Autumn Born

All the acting is poor. The plot is weak. The film is merely a vehicle to display Dorothy Stratten's body. On that count, well done. But, even that is not enough to maintain an interest to the end.

Dorothy Stratten is a haughty, self-absorbed girl who spends recklessly and goes to discotheques in the middle of the day. She's going to turn 18 in a few months...at that time she will accede authority in her late father's financial empire, much to the chagrin of her uncle who is currently in-charge. He concedes that the only way to avoid her interference in the family business is to have her drugged and swept-off to a covert and very pricey corrective obedience-training facility overseen by a hatchet-faced lesbian and her deranged lackeys. Gradual disempowerment through physical, sexual, and psychological torment proves successful. The girl's spirit is broken, rendering her a docile and obedient subordinate(with a "thing" for the "ladies"). Surprise! She also gets the family fortune.

Ms. Stratten was a stellar beauty, and that beauty is showcased here in a multitude of ways...we see her helplessly tethered, trussed, and fettered, and donned in a variety of lingerie, corsets, and slinky dresses(when she's not nude, of course). It shouldn't surprise that her presence is the cynosure attraction of AUTUMN BORN, and that the production itself is patternedly frugal. This is not to say it's a BAD picture, just that it's traveling noticeably light in several departments. And, as is often the case with erotic cinema, it's pitched with that recherché, pseudo-European sfumato-softness...an obvious effort to veil the film's sleazy soft-porn bedrock beneath a gauzy layer of feigned Left Bank delicacies and specious artistic intent.

Not too bad of its type, actually, and with Dorothy on board, any old thing becomes watchable(even the otherwise abortive GALAXINA).

4.5/10.

Wow, what a terrible movie! If not for the star of this "movie" nobody would give this story the time of day. Dorothy is very attractive and gives an ok performance of an 18 year old girl being forced to submit. The only problem is that the story drags on with no interesting characters besides Dorothy. Also, the story goes nowhere! The ending is total garbage as the audience is left confused at what is happening. Who wins? What is going to happen? Is this a happy ending? If you are going to make a movie about dominating, show it! The movie teases its audience. Very little nudity for an 80 minute movie. Unless you are a fan of the former Playboy model, this movie is junk.

My review was written in July 1983 after watching a Monterey video cassette.

Made in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1979, "Autumn Born" is an unreleased softcore pornography feature which would have undoubtedly have remained in the vault except that it toplines the late Dorothy Stratten, former Playboy playmate and victim of a sensational murder. Of obvious curiosity value, this amateurish film is currently circulating on the home video market.

Already the subject of a tv biopic starring Jamie Lee Curtis and an upcoming Bob Fosse-helmed biopic starring Mariel Hemingway, Stratten is featured here in the film's lead role, that of heiress Tara Dawson, who is kidnapped on her uncle's orders and taken to Morgan Estates, an "obedience" school for girls.

Tedious picture lamely attempts to present Victorian-era porno in modern guise, with poor Stratten subjected to frequent birching and sensory deprivation in four months of isolation, in order to break her spirit and have her sign over her inheritance to the uncle. Bondage motifs and a stock lesbian head mistress of the school are the primary diversions of the repetitive, uneventful footage.

Though there are some nude scenes. The sexual content of "Autumn Born" is quite tame by contemporary standards. Stratten is literally on display in her undergarments for voyeuristic purposes, but the device ultimately becomes fetishisticl Amidst generally awful, one-take acting by the cast, her transition from sexy 17-year-old to submissive little girl is earnestly portrayed and projects some of the appeal shown in her smaller role in Peter Bodganovich's "They All Laughed" and far more interesting than her walkthrough as a robot in her other film "Galaxina".

Ragged editing, sloppy sound and a dull keyboards musical score create a dull film, which is heavily padded by opening and end creidts to reach a 75-minute feature length.

Many elements of this movie went into Bob Fosse's film. He watched this movie and took a lot of its music, other things like that for his film. There are many campy elements that Fosse picked up on that have made this a cult movie. Dorothy driving a (I think) Rolls is a beautiful shot, you wish you were blonde and rich in 1979. Dorothy's talking style is similar to many of us girls when people have accused us of talking wooden or stilted when it is our natural speaking voice, which makes a girl feel better that we talk as good as an actress. When she tells the other girl "you're a really nice person" my friend said, she says it just like you and then I knew it wasn't really wooden.

The other actors are quite interesting in their delivery, and there is a weird little music that plays over the intercom. Dorothy yelling, stop playing that bloody music is a high point and makes you feel comfortable, if you grew up hearing people yell bloody fool and things like that.

She looks her stunning self in every scene. The end is quite clear, the uncle is trapped and they will all live in the mansion with the uncle in the little room.

The best campy line is the woman saying, when Dorothy is about to paint her toes, Oh no, I detest that rustic shade! All the elements make it a bizarre, high camp movie. But for soome reason easygoing, tolerant people can barely sit through it once.