Bettie Page Reveals All [Movie Review]

By The Fauve on December 11, 2013

Depending upon what age you are, and what gender, how you first came to know about Bettie Page is as unique a story as the woman herself. A sticker on a notebook, an irreverent hipster T-shirt, a Dave Stevens comic, or the latest Katy Perry video all could’ve been the deciding factor in each of us coming to know Bettie. She is the Dark Angel counterpart to the Barbie Doll obsession the straight world maintains. Just one black and white photo of hers captivates men and women alike, causing them to want to know more, and, eventually to want to know her.

The telling of her story has been long overdue. So, in 2005, a film seemingly attempting to do that arrived, The Notorious Bettie Page. It appeared Bettie might at last make mainstream. But the film was a bit of a flop, and was renounced by the Queen of Pinup herself as completely unauthentic. Forever being misunderstood, her legend retreated to the dark cauldrons of counterculture once again.

Until now, that is. The new documentary, Bettie Page Reveals All, does everything The Notorious Bettie Page wished to do, only better, because it’s all the gosh-darned truth. Best of all, it’s told by the woman herself, in a surprisingly husky, aged voice. Lending a bit of legitimacy, are famous folks who’ve also been bitten by the Bettie bug: Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, comic book artist Dave Stevens, supermodel Rebecca Romijn, burlesque beauty Dita Von Teese and pinup photographer Bunny Yeager, just to name a few.

The film couldn’t have a better title, for not only does the lovely Miss Page appear nude through a large portion of the last half of the film, but we finally learn the truth about her childhood and what all transpired during her 30 years of relative obscurity. Additionally, Bettie and her former lovers discuss who was or wasn’t good in bed—and some of these men had top-level security clearance! Lastly, several never-before-seen photos are shown for the first time since being taken in 1952.

We at the Brophisticate advise you to sit back for a spell and hear salacious stories from the fabulous fifties of kinky sex and the scriptures! It’s definitely worth the price of admission.