The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield

Part travelogue, part freak show, The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield (1968) gives new meaning to the term exploitation in its rush to cash in on the death of the buxom sixties sex symbol. Released after the actress's gruesome death in a car accident in 1967 (she was decapitated), the film - now on DVD from Something Weird Video - incorporates home movie-like scenes of Jayne traipsing through the streets of Rome, Paris and Los Angeles, stock footage, dramatic re-enactments (Italian prostitutes waiting for customers along secluded boulevards) and clips from her films (Promises! Promises!, 1963, The Loves of Hercules, 1960) to create a Mondo Cane view of the sexpot's "exciting" world. But you're more likely to be depressed than entertained by Mansfield's cloyingly naive narration (is it really her voice or an imitator?) and the sight of the zaftig actress in a constantly changing array of bad wigs and skimpy outfits. On the other hand, The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield exerts the same weird fascination a highway pileup has for rubbernecks; you watch in amazement while the filmmakers (Arthur Knight, Joel Holt and Charles W. Broun, Jr.) juggle footage of Jayne flaunting her body on the famous "Italian Steps" of Rome with staged scenes of her husband, muscleman Mickey Hargitay, and their two sons, grieving on their estate after the actress's death. It's hard to decide what's worse in Mansfield's aimless European vacation - her dumbed-down accounts of famous historical events or her genuine awkwardness before the camera. Typical of the latter is her encounter with the R&B group, Rocky Roberts and the Airdales, at a shipyard. Dressed in a tight white blouse, short-shorts and high heels, she looks profoundly uncoordinated as she tries to keep rhythm with Rocky's driving soul band. Even her pet Chihuahua looks embarrassed. The film also has an underlying ying-yang quality where the narration completely contradicts what you're seeing. Case in point: Jayne sunbathing topless on the bow of a yacht. While covering her breasts with both arms, she preens shamelessly for the camera while exclaiming, "I hope nobody's watching me. I'm basically very shy." Oh sure. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. As usual, Something Weird Video has packaged The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield with an additional feature - The Labyrinth of Sex (aka Sexual Inadequacies, 1970) - and several oddball extras including the early stag film, The Apple Knockers and the Coke featuring a naked Marilyn Monroe look-alike (some people believe it's really her). For the record, The Labyrinth of Sex is an Italian pseudo-documentary that pretends to seriously document a wide variety of sexual aberrations. Of course, thanks to the laughable English dubbing (no subtitles available) and dull, leaden pacing of each episode, you won't be able to take any of this seriously but you can avoid a "real time" viewing and pick your poison from the frankly titled chapters: The Voyeur, The Fetishist, The Sadist, The Homosexual, etc. Director Alfonso Brescia is not afraid to use clips from other films to illustrate his points. In his case study of the sadist, for example, he uses a scene of Jean-Louis Trintignant slitting a woman's throat in the giallo Plucked!. Visually, the film is quite striking, and would make pretty interesting visual wallpaper at your next Eurotrash party. The percolating music score by Italo Fischetti isn't half bad either. But probably the most entertaining aspect of The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield DVD are the trailers for other Euro-sex films, particularly Ann and Eve (1970, somebody please release this trash masterpiece on DVD!) and Her and She and Him (1969). There's also a rather puzzling featurette, Parisian Rendezvous, which begins in San Francisco (mime alert: one appears in a topless bar scene) and ends in a decidedly unscenic tour of Paris as two lovers race their cars through the streets; you mostly gets shots of trees and the base of the Eiffel Tower. Overall, the visual quality of the disc is very good with both features being taken from better than average letterboxed prints so if you're teaching a course on "documentary as sexploitation" you can't top this for a double bill. For more information about The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield, visit Image Entertainment. To order The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield, go to TCM Shopping. by Jeff Stafford