260-262 Stanley Long's Adventures

[MichaelB]

ADVENTURES OF A TAXI DRIVER (Stanley Long, 1976)
ADVENTURES OF A PRIVATE EYE (Stanley Long, 1977)
ADVENTURES OF A PLUMBER’S MATE (Stanley Long, 1978)

Release date: 25 April 2022
Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set (World Blu-ray premieres)

Once dubbed the ‘King of Sexploitation’ by the tabloid press, Stanley Long was the godfather of the British sex film. Starting out with 8mm striptease reels in the 1950s before moving into nudist documentaries, Long went on to produce and direct a string of extremely popular X-rated movies which told tales of wife swapping, groupies and other saucy goings on. He reached the pinnacle of commercial success with this trio of incredibly successful ‘on the job’ sex comedies.

Adventures of a Taxi Driver, starring sitcom actor Barry Evans, set the template with the antics of a cabbie who ‘gets more than his fare share’. Securing international distribution – as well as becoming the most successful comedy at the British box office in 1976 – it prompted two sequels, each featuring more of the same but with a different lead actor (future hit-record producer Christopher Neil).

Boasting supporting casts which burst with top-tier British acting talent – including Harry H Corbett (Steptoe and Son), Diana Dors (Berserk), Judy Geeson (Inseminoid), Suzy Kendall (To Sir, with Love), future musical theatre sensation Elaine Paige, and former Doctor Who Jon Pertwee – the Adventures series represents British popular filmmaking at its most unashamedly cheeky.


INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES

• High Definition presentations of Adventures of a Taxi Driver, Adventures of a Private Eye, and Adventures of a Plumber’s Mate
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentaries on all three films with director Stanley Long (2008)
• The Best of the Adventures (1981): feature-length compilation of extracts from the Adventures series, made for the nascent videotape market and hosted by broadcaster Peter Noble
• The BEHP Interview with Stanley Long (1999): archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring the producer and director in conversation with Denis Gifford and Emmanuel Yospa
• Peter Sinclair’s Camera (2022): the veteran cinematographer discusses his work for exploitation filmmakers Stanley Long and Pete Walker, and his move to Los Angeles in the 1980s to direct music videos
• Dear Prudence (2022): Prudence Drage, one of Long’s favourite performers, tells colourful stories from her extensive career as an actor and singer
• Stanley by Simon (2022): Long’s biographer Simon Sheridan recalls his close friendship with Britain’s undisputed ‘King of Sexploitation’
• Super 8 version of Adventures of a Private Eye: cut-down home cinema presentation
• Original theatrical trailers
• Image galleries: extensive promotional and publicity materials from Stanley Long’s archives
• Can You Keep It Up with This, That and the Other for a Week? (2004): Jan Manthey’s affectionate short film homage to the British sex comedies of the seventies
• The Adventures of a Plumber in Outer Space (2008): Manthey’s follow-up to Can You Keep It Up…, featuring a cameo appearance by Long
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 80-page book with a new essay by Simon Sheridan, archival interviews with Stanley Long and actor-composer Christopher Neil, a letter from the producers complaining about the Adventures films’ treatment in the British press, newspaper articles on the controversy surrounding the casting of Elaine Paige in Adventures of a Plumber’s Mate while she was starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita, a look at the three films’ novelisations, an overview of contemporary critical responses, Jan Manthey on his short films, and film credits
• World premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 6,000 copies for the UK and US
• All extras subject to change

#PHILTD260
BBFC cert: 18
REGION FREE
EAN: 5060697922042

[jlnight]

Ha ha! A staple of early-era Channel 5 schedules and more recently London Live. The Best of the Adventures has been doing the rounds on TPTV recently too. I suppose ...Taxi Driver is the best of the three but none of them are very good, and the Confessions series is marginally better and has Robin Askwith as well. (Confessions of a Pop Performer is probably the best of that series).

Any chance of any Derek Ford or more Stanley Long efforts on Indicator or is that more Screenbound's territory?

[MichaelB]

Indicator co-founders Sam Dunn and John Morrissey discuss this release starting at 01:03:43 in the latest edition (#35) of the Chasing Labels podcast.

[MichaelB]

Final specs:



Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976):



Adventures of a Private Eye (1977):



Adventures of a Plumber's Mate (1978):

[MichaelB]

An exhaustively detailed and very fair review, courtesy of We Are Cult.

When this collection was announced in January ’22, several eyebrows were raised and a lot of people seemed… displeased. True enough, it didn’t seem in keeping with Indicator’s usual style, but the doubters should’ve trusted that Sam Dunn and his associates knew what they were doing since this is a brilliant set. Whatever you feel about the films themselves – whether you choose to be appalled by the rampant sexism, repulsed by the lecherous and predatory behaviours (from men and women alike), or even perversely amused by some of the most heavy handed setups to ever exist in the name of farce – fans of bawdy ‘70s comedy should definitely take the opportunity to revisit these titles together with the copious bonus materials. The whole is far better than the sum of the (private) parts, resulting an interesting and offbeat addition to the Indicator catalogue. Don’t consider this a guilty pleasure – consider it an interesting but flawed slice of cult film history.

[MichaelB]

And another admirably thorough review, this time from Mondo Digital.

[Finch]

dvdcompare's review

From some quarters, the choice by Powerhouse Films to release these Stanley Long sex comedies has been a controversial one given the nature of most of Powerhouse's Indicator titles. However, I think it's a fabulous sign that they're widening their remit and range. Image and sound are as good as can be given the source elements and the extras are superb. For some, this set may be on the best of at year's end and I can't say I'd disagree with that assessment.

The Film: D+ Video: B- Audio: B- Extras: A+ Overall: B+

[MichaelB]

That's only a review of the first of the three discs - presumably he'll get around to the others in due course.

