Brigitte Bardot: 5-Film Collection

She was a waif-like Marilyn Monroe without the Hollywood Production Code restrictions, so symbolic of sex appeal that she turned many a late 1950s/mid ‘60s film fan's head. Yet modern audiences have largely forgotten onetime international superstar Brigitte Bardot. Lionsgate is unlikely to change that fact with this five film set, a collection ranging from 1956's Naughty Girl to 1969's appropriately named The Vixen. Sandwiched in between are a re-teaming with ex-husband/director Roger Vadim (1962's Love on a Pillow), a strange pseudo-whodunit (1959's Come Dance with Me), and the typical Bardot tease (1967's Two Weeks in September). Naughty Girl is a delightful goof centering on a young student interfering with a shady cabaret singer's business, while Come Dance with Me is funny and feather light, with Bardot perfectly charming as a faithful wife posing as an undercover dance instructor trying to clear her husband's name. Unfortunately, however, both The Vixen (Bardot plays a secretary hired to “inspire” a sex therapist) and Love on a Pillow (Bardot saves a man from suicide, after which they become inseparable) are ponderous and plodding, while Two Weeks in September is nothing more than a series of striking poses (our sultry leading lady is a model forced to choose between lovers). Light on entertainment value, but somewhat significant to the history of sex in cinema, this set boasts fine transfers as well as a featurette on the actress hosted by Hugh Hefner. A strong optional purchase. (B. Gibron)