Midnight Blue: The Deep Throat Special Edition

REVIEW
In what must easily stand as the single most bizarre exploitation-themed DVD release of the year, the apparently ongoing Midnight Blue Collection presents their inaugural volume, The Deep Throat Special Edition. “Midnight Blue” was, from 1975 until 2002, infamous Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein’s late-night NYC cable television program devoted to the sex industry, and this DVD collects a little over two hours’ worth of footage from the show, most of which is devoted to Goldstein interviewing key participants in the perennial porn groundbreaker Deep Throat: director Gerard Damiano (there to promote his then-current S&M opus The Story of Joanna; clips are shown from both this film and Throat), actors Harry Reems (who was criminally prosecuted for his involvement in the film) and Carol Connors (yes, apparently the rumors are true – she is indeed Thora Birch’s mother), and Linda Lovelace’s manager and reported abuser Chuck Traynor (who seems strangely mild-mannered, given all previous accounts).

Goldstein has little or no television charisma (and is obviously a pig to boot), and the interviews provide minimal insight into the adult film industry in general, though Goldstein and Reems share an amusing combative chemistry – and the whole compilation is still an improvement over the glib, facile Inside Deep Throat documentary. But the DVD still belongs on your shelf next to a copy of the superb recent book “The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry” as an illuminatingly sleazy glimpse into the 1970s/80s “Golden Age” of hardcore porn.

More fascinating than the interviews and film clips are the actual commercials that appeared during the program, many of which are interspersed throughout the DVD: astonishingly bacchanalian advertisements for everything from NYC swingers’ clubs, porn theaters, and escort services, to sex shops, adult toys, and one little commercial that must be seen to be believed (“Promise her anything – but give her Synth-Coke!”). The DVD provides a vivid look at an era long gone, and – gripes about Goldstein’s interview skills (and the poor video quality contained herein, which is admittedly unavoidable) aside – one looks forward to future Midnight Blue Collection volumes for more walks on the seamy side.