MetaFilter Goes Nudist
March 1, 2006 9:15 AM   Subscribe

She made movies. They were cheap, They were shot in her apartment. She didn't film in sound, and so, when characters spoke, rather than sync the sound, she often cut away to objects in the room, or the feet of those who were speaking.

Her films had titles like Nude on the Moon, Bad Girls Go to Hell, and Blaze Starr Goes Nudist.

She was Doris Wishman
posted by Astro Zombie (28 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
And I love her.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:15 AM on March 1, 2006


Weird - I was just yesterday reading an essay on the Chesty Morgan films in this book. It's a boob-tastic convergence!

And, yeah, Doris Wishman was great.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:21 AM on March 1, 2006


I'm glad to know that you're with me, Dr. Wu.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:23 AM on March 1, 2006


I should include here a nice quotation from Wishman which serves as an epigraph for that article:
"Let me tell you something. All movies are exploitation movies."

Well said, indeed.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:26 AM on March 1, 2006


Great post Mr Zombie!
posted by Jofus at 9:27 AM on March 1, 2006


Nude on the Moon...

Terrific title (as well as film description in the link). But don't you need to wear at least, like, a space helmet or something to stay alive up there?
posted by LeLiLo at 9:29 AM on March 1, 2006


Oh my goodness, I didn't realize there were sound clips.
posted by LeLiLo at 9:32 AM on March 1, 2006


Not if your a moon nudist! The earth astronauts, however, wear space suits.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:32 AM on March 1, 2006


Also, Nude on the Moon has the advantage of being pretty much the most self explanatory film title ever: They're nude, they're on the moon, who wants popcorn?
posted by Jofus at 9:33 AM on March 1, 2006


awesome. I remember I first found out about Ms. Wishman when I caught some HBO documentary about her. fascinating woman.
posted by shmegegge at 9:34 AM on March 1, 2006






Since Sam Jackson is in it, I always thought that film should be called Snakes on a Motherfucking Plane.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:11 AM on March 1, 2006


Finally, something on metafilter lives up to the sexiness implied.
posted by drezdn at 10:20 AM on March 1, 2006


Matt Diamond discusses Snakes on a Plane.
posted by joecacti at 10:55 AM on March 1, 2006


That was some of the worst porn I've ever seen!
posted by Pollomacho at 11:03 AM on March 1, 2006


Doris Wishman has the honor of creating the movie that drive-in movie reviewer Joe Bob Briggs calls the most disturbing he's ever seen: Let Me Die a Woman, featuring footage from transsexual operations.
posted by Aknaton at 11:19 AM on March 1, 2006


Oooh, I used to love watching her movies. My fave was "Bad Girls Go To Hell". Great stuff if you're drinking booze and it's dark outside.
posted by stinkycheese at 11:27 AM on March 1, 2006


My favorite part is when the two astronauts are sitting right next to each other in their spacecraft. Instead of talking directly to each other, they communicate to each other by radio!

Isn't that what actually happens in space/aircraft?
posted by Pollomacho at 11:36 AM on March 1, 2006


I recall being disappointed that Nude on the Moon should really have been called Topless on the Moon. I guess that shows you what my priorities were.
posted by Soulfather at 11:57 AM on March 1, 2006


I would have called it Vavoom on the Moon, but I'm all about renaming films today.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:12 PM on March 1, 2006


I first read about her in Re/Search's Incredibly Strange Films, and saw part of Bad Girls Go To Hell at a party. It was double-billed with a John Waters flick and the whole sordid atmosphere was fantastic.
Here's hoping she makes a lot of films in hell!
posted by Zack_Replica at 1:19 PM on March 1, 2006


Ah, Doris, How I love ye...

Bad Girls Go to Hell is one of my favorites. As is the case in so many of her films, money was saved by having as few sync sound shots as possible. As a result when someone is talking, the shot almost always goes over to the other person. Thus, the 'two talking heads' shot, which is a staple of cinema is reversed into the 'two reacting heads' shot. It gives the movies this weird, dreamy feeling, like every person is an omniscient narrator.

Man, they're fun to watch. Oh, and good old-fashioned nudity from a pre-aerobis era. mmmmmm....
posted by lumpenprole at 1:36 PM on March 1, 2006


uh, that was supposed to be 'aerobics'.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:01 PM on March 1, 2006


I think one of the first Sinus Shows (formerly Mr. Sinus Theater 3000) ever was Nude on the Moon. They went on to do another Wishman film, Double Agent 73.
posted by blendor at 2:33 PM on March 1, 2006


I'm glad to know that you're with me, Dr. Wu.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:23 AM PST on March 1 [!]

Yes.
He's really just a shadow of the man that you once knew.
posted by zoinks at 3:18 PM on March 1, 2006


I'm sure he gets that all the time, but it's irresistable.

By the way, my favorite thing about Wishman's films is her use of jazz on the soundtrack. Anyone familiar with Something Weird videos is familiar with one such piece, as they use the theme to one of her filsm as one of their themes -- a diminishing riff consisting of an attack of brass horns with wild drums in the background.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:33 PM on March 1, 2006


absolutely, I agreed with you
posted by farnastic at 5:10 PM on March 3, 2006


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