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The opening titles correctly identify this collection of erotic arcana as The Classic Films of Irving Klaw: Volume 1, with Volume 2 not far off. Irving was a purveyor of pin-up photos in the 50's, primarily of legendary pin-up queen Betty Page, when he began getting requests for fetish-photos, models being bound and gagged, all dressed up (down?) in black-lace stockings and so forth. Since these items were scarce, Irving began making them himself, in film and photo, with tantalizing young models. They adorned themselves in spiked heels, satin lingerie, all manner of fetish-wear, engaging is perhaps unspeakable (for the time) practices like mutual corset lacing, paddling, slapping, spanking, whipping, wrestling, and the ever popular binding and gagging. It's a whole compendium of fetish practices, colored by the desires of the times to appear quaint to modern eyes. But at the time these 16mm films were labeled obscene and ran into legal trouble, which eventually led Betty Page, that imposing and sassy centerpiece to these films, to leave the biz. Whether it makes you want to gag or be gagged is, of course, a matter of taste. But there's no doubt this collection presents an historical record of underground practices that's valuable to know about, if only because it enlightens us as to the origins of Madonna's wardrobe. --Jim Gay
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