The Private Afternoons Of Pamela Mann -
XRCO Hall of Fame
No one is as they appear. This is the central message of the first artful foray into the hard-core filmmaking by legendary director Radley Metzger under the non-de-plum Henry Paris. The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann is widely considered one of the greatest erotic films ever made.
It is a witty, self-reflexive journey into the allure of sexual adventurousness at the heart of the 1970's "Porno Chic" era. Set in 1970's Manhattan, the plot follows a private detective employed by Mr. Mann to investigate the sexual infidelities of his wife, Pamela. In an instance of art imitating life, the title character shares the name of real-life grindhouse figure Pamela Mann who ran a talent agency for adult films in the 1970s. In an instance of life imitating art, Barbara Bourbon, the actress who plays Pamela Mann, had not previously performed in an adult film and only agreed to do so in the same adventurous and sexually curious spirit of the film's main character.
Pamela Mann was hailed by both adult and mainstream reviewers for its high production values that made it feel like a mainstream Hollywood movie. It has a smart, witty script and a plot with a twist ending that justifies the sexual content of the movie. Furthermore, the movie raised all too serious social issues while also poking fun at itself, illustrating the dual nature of society's views towards the emerging adult film industry and the "free love" movement that was popular at the time.