Uncle Scoopy's Fun House

Alvin Purple

(1973)

I thought it would be about time I recapped one of the iconic films in the history of film in Australia. I first capped (and watched) Alvin Purple in 2004 and boy there's a helluva lot of nudity in it. It's a bit of a culture shock to watch now as the film is incredibly sexist and bordering on troubling, particularly the plot point of a psychiatrist sending frigid women to Alvin to loosen them up, only for the incredibly sleazy psychiatrist to film it all without permission and sell them to stag parties. While Alvin Purple is very much made as a piece of entertainment, it also has an interesting take on sex and how women handle it. Sure, the term nymphomaniac gets uttered numerous times (and let's face it, only women are nymphos), but the film also looks at the burgeoning of female sexuality. Well, in between massive dollops of nudity. Overall, Alvin Purple is well worth a look, it's quite a fun film even when it becomes questionable and men don't come out of the film looking all that well, although Alvin goes about redeeming himself to the one girl he actually likes. The same can't be said of the two follow up films which are both pretty appalling, particularly the slipshod Alvin Rides Again.

It's funny, but with all the nude women in the film, the woman I liked the most in the film is Elli Maclure (as does Alvin...), who doesn't get naked in the film (although she does in The True Story in Eskimo Nell, as does Elke Neidhardt, Kris McQuade and Abigail who all appear in Alvin Purple). When I rewatched the movie recently I kept trying to think of which modern actress Elli reminds me of and I finally came up with Ashleigh Cummings, who's in the upcoming Puberty Blues TV series, both in how she looks and their voices are similar.

Over the next couple of days, I will release collages and videos from the 1974 follow up Alvin Rides Again, featuring many of the same actresses as Alvin Purple and the 1984 follow up Melvin, Son of Alvin, a film which while still in the same style, has ten further years of female sexuality to deal with.

Featuring below are videos from the recent showing of Alvin Purple on the HD channel (thank you Channel 9, if only your dramas had the same care that you give movies), sadly cut as films rated R in Australia (which Alvin Purple is) cannot play uncut on Australian TV and videos from the uncut DVD. The edits are relatively minor and only affect two videos (the Debbie Nankervis and Elke Neidhardt videos). Ah well...

All clips in 1080hd, with summary sheets or collages beneath:

Anne Pendlebury