For the title MOTHER KNOWS BEST, I am reviewing the soft-core near-classic from 1971 starring Suzanne Fields and Candy Samples, NOT the 1970 NYC Kirt Films production which was listed in the AFI book devoted to the 1961-1970 period of releases.
In porn Thomas J. Manning's MOTHER KNOWS BEST is a prime example of "high-concept" - a can't miss pairing of Candy & Suzanne that I found immensely entertaining 43 years later via an Alpha Blue Archives DVD resurrection, but it peters out terribly in the last few reels. Could have been a classic.
Candy portrays Flame Fletcher, a prostitute raising her young daughter Flower (Suzanne Fields, in pigtails with Raggedy Ann doll in tow, styled convincingly to look underage, as this film was made before child pornography laws were tightened up). She teaches Flower about sex and even pimps out the kid, though with ground rules to protect her (apparently from rough stuff). If this sounds off-color or in poor taste, filmmakers Ben Rose and Manning create a genial, no-harm-done atmosphere from the outset which gives MOTHER a near fantasy-like parallel world tone that is consistently fun instead of offensive. The two actresses are so comfortable together as a perfectly conceived team that any soft porn fan should be in heaven during the setup reels.
Opening scene is indicative of the tongue-firmly-in-cheek approach: Flower goes to mommy's bedroom for a snuggle but finds she's sleeping with a John, so Suzanne remarks: "I didn't know you were working". The guy wakes up and informs Flame he has no money to pay her for the sex, but offers her a check. Flame declares she is heading for Hollywood, driving there with her daughter and will settle up with him when she gets back.
With Candy behind the wheel, the girls' dirty talk banter is fun, and split-beaver closeups give the soft-core fans their money's worth. Film is not hardcore porn even though both stars were doing tons of XXX work at the time it was made. (I don't think it would have played as well with explicit sex, though I would have thought that dual versions should have been shot just to cover the producers' bets.)
They stop off at a motel en route managed by Mason Motley (Norman Fields -no relation - sporting a Moe Howard hairpiece) and his busty wife Marie (Bambi Allen). Escorting duo to their room, Marie has lesbian hots for them, smacking her lips and fantasizing mom & kid naked in a technique as old as IMMORAL MR. TEAS.
Once ensconced on their big new bed Candy & Suzanne engage in slow-mo frolicking & exercising which is a classic sequence, now immortalized by ABA on its new "Retro Starlets" trailer appended to new video releases. It reveals a classic side by side comparison of two opposite poles of ultimate (porn) feminine allure for the voyeur to choose from - the contribution made by MOTHER KNOWS BEST to film history; Candy is no beauty but she remains the archetype of print mag/film big-bust hotness. And Suzanne is the original looks-underage nymphet.
When Motley visits, Flame immediately pimps out her daughter and gets horny watching as he does Flower doggy-style. He next takes Flame from behind in the shower very artfully stylized by filming through pebbled-glass door. Next morning Marie visits and is informed by Flame that they have no money to pay for the motel stay. Marie takes it out in trade. Flame uses this as an opportunity to instruct Flower in the art of lesbian lovemaking, and her fingering of Marie in close-up perilously approaches XXX explicitness, followed by Flower joining in for a threesome. They then re-embark on their trip to Hollywood.
At this point the film falters and becomes shockingly bad -not enough to cancel out the previous enjoyment but dismaying nonetheless. We are "treated" to an endless scene in L.A. of Buck Flower (the annoying but cult-followed figure of umpteen sleaze and porn films) as Boris Clitoris, a pimp giving his whore Molly a hard time because she hasn't coughed up the cash proceeds.
Director Ben Rose presents what seems like a 10-minute static scene in just two shots (latter a reverse angle) as Buck goes through evidently an old, old vaudeville routine berating her as she only comes up with six bucks for two days' work. She plays this as porn's answer to Gracie Allen's ditsy routine opposite George Burns. Buck's punchline of "Six dollars and twenty-eight cents - I can run away with Ann-Margret" is not worth waiting for.
Flame's station wagon literally runs out of gas, and while the gals are sitting around near the curb Boris accosts them and brings them back to his pad, where his stable of hookers sit around drawing on hookah pipes. One huge-breasted girl covered in body painted messages dances around with Suzanne, and Fields is beautifully photographed from extreme low-angle in slow-mo topless in the only (brief) footage of the final reels that is worthwhile. Buck sucks Candy's nipples in close-up and a bearded John visits, with Flower pretending he's her daddy -from the opening credits he would either be producer Manning or director Rose, likely using the occasion of making this film as an excuse to sidle up to the femme stars for real.
Film's coda is preposterously stupid: a brief scene out of nowhere has a chauffeured Cadillac dropping off an all-grown-up and smartly dressed Fields as voice-over states "The flower is in full bloom", and tag-line is Mother Knows Best. This was undoubtedly tacked onto the film which had no ending.