And there's a rather bizarre comment about the Best of the Adventures compilation:

The superior AVC codec means that this standard def upscale looks better than it ever has although an HD rebuild with clips from the newly mastered features would've improved things noticeably.

It really, really wouldn't!

First of all, the Peter Noble links were shot on interlaced PAL video framed at 4:3 - and they transition rather than cut to the film clips, so I'm not quite sure how Rick Curzon would propose handling those joins, even aside from the problem of going back and forth between SD and HD in a way that can't help but be jarring. The differing framerates would also be a headache, especially given that the end result would have to be compatible with US setups.

Secondly, the whole point of a nostalgic presentation like this is that it looks exactly like what people rented on VHS in terms of framing and content - he might as well argue that the Super 8 version of Adventures of a Private Eye should be replaced with clips from the HD master of the main feature.

And thirdly, of course, the open-matte framing allows you to see more than you did in the widescreen versions, and spotting the boom mic in one shot has its own nostalgia. And, inevitably, from time to time you can also spot, erm, perhaps more than some of the actors intended to reveal at the time.

(For similar reasons, although I framed the Arrow version of Russ Meyer's The Seven Minutes at what was clearly its intended widescreen projection ratio, I couldn't resist throwing in an Easter Egg of the scene where the porn-movie shoot is raided by the police, as the open-matte framing of Fox's master again revealed perhaps more than was supposed to be revealed.)

[reaky]

Simon Sheridan, contributor to the Adventures set and something of a Nabob of British 70s Naughtiness, has posted on Twitter that he’s signed up for three more boxes. Pre-orders must be healthy.

Start your speculation engines - could a Confessions set be in the offing?

[colinr0380]

Simon Sheridan, contributor to the Adventures set and something of a Nabob of British 70s Naughtiness, has posted on Twitter that he’s signed up for three more boxes. Pre-orders must be healthy.

Start your speculation engines - could a Confessions set be in the offing?

I don't know if it means anything but the edition I received a couple of days ago is 3343 of 6000 suggesting it is already half way into its limited run.

Maybe a general boxset of 70s British sex comedies. Rosie Dixon: Night Nurse comes to mind. Or maybe a Martin Campbell trilogy of his first films (before he went on to Goldeneye and The Mask of Zorro) The Sex Thief, Eskimo Nell and Three For All, especially since Eskimo Nell was based on an idea by Stanley Long. I'd love a Mary Millington boxset too. Or a Percy and Percy's Progress double!

And if it is going to be a series it might be worth trying to licence that 1995 BBC documentary Doing Rude Things too.

[MichaelB]

Much of what you’re calling for is - Eskimo Nell, Mary Millington’s back catalogue - is already out on BD in the UK (and with Simon Sheridan’s involvement).

[swo17]

Interesting that the first two of these films feature three actresses from another Indicator release

SpoilerShow

To Sir, with Love

[MichaelB]

Judy Geeson is certainly one of the most prolific Indicator performers, thanks to To Sir With Love, Berserk, 10 Rillington Place, Adventures of a Taxi Driver and of course Inseminoid.

[colinr0380]

Much of what you’re calling for is - Eskimo Nell, Mary Millington’s back catalogue - is already out on BD in the UK (and with Simon Sheridan’s involvement).

Oh, that's neat! I was not aware of those releases before now so I'll add them to my list (and I see that Network seem to have released one of the few 70s British sex films aired on the BBC, Keep It Up Downstairs on Blu-ray too!). Great to see Mary Millington getting a set to herself since she was one of the leading lights, and most tragic figures, of the 70s British sex film.

Interesting that the first two of these films feature three actresses from another Indicator release

SpoilerShow

To Sir, with Love

It is also worth noting that after To Sir, With Love one of the films released in the BFI Flipside series, Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, also starred Judy Geeson and Adrienne Posta who along with lead Barry Evans all moved across to Adventures of a Taxi Driver, which is the main reason why I picked up this set since I was surprisingly impressed by that film.

[MichaelB]

Beaver.

(hur-hur-hur, fnarr fnarr, hyuk hyuk, etc.)

[MichaelB]

I'm surprised Gary doesn't mention this, as it's certainly covered in the extras, but the reason for the marked difference in image quality between Adventures of a Taxi Driver and the others is that it was shot on 16mm for budgetary/logistical reasons. I suspect had Stanley Long known in advance what an unexpected megahit it would be (we fact-checked the rumour that it outgrossed Scorsese's Taxi Driver at the UK box office: 100% true), he'd have stretched the budget to 35mm, but hindsight is always a wonderful thing.

Oh, and if the man in the screengrab for the short Can You Keep It Up WIth This, That and the Other for a Week? looks vaguely familiar, that's because he's BFI curator/producer and prolific Indicator contributor Vic Pratt, who's the star of both that and Adventures of a Plumber In Outer Space.

[tenia]

All three movies look sourced from quite-not-recent HD masters, though.

[MichaelB]

A typically epic CineOutsider review of Stanley Long's Adventures. Illustrations are a tad NSFW at times.

If this box set only contained the films, then I'd probably not be recommending it to anyone but the curious or those with a particular liking for such works. But it doesn't. Not by a long shot. Watching the movies was one thing, but watching and listening to the plethora of superb special features was another thing entirely. Due to work and life commitments, it took me an age to get through them all, hence the appalling lateness of this review. But by the time I finished, Stanley Long had gone from being the director of three successful British sex comedies to one of the most fascinating and prolific filmmakers I have yet encountered. There is so much to discover here about him and the wide range of films that he worked on, and even if the Adventures films are not for you, this remarkable box set still gets my highest recommendation.