|
Snake Dancer
[Mondo Macabro]
1976; color
Directed by Dirk de Villiers
Starring: Glenda Kemp, Peter Elliot, Wilson Dunster, Bruce Millar & Christine Basson
|
|
While I fully understand and support Mondo Macabro's mission to bring the "wild side of world cinema" to mass audiences, this is probably the first time I've seen one of their titles and thought 'Did this really need to be released on DVD?' All that most of us in the West know about South Africa during the '60s, '70s and '80s is apartheid, however there was apparently lots of social and artistic repression enshrouding on the entire population, due largely in part to the intertwined arms of church and state. During this time, stripping was marginally legal at best - and nude dancing was an outright crime - so when Glenda Kemp began career in the early '70s, touring around the country performing completely nude with only a snake (or snakes) as her partner, she raised plenty of ire and pissed off a lot of stodgy conservatives and bible thumpers. At the same time, she was also selling out performances everywhere she went. (Meaning there were clearly people in the country who were not offended in any way by her act.) Snake Dancer is autobiographical story with some questionable liberties taken in the name of spicing things up a bit. Since actual info on Ms. Kemp's exploits, and what she's done since leaving the world of dance, are pretty much completely non-existent (and I did try to find some… hell, any… concrete info about her) it is left up to the viewer to determine what is fact and what is fiction in this movie. The basic premise is this: one evening while out with two college friends, Glenda has a go-go epiphany and soon finds herself making great money being paid to do what she loves best - dance. Eventually she incorporates her second love, snakes, into the act and shortly achieves a level of infamy as she goes from dancing with snakes to stripping completely nude and then simulating sexual acts with snakes. Along the way her uptight boyfriend dumps her and she begins an affair with a club owner / promoter. When that guy gets busted, he splits the scene and Glenda's brother takes over the managerial reins. Eventually she gets arrested and manages to beat the rap a few times, but not the last time. She's found guilty of obscenity in public which forces her to stop stripping and decide to attempt reconciliation with her ex-beau. (Not the manager but the first guy.) After they reconnect over the phone, in a completely unexpected (and I'm guessing completely fictional) turn, her snakes get the best of her as she's waiting for her man. Thus ending the movie as well as her story. The bonus featurette on South African cinema does offer insight as to why this film and, more importantly, it's director Dirk DeVilliers should be considered important but even that 13-minute segment drags on for what seems like hours. While some of the dancing is enjoyable, and Glenda Kemp is easy enough on the eyes, Snake Dancer is surprisingly disappointing in the long run.
—the Kommandant
|
|
