Chained Girls (1965)

The Age of Commercialism

A Major Disappointment

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I watched the 52 minute version of CHAINED GIRLS as made available for public viewing on the Amazon Prime subscription channel. As with other genre movies of this era, all of the controversial subject matter and nudity has been excised, leaving a rather pointless viewing experience. What we have here is a dumb, black and white, narrated story with very little going on. The photography is all mondo-style documentary work and the lesbian make-out scenes, perhaps once hugely controversial, feel tame and overly staged by modern standards. Boredom soon sets in with this one.

I saw this movie out of pure interest to see how they felt about lesbianism back then. It is rather funny if you watch it with a good company and don't take it seriously, though if you really take in consideration the "results of surveys" it mentions it can be totally depressing.Is is old-fashioned, outdated conservative nonsense made up by silly psychoanalysts and others who obviously had no idea about homosexuality. It is black and white and has no sound, except the narrators voice.It is mostly dramatizations with slightly bad acting and an amateurish aesthetic. It is definitely not objective and overstates things. Although if you keep in mind the political and social reality in America during those times (cold war, beatniks & hippies movement, McCarthyism etc) it's interesting that they actually made such films. Overall I would recommend you saw it, back take your distance from it...

For what it is "chained girls" is one of the best cinematic experiences I've ever had. This is the perfect companion/foil to the film "Before Stonewall." Rarely has a movie made me laugh so hard and so deeply. It could just be that it's a girl/girl thing, but there's something about seeing these stereo-types so sloppily portrayed. Really this film is a treat if you are in the right frame of mind and/or watching it with someone who truly has a firm grasp of irony. Invite some friends over, grab a bottle of wine and enjoy. One serious note though, this flick will actually make you respect the old-timers for the horrible misconceptions they had to face on a day to day basis. So not only do you get a truly ironic delight, but you get a moral as well. Again, I can't stress enough, watch this only when you're in an appropriate frame of mind--that alone will make the difference between whether you'll laugh or weep! Girl/Girl.

UNNATURAL LOVE OF WOMEN FOR WOMEN! A DARING FILM ABOUT LESBIANISM TODAY! Today is 1965 and the forbidden world of Lesbos is treated like some kinda strange disease. Our "guide" informs us that all lesbians seem to have normal jobs (!) and consist of femmes and butches. By the way, teenage dykes are called babybutch! Staged scenes are shown to inform/scare us with the help of "actual" statics (25% of all school girls have dabbled in lesbianism etc.). From the producer of Ed Wood's "Glen Or Glenda", so you know you're in for a mindboggling treat!