All at Sea

1977, vhs

Johnny's comments:

All At Sea is a 1977 bawdy TV movie which stars the members of a game show called The Celebrity Game, where a bunch of stuff happens at an island resort. Mostly, it's just everyone is horny and 'comedy' ensues and plus some con artist is posing as a priest and plans to fleece the people of the island.

Oh, and Abigail turns up and briefly shows her breasts.

A terrible, wholly uninspiring movie that's clearly a cash-in for a popular TV show. The comedy is typical bawdy comedy stuff, with horny, snivelling men attempting to sleep with Abigail and some of the others. Usually I'd say something like this movie was probably funny when it was released but I seriously doubt that was the case as the jokes are so tired although I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh a couple of times at some OK, not bawdy jokes.

All At Sea actually got a DVD release from Umbrella which is far more than it deserves.

Abigail (Rogan) film clip (collages below)

Summer of Secrets

1976, vhs

Johnny's comments:

Summer Of Secrets is a 1976 drama where a loved up couple Kim (Nell Campbell) and Steve (Andrew Sharp) arrive on an isolated island where they squat at an abandoned house and settle in for a while. Meanwhile, they are being watched by the only other inhabitants of the island Dr. Adams (Arthur Dignam) and his helpful assistant Bob (Rufus Collins). Turns out the doctor is obsessed with his former wife, a famous actress Rachel (Kate Fitzpatrick) who has probably died and with Bob is obsessively trying to recreate her most famous movie to relive her memory. And you wouldn't believe it but Kim looks very similar to Rachel so the doctor kidnaps her and forces her to help in the recreation of the movie. Steve goes looking for her but finds himself in peril when Bob chases him off. But when Steve finally confronts the doctor, it turns out that Rachel is very much alive but incapacitated and he's trying to rehabilitate her. Unsurprisingly strange movie from director Jim Sharman, his next movie after The Rocky Horror Picture Show, again with Nell Campbell (also Rufus Collins is an extra in the movie). It's a hard movie to make sense of as it's not a thriller and while it's probably a drama, the movie's ending is fairly anticlimactic and no one seems to have any urgency to get things done. Even the kidnapping is low key and Kim even seems to like impersonating Rachel and the four main characters seems to hit it off fine until Rachel gets back on her feet. The movie is interesting but feels underdone with little dramatic tension but it does have that trademark odd humour that Sharman likes putting in his movies best exemplified by a scene at a general store.

As always with movies capped from VHS rips, the quality of Summer of Secrets is down and the video is pretty soft and not of great quality but it is watchable. Considering the movie is pretty much forgotten and I doubt it will be upgraded to a better quality. It's only chance is if someone does a Jim Sharman retrospective, which I'm surprised it hasn't been done considering the more fairly popular movies he's known for.

Nell Campbell film clip (collages below)