The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Overrated and overhyped

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

In 1955, Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) is testifying before a Senate subcommittee on pornography. She's been a star pinup for the notorious underground bondage world. The movie flashes back to 1936 Nashville. She's abused as a teen by her father. Her marriage leads to more abuse. She get gang raped. She runs off to NYC. She tries pageants, modeling and acting. She starts posing for photographers and private groups entering into the world of risqué photography.The tone is slight when the material gives the movie an opportunity to be darker and more daring. Gretchen Mol has always been the beautiful girl who couldn't distinguish herself as a great actress. In that way, she is like Bettie. I wish her performance digs deeper into her personality. Everybody wants to see her naked. I want to see her soul. She is simply a pinup and not much more. The black and white photography is perfunctory. This should be deeper.

Bettie Page was the most photographed woman of the '50s, and a look at both her life and the nature of sexuality in America at that time would make for a pretty solid biopic. But at 90 minutes, there's no hope of examining everything. That said, THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE does cover the broad strokes. It's very nicely photographed, in both black and white and a blast of chroma during the Miami period. I loved David Strathairn's bit part as Joseph McCarthy, a nice joke on his Edward R. Murrow performance. And the animated magazine covers was a novel touch; this is a well-produced little movie. But it's the nail-on-the-head casting of Gretchen Mol in the titular role that's the real reason to watch this. Mol is perfect; she's gorgeous and seems to imbue that almost innocent quality of the real-life Page, a woman who wasn't inhibited because she didn't see the harm in taking pictures in less (or no) clothing. I was already a fan of the actress, but to her immense credit, she brings the role to life on the screen. Her work here is top-notch. 7/10

Bettie Page, pin-up queen, was perhaps the most photographed woman of the 1950s, posing for professional and amateur photographers alike and appearing in men's magazines of all sorts from the mainstream to Playboy and bondage fetish books. The latter brought her to the attention of crusading Sen. Kefauver's committee on pornography, putting an end to her modeling career and her aspirations as an actress. The movie starts with her being called to testify and flashing back through her early years, where we see her as a free spirit who lived to pose for cameras. Despite a religious upbringing, she saw nothing wrong with what she was doing and was consequently puzzled by the strong reactions of those who did. Since this is the central issue of the movie a somewhat deeper probing of her character would seem necessary to reconcile the conflict, but we just don't get it. Despite being front and center in just about every shot in the movie, Bettie emerges simply as a sweet woman who was a little ahead of her time, and not much more.The movie has a nice period look, though, and creates an unusual portrait of professional pornographers as being something other than exploiters. Here they just like to play dress up in fetish costumes and take pictures. The implication, of course, is that the purchasers of such material, not the makers, are the perverts.

Bettie Page was an icon of the '50s, she has been called the pin up queen, the bondage queen among others. She was without doubt one of the most photograph women of the decade gracing countless girlie magazines. She would also gain notoriety for appearing in numerous one reel burlesque films as well as bondage films. Whereas there were hundreds of women who did the same things as Bettie, most of them disappeared into obscurity. Miss Page would have a revival of sorts in the 1970's and cement her position as an icon of the 1950's. This movie "The Notorious Bettie Page", is a film biography of Miss Page. In many ways it's a typical biography and in some ways it isn't. Had this been made for Lifetime television it would probably portray Bettie as a victim of men. Early in the movie we see this to be somewhat true. We see her being possibly abused by her father, being married young and having to deal with an abusive husband and going on a car trip with a stranger and nothing good happening. Instead of seeing a broken woman though, as would be a case in a Lifetime movie what emerge is a stronger and more confident Bettie. When she finally make it to New York we see her as a woman not afraid to take on new challenges. It's interesting how this movie portrays the porn industry of that era. We don't see mobsters running things, what we see is a more mom and pop business. Yes it's still a low class industry but one that where the participants actually enjoy being with each other. We don't see Bettie get pushed or threatened to do something against her will. As a matter of fact the threats come more from the Authorities, particularly from politicians who want to make a name for themselves. This is where the movie really divert from what could have been just a typical biography. It shows us the attitude towards sex during that era. There's obviously a demand for it but the authorities continue to have a very restrictive attitude. Bettie and her cohorts are threatened with jail time even though what they were doing was basically tame. In the heart of this movie is Gretchen Mol. She gives a magnificent performance. How the Oscars overlooked her I don't know. I have to admit I have had a crush on Miss Mol for a while now and I thought not only did she looked great in this movie she also showed her acting ability. Yes she did a lot of nudity in this film but what's so remarkable is that she was so at ease in front of the camera pretty much what you see with the real Bettie Page. When she spoke, she spoke with a natural southern accent and even her voice sounded different. I couldn't think of a better actress for the role. Gretchen Mol won me over with her looks a long time ago, this time she won me over with her acting."The Notorious Bettie Page" is more than your typical film biography, it shows us the inner strength of a woman and the rather unhealthy attitude toward sex of a particular era. On top of that we get a dazzling performance from a beautiful and talented actress.