Sex at 24 Frames Per Second

From the first big movie kiss (the 1896 Edison short "The Kiss") to Diane Lane's mental savoring of an illicit tryst while riding home on a train in 2002's Unfaithful, Kevin Burns' documentary survey Sex at 24 Frames Per Second is more show than tell, serving up acres of skin (overwhelmingly female), from Maureen O'Sullivan (swimming nude with Johnny Weissmuller in the 1934 pre-Code film Tarzan and His Mate) and Marilyn Monroe's peek-a-boo towel slip in the uncompleted Something's Got to Give, to Phoebe Cates' bosom-baring shot in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Sharon Stone's woman-on-top-with-ice pick lovemaking in Basic Instinct. In all fairness, a host of interesting interviewees offer all-too-brief sound bites to add a fine patina of respectability to this "Playboy presents" production, including James Petersen (author of The Century of Sex), social critic Camille Paglia, noted film critics Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin, not-so-noted film critic Hugh Hefner, and various people from the biz (directors Adrian Lyne and Paul Verhoeven, and stars Raquel Welch, Patty Duke, and Robert Culp, among others). Sex at 24 Frames Per Second is, ultimately, a popular history-lite overview of sex in cinema (although there is a fine late '60s vintage film clip of Charlton Heston explaining the new rating system--with a humorous cut to a shot of his naked butt in Planet of the Apes) that boasts some wonderful early clips (Mae West, Jane Russell, Elizabeth Taylor) and less impressive contemporary clips (some of the final scenes are from The Ice Storm, Boys Don't Cry, There's Something About Mary, The Full Monty, and Swimfan, all Fox films--and not incidentally, since Fox is a co-producer on the doc). Of course, foreign cinema is pretty much reduced to Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren (not even a mention of Betty Blue or the films of Catherine Breillat). With no explicit sex shown, this would be a perfectly reasonable selection for a general collection--disappointing on a critical level, but sure to be popular nonetheless. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)