Bettie Page Reveals All (2013)

Let me tell ya - By the time that this celebrity-documentary called "Bettie Page Reveals All" had come to its closing credits - I found myself seriously wishing that Bettie Page (who provided narration throughout) had refrained from "revealing all" as she did in this decidedly disillusioning story.And, what it was that I wished Bettie hadn't revealed to me had to do with her "born-again" conversion to Christianity.... I mean, here was a very uninhibited woman (in her youth) who gleefully sold herself as a sex-object (for the lusting eyes of men and lesbians) - And, yet, in the same breath, she was claiming how much she loved the bible and all that it represented (in the name of morals and personal ethics).This religious revelation of Bettie's struck me as being so hypocritical that, by the time the whole show was over, I was totally fed-up with this deluded woman and saw her as, pretty much, just a self-deceiving bimbo.Anyway - I don't totally write-off this documentary as being worthless. No. There certainly were some segments in it that were actually quite entertaining, especially when it came to focusing in on Bettie's somewhat brief-but-productive career as a soft-core pin-up girl of the 1950's.

Believe me - When it comes right down to being "naughty-but-nice" - I'd definitely say that Bettie Page, the all-American, pin-up girl, (whose heyday was the 1950's) was certainly the #1 sweetheart in the erotic realm of kink & fetish. (Spanky-Spanky) As a model for such magazines with titles like "Teasarama" - Bettie Page was certainly no stick-figure super-model as we so often see today. No. This full-figured gal was all boobs and butt. And, yes, she was totally uninhibited about displaying her ample charms to the camera.Through a vast collection of dazzling stills and film clips, as well as narration by Bettie Page, herself (at the age of 70+) - Director Mark Mori reveals to the audience a "Bettie Page" as she's never been seen nor heard before.*Note* - The censors have deemed this DVD as being "restricted" material due to its obvious sexual content. Viewer discretion is advised!

After seeing the trailer a couple months ago, I was excited to see that it had been recently put onto Netflix. It had been on my list for a couple of days and last night I finally got around to watching it. The movie opens and I'm immediately introduced with some of the worst font I've ever seen (comic sans?) then onto some cheesy background music (which I assume had been taken from public domain due to a lack of budget), a montage of Bettie's influence on modern pop culture (some of which were used multiple times and mirrored), some talking heads, and D- List celebrity praise (i.e Perez Hilton). I thought for a minute I was just being too harsh and decided to keep watching but realized that the whole movie was going to be filled with this. What stands out clearly is the odd pacing, very little cinematography (putting a camera on a tripod while someone talks), googled images (some of which had other television company logos on them), and random stock cartoons that serve no purpose other than to fill gaps while Bettie talks. I understand it's probably hard to revolve a whole movie around some audio recordings but why not actually go to the places she's talking about and film the locations? It made me think of another film that only used audio interviewers is the Kurt Cobain documentary About a Son, which is filled with amazing cinematography put to the audio. One part in particular that blew my mind was when Bettie was explaining her abuse as a child as well as her lousy upbringing, which seemed like a sad and compelling story then all of a sudden SMACK here's another loud cheesy song, some cartoons, and then there's Bettie at 29. Wait, where did the other 19 years go? In doing a biography on someone aren't those formative years? I understand if those years were boring and had nothing to do with the actual story of the person but child abuse and a lousy upbringing could have explained A LOT about how a person develops and why they do what they do later in life. To me, this felt very disrespectful to the viewers and to her story.It's clear that the director admired Bettie Page and that she clearly felt the same way. Bettie granted him permission to interview her and the recordings (which is probably the only known recordings of her voice/latter years) were used as the narration for the film. Having learned this after the seeing the trailer, as well as being interested in her, I was pretty excited to see this film. I haven't seen anything that Mark Mori has done. I'm aware that he is a Oscar nominated director but that was also 13 years ago and he hasn't done much since. It looks like a documentary that a person would have made in 2001 on a very basic editing system. I've never reviewed a film or felt inclined to do so on IMDb. I have mixed feelings towards my generation of "YELPers" but I couldn't ignore this due to the high rating on here. I feel like people give slack to documentaries just because the subject matter is interesting. Yes, the story of Bettie Page is phenomenal and I did learn more about her from watching this but the poor film making is hard to ignore. I only hope that this movie doesn't deter more ambitious people from doing something with this story.

As a fan of pinup girls I knew of Bettie Page as the ultimate starlet. Page is a legend, but I did not know the story behind the doll face. Directed by Mark Mori, Bettie Page Reveals All is a fascinating movie on the life of Bettie Page. Not only does it show case never before shared secrets, it is narrated by the Page herself. You learn of the ups and downs that she faced and how she resurfaced after many years living far from the spotlight. This movie is fun, sassy, and a good story of a legendary beauty from Tennessee Bettie Page. Even if you never heard of Bettie Page, I am sure that you have seen her influence in pop culture. The lady with dark bangs and milky skin with the hour glass figure is an American Icon. The movie also touches on some of the unexpected consequences of the conservative 50s and how Page became a renegade in her art. by Dr. Wilson Trivino