I spent much of my Saturday tearing into Fox's new BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS 2-disc set. I've seen the film a couple of times before (including once on a double bill with CLEOPATRA JONES AND THE CASINO OF GOLD!), so I popped in the second disc of extras first. There is a lot of really fun stuff on this set, and Fox deserves a ton of props for making a concerted effort to treat this exploitation classic with the, um, class it deserves. Many cast and crew members pop in for commentaries and/or interviews, including Dolly Read, John LaZar, Cynthia Myers (heavily botoxed), Erica Gavin, Harrison Page (whom I emailed when the SLEDGE HAMMER! DVDs came out and who provided a polite return message), Michael Blodgett (looking kinda cool with long white hair), Stu Phillips, Lynn Carey...even Fred Koenekamp, who also recently participated in extras for Fox's THE TOWERING INFERNO.

The most interesting material comes from Roger Ebert, who, yes, penned BVD's notorious screenplay and offers a feature-length commentary track that is a must-hear for anyone interested in the movie. Next to the Ebert track, the disc's most intriguing piece is the featurette on Stu Phillips, the highly underrated Hollywood composer who wrote the ingenious score and co-composed the awesome rock tunes, sung by Lynn Carey and lip-synched capably by Dolly Read. Someone like FILM SCORE MONTHLY oughta do a career-length piece on Phillips, who scored everything from a "fake" rock band (THE MONKEES) to a talking car (KNIGHT RIDER) to a STAR WARS ripoff (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Fox's 2-disc BVD is a happening, alright, and it's freaking me out.

"Harrison Page (whom I emailed when the SLEDGE HAMMER! DVDs came out and who provided a polite return message), "

Have you met Harrison Page, Marty? Any interesting anecdotes?

No, no, I just happened to find Page's Web site and sent him an email telling him what good work he did on SLEDGE HAMMER, and he replied with a quick thank you.

I'm just surprised that Mobius used to be filled with threads about BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, and now that the DVD is finally out, no one has anything to say about it??

Stu Phillips was also the music director of THE DONNA REED SHOW. When it was decided that the show's kids needed to compete with Ricky Nelson of THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE & HARRIET, Phillips somehow took Shelly Fabares, who insisted she couldn't sing, and made a recording artist out of her. "Johnny Angel" is a deliriously dreamy '60s pop ballad, far greater than the sum of its parts, thanks to Phillips -- and her Best Of CD contains other good tracks, as well. Then he did the same thing with Paul Petersen -- "My Dad", "She Can't Find Her Keys", etc.

I could make a comment about the threat title don't feel like getting banned just now.

I knew you boys were mature enough to contain yourselves!

:D