For the legion of Fields and Samples fans out there, you gotta see this baby.
In porn Thomas J. Manning's MOTHER KNOWS BEST is a prime example of "high-concept" - a can't miss pairing of Candy & Suzanne that I found immensely entertaining 43 years later via an Alpha Blue Archives DVD resurrection, but it peters out terribly in the last few reels. Could have been a classic.
Candy portrays Flame Fletcher, a prostitute raising her young daughter Flower (Suzanne Fields, in pigtails with Raggedy Ann doll in tow, styled convincingly to look underage, as this film was made before child pornography laws were tightened up). She teaches Flower about sex and even pimps out the kid, though with ground rules to protect her (apparently from rough stuff). If this sounds off-color or in poor taste, filmmakers Ben Rose and Manning create a genial, no-harm-done atmosphere from the outset which gives MOTHER a near fantasy-like parallel world tone that is consistently fun instead of offensive. The two actresses are so comfortable together as a perfectly conceived team that any soft porn fan should be in heaven during the setup reels.
Opening scene is indicative of the tongue-firmly-in-cheek approach: Flower goes to mommy's bedroom for a snuggle but finds she's sleeping with a John, so Suzanne remarks: "I didn't know you were working". The guy wakes up and informs Flame he has no money to pay her for the sex, but offers her a check. Flame declares she is heading for Hollywood, driving there with her daughter and will settle up with him when she gets back.
With Candy behind the wheel, the girls' dirty talk banter is fun, and split-beaver closeups give the soft-core fans their money's worth. Film is not hardcore porn even though both stars were doing tons of XXX work at the time it was made. (I don't think it would have played as well with explicit sex, though I would have thought that dual versions should have been shot just to cover the producers' bets.)
They stop off at a motel en route managed by Mason Motley (Norman Fields -no relation - sporting a Moe Howard hairpiece) and his busty wife Marie (Bambi Allen). Escorting duo to their room, Marie has lesbian hots for them, smacking her lips and fantasizing mom & kid naked in a technique as old as IMMORAL MR. TEAS.
Once ensconced on their big new bed Candy & Suzanne engage in slow-mo frolicking & exercising which is a classic sequence, now immortalized by ABA on its new "Retro Starlets" trailer appended to new video releases. It reveals a classic side by side comparison of two opposite poles of ultimate (porn) feminine allure for the voyeur to choose from - the contribution made by MOTHER KNOWS BEST to film history; Candy is no beauty but she remains the archetype of print mag/film big-bust hotness. And Suzanne is the original looks-underage nymphet.
When Motley visits, Flame immediately pimps out her daughter and gets horny watching as he does Flower doggy-style. He next takes Flame from behind in the shower very artfully stylized by filming through pebbled-glass door. Next morning Marie visits and is informed by Flame that they have no money to pay for the motel stay. Marie takes it out in trade. Flame uses this as an opportunity to instruct Flower in the art of lesbian lovemaking, and her fingering of Marie in close-up perilously approaches XXX explicitness, followed by Flower joining in for a threesome. They then re-embark on their trip to Hollywood.
At this point the film falters and becomes shockingly bad -not enough to cancel out the previous enjoyment but dismaying nonetheless. We are "treated" to an endless scene in L.A. of Buck Flower (the annoying but cult-followed figure of umpteen sleaze and porn films) as Boris Clitoris, a pimp giving his whore Molly a hard time because she hasn't coughed up the cash proceeds.
Director Ben Rose presents what seems like a 10-minute static scene in just two shots (latter a reverse angle) as Buck goes through evidently an old, old vaudeville routine berating her as she only comes up with six bucks for two days' work. She plays this as porn's answer to Gracie Allen's ditsy routine opposite George Burns. Buck's punchline of "Six dollars and twenty-eight cents - I can run away with Ann-Margret" is not worth waiting for.
Flame's station wagon literally runs out of gas, and while the gals are sitting around near the curb Boris accosts them and brings them back to his pad, where his stable of hookers sit around drawing on hookah pipes. One huge-breasted girl covered in body painted messages dances around with Suzanne, and Fields is beautifully photographed from extreme low-angle in slow-mo topless in the only (brief) footage of the final reels that is worthwhile. Buck sucks Candy's nipples in close-up and a bearded John visits, with Flower pretending he's her daddy -from the opening credits he would either be producer Manning or director Rose, likely using the occasion of making this film as an excuse to sidle up to the femme stars for real.
Film's coda is preposterously stupid: a brief scene out of nowhere has a chauffeured Cadillac dropping off an all-grown-up and smartly dressed Fields as voice-over states "The flower is in full bloom", and tag-line is Mother Knows Best. This was undoubtedly tacked onto the film which had no ending.
For the legion of Fields and Samples fans out there, you gotta see this baby.
