''The Bellboy and the Playgirls'' is a 1962 American film by Francis Ford Coppola and

Jack Hill Jack Hill (born January 28, 1933) is an American film director in the exploitation film genre. Several of Hill's later films have been characterized as feminist works. Early life Hill was born in Los Angeles, California. His mother, Mildred (n� ...

. The film is a re-edited version of a West German film of 1958 originally titled '' '', directed by

Fritz Umgelter Fritz Umgelter (18 August 1922 – 9 May 1981) was a German television director, television writer, and film director. Umgelter worked mainly in television as both a writer and director. He received directing credit for 68 TV films or series, a ...

with Coppola and Hill shooting nudity inserted into the film for an American release.

Plot

Dinah, an actress, refuses to be a part of seduction scene in front of a live audience. The director, Gregor, tries to convince her to complete the scene by telling her stories of sexual relations over the centuries. In the end, Dinah decides to complete the filming. Coppola inserted scenes to the original German plot, adding the bellboy, George, who tries to spend some time with a room full of women.

Production

The German production starring

Karin Dor Karin Dor (, born Kätherose Derr; 22 February 1938 – 6 November 2017) was a German actress. She was famous to international audiences for her role as Bond girl Helga Brandt in the James Bond film '' You Only Live Twice'' (1967) and her appear ...

and

Willy Fritsch Willy Fritsch (27 January 1901 – 13 July 1973) was a German theater and film actor, a popular leading man and character actor from the silent-film era to the early 1960s. Biography Early life He was born Wilhelm Egon Fritz Fritsch, the only s ...

was in black and white but Coppola said that he filmed around 15 minutes of footage in 3D and in color to add to the American release. The new footage featured nude women and took Coppola a few days to complete. Coppola said that the project was "adding five three-minute nudie sketches in color to a stupid German movie that had been shot in black-and-white". Al Locatelli designed the sets for the new segments while

was the cinematographer.

June Wilkinson June Wilkinson (born 27 March 1940 in Eastbourne) is an English model and actress, known for her appearances in ''Playboy'' magazine and in films of the 1960s. One of the world's most-photographed women in the late 1950s and early 1960s, at the he ...

, a

Playboy Bunny A Playboy Bunny is a waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a strapless corset te ...

, is featured in the segments. The 3-D footage was shot in Optavision and supervised by Richard Kay. During the production one of the girls stated to Coppola that she was only 17 and that her father was going to kill her. Coppola responded with, "Well, you can keep your bra on," which resulted in him being reprimanded by the producer after he saw the completed film. Hill received $25 for his work on the film and Coppola received $250. Coppola was a student at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

film school and his classmates did not agree with his choice of going into exploitation films. Coppola said, "I was called a cop-out, because I was willing to compromise". The film print was believed to be lost after the film's initial release in 1962 and subsequent release on videotape but a collector of Coppola memorabilia had a print of the film. The book ''Godfather: The Intimate Francis Ford Coppola'' states that "Coppola's color footage is easily identifiable in the finished film" and that "the five Coppola sequences add up to nearly fifty minutes of screen time". A short time after the film's release, Coppola started working under

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

Release

The film's 3-D footage has been released by "3-D Rarities" on Blu-ray in a compilation entitled "3-D Rarities". The version included on the Blu-ray contains no nudity.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellboy And The Playgirls 1958 films 1962 films 1958 comedy films 1962 comedy films American multilingual films German multilingual films American comedy films German comedy films West German films 1960s English-language films 1960s German-language films Films directed by Fritz Umgelter Films directed by Francis Ford Coppola Films with screenplays by Francis Ford Coppola American independent films German independent films Films partially in color Alternative versions of films 1950s American films 1960s American films 1950s German films 1960s German films

Plot

Production

Release

See also

References

External links