Behind the Green Door

One of the first porno chic crossovers, this 1972 film helped bring XXX movies to a mainstream audience. Anonymous young woman (Marilyn Chambers) is "abducted" to kinky sex theater where she performs on stage with a variety of other people for the delectation of an audience of voyeurs, who eventually perform among themselves. There are some fair SFX, though hardly on an ILM scale, and the story content is inherently slanted against any real involvement other than arousal by the viewer.

Despite its B.O. and reputation, this is a fairly primitive picture. Every print I have seen is both overly dark and dupelike grainy. Chambers is stunning here, and though it is now nothing odd, at the time it was a real shock to see anyone so wholesomely attractive in the centerpiece role of a porn film. (The Ivory Snow publicity did not hurt ticket sales a bit.) Chambers later demonstrated (in the superior RESURRECTION OF EVE and in David Cronenberg's R-rated horror film RABID) acting talent not particularly visible in DOOR, but even now, 30 years later, she remains the BGD girl to an entire generation.

Film remains of much historical interest, though it has long since ceased to be a beacon for the seeker of cheap thrills. Look for lovely San Francisco porn actress Candy Johnson in the supporting ranks and pro footballer Ben Davidson in a non-sex role.

Before the Mitchell Brothers made what is probably their masterpiece with 1973's 'The Resurrection of Eve', they made this film. Behind the Green Door is a strange and surreal porn flick that features everything you'd expect (and more!) in a weird dream-like setting. The film is cited by some to be an influence on Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut - and it's certainly very obvious why. The plot focuses on the idea of a young girl being kidnapped. She is taken to a strange underground club, where the clients wear elaborate masks and costumes, and forced to perform various sex acts on stage. As a porn film; Behind the Green Door is likely to be a bit too strange for some, and as a film - there's far too little going on in the plot departments and despite the setting, it soon degenerates into a simple collection of porn sequences. It is very well filmed, however, and while we're seeing things like blow jobs and lesbian sex that we've all seen in many other films; the Mitchell Brothers somehow manage to make it seem different to what we've seen before due to the execution. I can't say that the film works as a complete whole - I didn't find it very erotic and there's really not a great deal going on outside of the many sex scenes. Still, this is undoubtedly an interesting film and followers of XXX stuff will likely want to track it down.

I had the unique experience of seeing "Behind The Green Door", which is always brandied as a "classic from the Golden Age Of Porn", immediately behind "Manos, The Hands Of Fate", which is widely considered to be the worst movie ever made bar none of all times. Well, BTGD doesn't compare very favourably. Whereas "Manos" is a fairly ambitious but ultimately botched feature film, BTGD is a 15 minute stag movie spoof of Histoire d'O, set in the American boondocks instead of saucy France, which has been stretched by the factor 5 to bring it to feature length. Dash that, it's a gonzo shoot which has been racked beyond the point of tediousness, with some psychedelia, Histoire d'O and a pantomime thrown in. The movie consists almost entirely of one long orgy scene in a swinger club with former washing powder model Marilyn Chambers (who doesn't have a single line except "Eek!" and "Ugh!") and a handful of talent thrown in. Marilyn gets thoroughly eaten (15 minutes), she gives head (another 15 minutes), then there is a general orgy mêlée with not particularly attractive people (15 minutes), and eventually another stapled-on car sex scene (15 minutes). The remaining 15 minutes are filled by the flimsy background story, in which two lowlifes tell their mate about this classy swinger club, where the special attraction was a freshly abducted girl (Chambers) who had apparently warmed up to the whole idea of "ravishment" surprisingly quickly.

Overall, it's simply not a good film, although it holds a certain historic interest and, well, it's a hardcore porn movie. Chambers is its absolute highlight because of her natural good looks, and not least because she is one of the few porn actresses who actually made good money whilst not being loth to a good hard shag. So at least you don't have to feel guilty for getting off on someone getting traumatized for life.

By contrast, the other three golden-age-of-porn stalwarts are good movies: "Debbie Does Dallas" is a well made and very enjoyable porn movie, "The Devil In Miss Jones" can pass as an exploration into the darker niches of playing "hide the kreplach" and "Deep Throat" at least popularized a previously obscure technique. "Behind The Green Door", however, is two strip club owners venturing far out of their depth, with a camera.

Behind the Green Door (1972)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

One of the "classics" from the era known as the Golden Age of Porn. The film has a couple truck drivers stopping at a diner where the owner asks them to tell him the story about the green door. When then flashback to a rich socialite (Marilyn Chambers) who is kidnapped and taken to a strange location where she's forced to perform wild sexual acts. This "golden age", as it was called, seemed to feature people wanting to make mainstream movies not unlike what you'd normally see at a theater yet we'd also have hardcore sex in them. The strange thing about this movie is that it features poor camera work, poor acting, silly editing and an all around bizarre feel yet that's what makes it rather special. The movie wasn't glossy or pretty to look at and instead of it trying to come off like something you'd see in a mainstream theater it seemed more at home being like various other grindhouse movies that featured nothing but weird images and in the case of this film, the hardcore sex. I can't say I found anything here erotic or overly sexy but at the same time the film kept my attention just because of how strange it was. We have very little dialogue and instead we're pretty much just treated to the sexual images going on but even they are done in strange ways. Most of them don't feature any music and are as silent as silent can get. Ever so often we'll get a few moans or groans but for the most part they're silent until much later in the movie. The cheap looking stage and pathetic lighting are just perfect for the film because they fit the atmosphere that the Mitchell brothers have going on. It seems out of all the "mainstream" porn stars Chambers has come out the best, which might be because she's the most naturally beautiful of all of them. She's certainly got that "girl next door" image and she's certainly easy on the eyes. As someone who came to know her for her "non-hardcore" roles, it was a little strange seeing her here but that quickly went away. No one else in the supporting cast really stood out with most of them just delivering cheap dialogue and bad performances. That's not a major fault as I'm sure most are going to be checking this out for Chambers. I'm not sure if the final scene was just added on because the movie would be too short without it but it sort of sticks out more like a deleted scene than anything else that came before it. Is this a good movie that would rival something in mainstream theaters? No. Is this an important film? Yes. Is it a good adult movie? Why not?

As a horror buff I came across Marilyn Chambers in the flick Rabid (1977) knowing she normally was an actress coming out of the porn genre. I know the classics from back then but she appeared in Behind The Green Door which created controversy and also became a cult classic.

The controversy laid in the fact that Marilyn had a pretty face and was used in commercials like Ivory Snow. A very popular washing product in the days made by Procter and Gamble. Her face vanished shortly from all commercials once this flick became successful.

It isn't a common porn because Marilyn doesn't say a word in it doesn't really has a story. In the heydays of porn those flicks really had a story to tell but here it's rather simple, two guys telling at a diner what happened behind a certain green door. From there on, the movie slowly turns into a gangbang. Normal for the days back then but in editing they made the ejaculation clocking in at 7 minutes mixed with psychedelic effects. And it is that part that made it a cult classic. Shot for only 60k it made 25 million dollar profit. When it came out it was shown in normal theatres, another thing that gave it some controversy. But it was also the moment that porn started to conquer the world and became the next big thing

Gore 0/5 Nudity 5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 1/5 Comedy 0/5