Respectable: The Mary Millington Story

This documentary provides insight into the all-too-brief life of Mary Millington, both celebrated and damned during her life because of her appearances in both "hard" and "soft" porn.

Mary comes across as eminently likable, independent of spirit but also vulnerable.

Offending "the Establishment" has never been a free ride, and although by the 1970s attitudes to matters sexual had become more liberal than in the early 1960s when the likes of Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies and Stephen Ward were prosecuted (one might say persecuted), with the well publicised efforts of Mary Whitehouse, Lord Longford and Malcolm Muggeridge, Mary's exploits were unlikely to go unremarked. And judging from the notes she left at the time of her death she clearly felt "they" - the police and the tax man in particular - were out to get her.

With proper help (if she had been prepared to accept it) Mary might well have got through her problems, especially her relationship with her mother and the effect of her death, and gone on to make her mark as an actress or elsewhere, but sadly that is purely hypothetical.

I felt very sad by the end of the film - at the loss of such a vibrant free spirit so early in her life. But also heartened at the reminder of this free spirit who refused to accept other peoples norms.

As to the documentary as a piece of film making, I cannot see how it could have been improved. A truly excellent piece of work by Simon Sheridan and those with whom he worked.

Just finished watching this on US Netflix and can't recommend it highly enough. It's the incredibly moving story of (in)famous 1970s British sex star Mary Millington. Directed by Simon Sheridan (author of 'Come Play With Me: The Life and Times of Mary Millington' and 'Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema'), this is a must see film even if you have never heard of Mary. It also takes a look at the state of UK censorship and the local sex industry during the 1970s.

It is beautifully shot (courtesy of cinematographer Dave Meehan) and it's obvious a huge amount of research went into making it. Definitely the best documentary I've seen in a long time.

Simon Sheridan has put together an incredibly moving, touching and funny documentary that sheds light on the effervescent Mary Millington. This is so much more than a documentary on porn; it is an insight into how one woman showcased her own feminist movement, albeit in way that rocked the establishment, and how she celebrated her unconventional job and how she loved her body. Mary was natural, smart, and way before her time.

Respectable highlights a time in the 20th century when we Brits were conflicted with our culture, but most of it all is explores the beauty and vulnerability of Mary, who was, in a way, Britain's own Marilyn Monroe.

Mary sparkles on the screen, and Simon Sheridan has cleverly captured the essence of Mary through footage and interviews with her family. Watch this, and learn something. Compelling, tragic, thoughtful, wonderful.

This is the best thing I have watched in 2016.

Showing on Netflix, this is an informative documentary for those who do not know much about the 1970s British pornographic film industry and its one time leading light who lived every cliché before dying.

I had heard of Mary Millington growing up in the 1970s because she got a lot of coverage in the newspapers that were published on Sundays, and her films were always advertised in the fronts of cinemas.

The films themselves when seen on tape in the 1980s were rather bland unfunny smut fests than full on sex films. If it wasn't for magazines like Whitehouse and Playbirds being passed round school playgrounds the Mary Millington of porn legend would have been long forgotten.

The film was obviously made by a film maker who likes his subject and keeps the tone of the film positive and zips through her life with stories and photographs of Mary Millington from her child hood through to her tragic suicide. There are lots of talking heads who were there during this time including the man who turned Mary into a publishing house and made David Sullivan a millionaire many times over.

The documentary contains many clips from Marys rather explicit back catalogue and though not full on sex is displayed it manages to convey what her films were like outside of her soft porn career. Be warned there are brief glimpses of fellatio, rutting and girl on girl action from her porn loops and brief snippets and covers from the magazines she appeared in.

It's interesting to see how mainstream celebrity at the time led to her downfall, and brought her into the world of cocaine and high living, whilst also battling depression. Even in her early days according to the film she was earning £200 a film (worth £4,000 in today's earnings), those 8mm loops cost £1,000 to make and could sell 300,000 units across Europe. Millington also appeared in porn magazines during the 1970s and these could sell upwards of a million copies per issue.

This film is worth watching and it handles its subject with respect

Documentary chronicling the extraordinary life and tragic death of Mary Millington - Britain's most famous pornographic actress of the 1970s.

I wouldn't say I'm incredibly knowledgeable about the history of pornography. But I've seen enough documentaries and read enough stories that I thought I had a fair handle on it. But, it turns out, the world of American pornography is apparently completely different from British (or perhaps European) pornography. Because I have never even heard of Mary Millington.

This documentary is quite a good one, because it not just follows Mary's life, but follows the industry, which is really the more interesting story. It's a story of morality, censorship, and more. This is even more fascinating today (2016) in the era of the internet.