7/7/06: The Devil In Miss Jones (1973)Did I forget to mention the porn? Sometimes we’ll talk about porn. It’s okay if you don’t like to watch that kind of thing. The adult industry still offers some surprisingly conservative content. When I polled adult actresses for Playboy.com before the 2000 election, a clear majority preferred Bush to Gore as both a candidate and a potential sex partner.
No, wisenheimer, they didn’t misunderstand the question.
Anyway, adult pictures often feature a fake morality. We’ll watch a woman enjoying lots of wild sex before deciding she’s better off with her dull-but-loving husband. In the midst of porn chic, though,
The Devil In Miss Jones dared to make a deeper statement.
Georgina Spelvin stars as our tragic heroine, who starts the film by slashing her wrists while a Laura Nyro imitator plays in the background. Miss Jones then discovers that the Pope is right. Merely taking her own life has invalidated her saintly existence. This babe is Hellbound like Hitchens. Displeased with this development, Miss Jones asks Satan for a seven-day pass to indulge in one of the seven deadly sins. We know she’s not going for Sloth.
Plenty of sexual hijinks ensue. Too bad that Miss Jones doesn’t know that Satan is real cunning. He allows Miss Jones to indulge herself with a crash course in sexual thrills—just so she’ll be all the more miserable when she finds herself in Hell forever on the verge of climax.
Rod Serling would’ve been proud to introduce this movie—which, incidentally, is from the same writer and director who gave us the far-inferior
Deep Throat. This site would have a lot of nerve to be judgmental about anyone's private life, but
The Devil In Miss Jones makes a perfect parable for many women in the aftermath of the sexual revolution. All the sex, none of the satisfaction.
There’d be a few
Miss Jones sequels, and we might address some at a later date. The original, though, is hard to top as the rare adult film that takes Satan seriously. Like they say in the TV version of
Bad Influence, “Get in bed with the devil, and you’re gonna have to kiss.” He’s a bad kisser.
Make it your own: The folks at Vivid Video produced
The New Devil In Miss Jones last year, and director Paul Thomas did a fine job of maintaining the original’s impact. Even better, the 3-disc DVD includes the original film. Savanna Samson is impressive in the titular role, but she's certainly a different type than Georgina Spelvin. (No links, since I couldn’t find any that were safe for work.)
Our friends at Media Blasters also promise a deluxe edition of the 1973 version later this year. And if you don’t want that kind of stuff around your house, then at least check out the original’s
distressingly eloquent soundtrack.
