June 12, 2008

Having only a peripheral awareness of her as a pinup girl and terminally perky cutie in a series of tame burlesque shorts seen on late-night TV, we had no idea of Bettie Page’s notoriety as a bondage queen.

The Notorious Bettie Page is an eye-opener — and in more ways than one; it’s not often you see full-frontal female nudity in movies these days.

But rest assured that TNBP isn’t some porny offering that will leave you feeling the need to shower afterward; it’s quite a good little biopic, with Gretchen Mol delivering a fine performance (she’s got Bettie’s cutie-pie mugging for the camera down pat), and atmosphere faithful to the period. It’s well worth the watch — and you’ll learn a thing or two about mid-1950s hysteria over good, clean (and good, dirty) sex.