The Opening of Misty Beethoven


The Opening of Misty Beethoven is an American pornographic comedy film released in 1976. It was produced with a relatively high budget and filmed on elaborate locations in Paris, New York City and Rome with a musical score, and owes much to its director Radley Metzger. According to author Toni Bentley, The Opening of Misty Beethoven is considered the "crown jewel" of the Golden Age of Porn.

Plot

In an adult erotic take-off of George Bernard Shaw 1913 play Pygmalion, the film is about a sexologist who tries transforming a low-skilled prostitute into a goddess of passion. While he tries to prepare her to seduce a gay male art dealer, it is he for whom she develops feelings. During the course of her training, she manages to please three men at one time, pegs a man, and seduces the gay art dealer, among other sexual conquests. In this film, Henry Higgins is replaced by Dr. Seymour Love, the sexologist, played by Jamie Gillis. Eliza Doolittle becomes Dolores "Misty" Beethoven, who is played by Constance Money, and Colonel Pickering becomes Geraldine Rich, played by Jacqueline Beudant. During the film, Misty achieves "elevation" better than Love and Rich had hoped and then cuts them off, as in George Bernard Shaw's play. However, this film then sees Misty return, take over for Dr. Love, and run the "school". Dr. Love is present but in a very subservient position. It is clearly Misty who is in charge by this time.

Cast

In 2012, DistribPix oversaw a complete restoration of the film, with the full cooperation of the director. The result had a limited exhibition in theaters, but the main outcome of the project was the first-ever official DVD and Blu-ray releases. In addition, a fully annotated CD soundtrack was released. A listing of the music on the film soundtrack was released earlier.

Awards

Awards from the Adult Film Association of America:

Remake

In 2004, Misty Beethoven: The Musical!, a musical remake, was released. It featured Sunset Thomas, Randy Spears, Julie Meadows, Asia Carrera, Chloe, Dave Cummings, Mike Horner, Evan Stone and Tyce Bune. It was directed by Veronica Hart. The film won the 2004 XRCO Award for "Best Comedy or Parody" and the 2005 AVN Award for "Best Sex Comedy".