mondo movie. After all, they were already a stone's throw away from all the weirdness of Hollywood, and if they couldn't procure enough footage from elsewhere in the world, they could always fake it. And by making sure that the picture contained a lot of nudity, they could easily peddle it to their established adult theater audience, while also finding bookings beyond their usual grindhouses.

Narrated by "Claude Emmand, Director of Information for London's Parkinson Natural Museum of World History," MONDO BIZARRO follows more in the spirit of the filmmakers' nudie pictures than the shock territory of MONDO CANE. The credit sequence, full of totally fictional information, plays over a peep behind a two-way mirror in a lingerie shop. Attempting to give an impression of worldliness akin to their Italian models, Cresse & Frost cut in sequences from foreign shores - Bahamas voodoo rituals, a "special massage" in Japan but most of the feature takes place in the USA. Back in Hollywood, there's a visit to Fredericks and new world fakir tricks. We see nude sunbathers, gay prostitutes, spring break hedonism that goes beyond American International's BEACH PARTY movies, modern art and pin-up photography. It's here that notes of relevance begin to creep into this festival of titillation, as the cameras capture billboards painted by artists protesting the Vietnam War, then veterans protesting against the artists, then other protesters protesting the veterans. Soon after, audio clips of interviews with kids bumming around on the beach play over film of the same, giving a portrait of the short period between surf culture and Summer of Love hippiedom. One sequence showing a German play that presents Nazi brutality could have inspired the Cresse & Frost shock feature LOVE CAMP 7.

But the taint of authenticity doesn't last very long. One of the phoniest sequences is a long section that purports to be film of a slave auction in the hills of Lebanon, but more likely took place in Hollywood's familiar Bronson Canyon. In fact, it looks much like the location where the "voodoo ceremony" was filmed. Cresse himself is recognizable as the auctioneer. Much of the film is accompanied by great surf/garage/lounge rock music, no doubt used without permission, and a song by Randy Newman (long before his 14 Oscar nominations).

Frost & Cresse followed up on BIZARRO a year later with the second feature MONDO FREUDO (aka SENSUOUS TABOO), this time more openly embracing the sexual theme, though hardly applying anything to Freudian psychology. Revealing themselves immediately as hi-tek peepsters, the first sequence purports to show the filmmakers capturing sex on a California beach using infrared film and a 1000m zoom lens. But gee, wouldn't it be just as easy to film some 'actors' in a sandbox under a spotlight and tint the footage red? We're shown Sunset Strip "watusi club" cruisers, recycled footage from Cresse & Frost's HOLLYWOOD'S WORLD OF FLESH, London strip clubs, topless clubs, body painting (seemingly part of every other movie made in 1967), a "Satanic mass" in a NYC loft, German mud wrestling and Japanese S&M performances. In Tijuana, there's a slave auction - which features some of the same slaves sold in MONDO BIZARRO! and a visit to a strip club fronting for a bordello. Comic highlights are provided by interviews with prostitutes at various sites (though of course, the setting could be anywhere).

Evidence of fakery in both films is provided by prominent advertising for the mondo movie SEXY PROIBITISSIMO, which was also distributed in the USA by Cresse & Frost's Olympic International Pictures. It's tough to say just how much of these two pictures was performed specifically for the cameras in a Hollywood studio or nearby location, but an estimate close to 100% wouldn't be too far off the mark. However, what they lack in authenticity is made up for in another kind of truth both films give a full glimpse of the adult film business at their specific time period, along with a look at Los Angeles culture. One wonders whether the camera crew crossed paths with that of director Peter Perry, who was covering similar territory for MONDO MOD at about the same time.

Those looking for information and enlightenment about these movies from the audio commentaries should look elsewhere. Eric Caiden (of Hollywood Book & Poster) and wrestling promoter/actor Johnny Legend (with Image's Nathaniel Thompson just off mic) haven't done any preparation (such as reading Frank Hennenlotter's liner notes), don't appear to have even seen the films before, and since they can't hear the soundtrack, they know less about what's supposed to be going on than the average viewer. Caught winging it, Eric and Johnny fall into reminiscences about the 1960s LA scene sparked by recognition of Hollywood landmarks, which is the only real value of these tracks.

The extras are half the fun of any Something Weird DVD, and this one is no exception. This one features a 24-minute 8mm short "Dungeon Party," once sold through the mail via adult magazine ads, in which a burlesque comedian is teased by his swinging neighbors; he then has a comic S&M dream that casts him in the role of a frustrated dungeon master. Trailers for the two features plus seven other mondo documentaries are included (some bearing the subtle taint of the SWV logo bug), as well as one of Something Weird Video's great galleries of exploitation ad art, accompanied by appropriate radio ads.