Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

ryan_morgello I don't know why this film was black and white. It really distracted me.

oneguyrambling The Notorious BeP reeks of being another gussied up biopic with largely fabricated events or versions only included to justify making the film in the first place. In fact were it not for the nudity I can see little memorable or notorious about this film at all – the same might be said for Ms Page herself.In the 50s America was quite a repressed and puritanical place, and despite all the subsequent changes in attitude and understanding every current affairs show still seems to inform us that this is still the case today.Anything vaguely interesting is quite illegal, especially vaguely interesting sex related things.Everything from now should be read with the following lead off sentence: "According to the film…" … young Bettie Page had a repressed childhood.… a rushed marriage failed when her husband treated her with disdain, and often violence.… Bettie decided a fresh start was in order and moved to New York. She enrolled in acting classes but when success – and cashflow – wasn't immediately forthcoming a random request to model by a photographer lead her into the industry.… Page's innocence meant few inhibitions, and this carefree attitude to nudity – and a beaming smile – lead to more popularity both from readers and lensmen, which in turn created more offers from more varied sources.… these "varied sources" end up being fetishist stuff including bondage and high heels. Bettie (apparently) adopts the "what the hey" attitude and embraces these new fads, giving her all to photographers, even if she didn't understand what people saw in these bizarre new trends.…even though she didn't think she was doing anything horribly wrong, Bettie still didn't give full disclosure to her own family.…one day a non-industry person opens up and gives Bettie the real public opinion on her antics.… Bettie is confused. After all, she never meant to be Notorious.Look the film seemed to me to give a fairly favourable account of Bettie's life and supplied a bunch of alibis and excuses, more or less saying she didn't choose the industry, it chose her. Gretchen Mol is effective as portraying Bettie as somewhat innocent and likable – even if remaining oblivious to what everyone thought for years seems improbable – and yes Gents she does get naked a few times for brief periods.Given that she herself thought the whole thing was a bit of a laugh you could hardly call these scenes hot or erotic though.Similarly as the filmmaker (at least to me) seemed to think making this film warranted excising any sense of Bettie selecting her career path – there are hardly any "bad eggs" to be found in an industry that must have been quite seedy and underground even a lifetime ago – thereby claiming the "nice girl who didn't know any better" card, I can hardly call it compelling or interesting viewing, but a sanitized version of what actually might have a happened.Final Rating – 5 / 10. For a film begging for notoriety in its very title, and pertaining to the life of a nude and fetish model, this is tame… and flaccid, stuff indeed.

Robert J. Maxwell In the 1890s you couldn't show an ankle, now the internet is awash in explicit sexuality of the most diverse sort. Bettie Page came somewhere in between, like the 1950s, when brassieres were conical and foundation garments (that is, girdles) were the ne plus ultra of sensuality in magazines with titles like "Tip and Toe" and "Black Stockings." It's probably an interesting story of Bettie Page's rise to fame as a model in these schlock magazines and movies but you won't find it here.What you find here is a rather routine story of a not-so-young girl from Nashville, Tennessee, who isn't ashamed of her body, despite the calumny of her family and the Baptist church She's a kind of Candide among sharks. Good thing too. There are one or two scenes of Gretchen Moll naked, full frontal, and a couple of reenactments of her role in mild S/M movies that ought to turn on the preverts among us and every British man on earth.I don't know why I should bother outlining the story. You could probably write it yourself between snoozes. Bettie, you'll be surprise to find out, relishes the prospect of giving pleasure to others, as long as it preserves her virtue. In fact there is a nicely done scene of Bettie being unwittingly lured into a gang bang as a youth, probably fabricated. Oh, and there's also a suggestion of sexual abuse. Ho hum.Sadly, once she gets into the major leagues, her managers push the envelope too far and she gets into trouble. And all because she's a Rousseauian savage.This is an HBO production. They've come up with some fine, challenging stuff -- Citizen X and others -- but this isn't one of them.I have a poster of Bettie Page on the wall of my hallway. She's not particularly attractive. I'll tell you why it's there. I have a preverted brother who was fond of her. And I have a young lady chat friend who is an Argentinian midget who asked if I knew anything about her. Queries from two such sources were impossible to forget, so I ordered a poster. Haven't looked at it in years.

LeroyBrown-2 Bettie Page was an icon of the '50s, she has been called the pin up queen, the bondage queen among others. She was without doubt one of the most photograph women of the decade gracing countless girlie magazines. She would also gain notoriety for appearing in numerous one reel burlesque films as well as bondage films. Whereas there were hundreds of women who did the same things as Bettie, most of them disappeared into obscurity. Miss Page would have a revival of sorts in the 1970's and cement her position as an icon of the 1950's. This movie "The Notorious Bettie Page", is a film biography of Miss Page. In many ways it's a typical biography and in some ways it isn't. Had this been made for Lifetime television it would probably portray Bettie as a victim of men. Early in the movie we see this to be somewhat true. We see her being possibly abused by her father, being married young and having to deal with an abusive husband and going on a car trip with a stranger and nothing good happening. Instead of seeing a broken woman though, as would be a case in a Lifetime movie what emerge is a stronger and more confident Bettie. When she finally make it to New York we see her as a woman not afraid to take on new challenges. It's interesting how this movie portrays the porn industry of that era. We don't see mobsters running things, what we see is a more mom and pop business. Yes it's still a low class industry but one that where the participants actually enjoy being with each other. We don't see Bettie get pushed or threatened to do something against her will. As a matter of fact the threats come more from the Authorities, particularly from politicians who want to make a name for themselves. This is where the movie really divert from what could have been just a typical biography. It shows us the attitude towards sex during that era. There's obviously a demand for it but the authorities continue to have a very restrictive attitude. Bettie and her cohorts are threatened with jail time even though what they were doing was basically tame. In the heart of this movie is Gretchen Mol. She gives a magnificent performance. How the Oscars overlooked her I don't know. I have to admit I have had a crush on Miss Mol for a while now and I thought not only did she looked great in this movie she also showed her acting ability. Yes she did a lot of nudity in this film but what's so remarkable is that she was so at ease in front of the camera pretty much what you see with the real Bettie Page. When she spoke, she spoke with a natural southern accent and even her voice sounded different. I couldn't think of a better actress for the role. Gretchen Mol won me over with her looks a long time ago, this time she won me over with her acting."The Notorious Bettie Page" is more than your typical film biography, it shows us the inner strength of a woman and the rather unhealthy attitude toward sex of a particular era. On top of that we get a dazzling performance from a beautiful and talented actress.