Bettie Page: Dark Angel (2004)

Bettie Page was the number one pin up model in the 1950's. Bettie Page: Dark Angel tells the story of the last three years of her brief career as a pin up model before she disappeared from the spotlight.

The bulk of the movie is told through a series of reenactments of some of Bettie Pages most famous bondage scenes. The dialog and story is not that fleshed out. Despite this minor flaw the films succeeds overall because of director Nico B.'s eye for detail in when recreating Page's Bondage segments. These segments are stylishly photographed in black and white. Nico B.'s direction is solid through out and it is obvious in every frame that this project was a labor of love.

The acting in this film is average at best with the exception of Paige Richards who plays the lead role Bettie Page. Paige Richards is a dead ringer for Bettie Page and she does an admirable job capturing the essence of Bettie Page. It is amazing just how much Nico B. is able to recreate with the limited budget he had at his disposal. Bettie Page: Dark Angel is a wonderful tribute to one of America's most icon pin up models whose popularity has not waned through the years

Bettie Page: Dark Angel comes on a 25 GB single layer BluRay. The film is presented in a 1080 progressive anamorphic widescreen. Though the transfer for the DVD was very good for the time when it was released. This new Hi Def transfer improves upon that aforementioned transfer in every way. It should be noted that the grain looks more pronounced in some scenes then in others and this is most likely due to the film's source materials. In all this is a strong transfer that does a very good job with the limitations of the source materials.

This release comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital Stereo mix in English. The audio sounds clean, clear and balanced throughout. This release comes with four subtitle options, English, French, Spanish and Dutch.

Extras for this release include three `Making of' featurette's, the first one titled `Paige Richards as Betty Page Photo Shoot' (10 minutes 43 seconds anamorphic widescreen), the second one titled `Paige Richards as Betty Page Still Gallery' (4 minutes 13 seconds ) and the third one titled `Casting Call & Rehearsals' (16 minutes 27 seconds anamorphic widescreen), the uncut version of a scene from the film titled `Dominate Bettie in a Black Corset' (8 minutes anamorphic widescreen), a music video titled `The '57 Incident Teaserama' (2 minutes 19 seconds anamorphic widescreen), a documentary titled `In Search of Bettie Page' (10 minutes 10 seconds anamorphic widescreen) and a section titled `The Original Bondage Films of Bettie Page (1951-1956)', the total running time for the 11 short films (40 minutes 8 seconds anamorphic widescreen).

The titles of the 11 short films are as follows, `Untitled', `Bettie Paige and Her High Heel Shoes', `Untitled', `Bettie Gets Bound and Kidnapped', `Untitled', `Untitled', `Second initiation of a Sorority Girl', `Teaser Girl in High Heels', `Domineering Roz Strikes Back' and `Bettie Gets Dressed in Satin'. Overall Bettie Page: Dark Angel makes its way to Hi Def via an exceptional release from Cult Epics.

I honestly can't say how many folks will be won over by BETTIE PAGE: DARK ANGEL. Essentially, it's a fictional account of Page's life up until the point of her `mysterious disappearance' from society. Clearly, it's made on the cheap shot on video and 16 mm and it's helmed by Nico B, the founder of Cult Epics. Paige Richards does a respectable job in trying to recapture the pomp & circumstance that surrounded the original Bettie; however, while she captures the pinup queen's on-screen antics quite well, the smaller moments the ones trying to tell the story of Bettie's life fall mostly as flat as one expects from direct-to-DVD or Cinemax skin pics aired after hours.

As for the story, there really isn't all that much here. The narrative essentially serves to give license to re-capturing the substance of Bettie's bondage films, and these recreations are interspersed liberally throughout the 75 minute story. Instead of learning more about the starlet, we're basically given retreads of the shorts. Certainly, Bettie enthusiasts will be pleased, but folks expecting a story can only glean the bullet points already available from a Wikipedia entry.

The motion picture is the responsibility of Cult Epics for production and distribution. The image and sound are what we've come to expect in this era of homegrown production, and the disc is chocked with special features including: the original bondage films of Bettie Page (1951 1956); the 57" Incident Teaserama music video; In Search of Bettie Page (a nice little video of Nico B's attempt to achieve a greater insight into the model); some basic behind-the-scenes shorts including casting calls and some rather dubious attempts at what are called `rehearsals'; and the uncut short film of "Dominant Bettie in Black Corset."

As someone who loves history especially when it's given a face and a name, I expected more from this one, but I'd imagine it serves up exactly what its intended audience wanted. Given the fact the Ms. Page remained a recluse unwilling to speak about her past, this may be all we ever know.

RECOMMENDED only for fans of Bettie Page and maybe even folks who have an ongoing interest in pinups, cosplay, and adult films. There's not an awful lot of nudity here, but Page in many respects wasn't so much about bare skin as she was the playfulness of sexuality and fetishes. By comparison to so much of what's available on the web these days, so much of what she did was genuinely benign, and it's no wonder she's embraced by a legion of fans around the world.

In the interests of fairness, I'm pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Cult Epics provided me with a DVD screener of BETTIE PAGE DARK ANGEL by request for the expressed purposes of completing this review.

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