Vênus da Praia

This film was a pleasant diversion one afternoon that I only watched cuz it had Ronald Reagan in it. Hey, he was president after all!

The film was actually pretty boring with no real laughs in it, but it did get me thinking.

First off, I it was kind of sexist, cuz it's about a photographer who has to put together the "perfect girl" with the photographed body parts of several other girls. Apparently photo manipulation was really, really easy before computers, because this "girl" became an immediate pin-up hit. I guess people of the 40s can overlook the varying skin-tones or the Frankenstein-like super-imposing lines that would've appeared between the "sexy" body parts. But hey, it's a comedy, anything goes!

Anyway, as "the girl" becomes more of a hit, Ronnie and his cohort have to dodge the constant barrage of attention from the original 12 models because they want to be just like "the girl." That's what makes the movie so sexist, these girls try to be something they can't be -- perfect.

It's not a terribly good message, although as a comedy it works well enough and doesn't have the sinister aspects it could have.

It would be interesting to see a remake. It's just as relevant today, thanks to the Internet/computer photo manipulation aspect. And we could even see a little screwball comedy, which the original didn't have, as all the models try to latch on to the photographer who becomes "hot" thanks to photo manipulations that they helped to create.

Or the remake could be a horror film. Now that would be really sinister.

7/9/00