Barbarella

Jane Fonda became a cinema sex kitten thanks to this campy 1968 psychedelic romp, which channels Buck Rogers by way of the Marquis de Sade in the era of free love and pop art (she opens the film with a zero-gravity striptease just barely obscured by the credits). Produced by Italian Dino De Laurentiis, directed by French eroticist Roger Vadim (Fonda's then-husband), and adapted from a risqué French comic strip by American satirist Terry Southern and others, Barbarella also features an international cast. Fonda's Barbarella is an intergalactic astronaut searching for a rogue scientist named Durand-Durand (Milo O'Shea). When she crash-lands on the planet Tau Ceti, she's ready to make love and war with equal fervor—and wide-eyed naïveté. Among her handsome helpmates are hairy hunter Mark Hand (Ugo Tognazzi), clumsy rebel Dildano (David Hemmings), and blind, blond angel Pygar (John Phillip Law). Barbarella also encounters friendly Professor Ping (Marcel Marceau), as well as formidable opposition in the form of the Great Tyrant, aka the Black Queen (Anita Pallenberg), who rules Tau Ceti. The sum of the parts is adolescent fantasy posing as sci-fi, like a suggestive pulp paperback cover come to life, with set design and wild color triumphing over story and character. The special effects have all the sophistication of a 1950s B-movie in fetish gear, but that's part of the fun. Bowing on Blu-ray with a superb-looking transfer, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)