Pauline, first seen as a baby girl abandoned at the steps of the Baskerville Foundling Home, is taken in by a young George Steadman, who declares he'll always take care of her. As they grow up, he sabotages Baskerville's efforts to find a home for her. He loves her, and when they are young adults, he leaves Baskerville to make his fortune, promising to return and wed Pauline when the time is right.
Before George can fulfill his promise, the foundling home is shut down and teenaged Pauline goes to work in Africa(?) as a tutor for sex-crazed 12-year-old Prince Benji (whose voice is dubbed by June Foray to sound like Rocket J. Squirrel). She rebuffs his advances ("It's very bad manners to threaten your teacher with a simitar"), and during her escape from Benji's palace is sold to Bombo, "white pygmy chief of the Congo." Her rescuer, a white hunter and "member of the Royal blues," Willy Sten-Martin (Terry-Thomas), falls in love with her and chases her through the rest of the movie. Likewise, George follows her, too, looking for true love, accompanied by his male secretary.
THE PERILS OF PAULINE ka-chunks along on a preponderance of incident as George, Sten-Martin and Pauline criss-cross the globe. Pauline is cryogenically frozen (so is George)... George is brainwashed... Pauline appears in a film by "far-out" Italian filmmaker Frederico Frandisi... has to seduce a gorilla... becomes a Russian cosmonaut... climbs over the Berlin Wall... etc.
So goes THE PERILS OF PAULINE, originally a pilot episode for an unsold TV series, expanded for theatrical release. Influenced by mid-60s comedy series like GET SMART and THE MONKEES -- and co-directed by GET SMART alumnus Joshua Shelley -- THE PERILS OF PAULINE is far too long at 93 minutes and aimed at ten-year-old mentalities.
The basis for this movie, a 1914 serial with "cliffhanger endings" between chapters, was remade in 1934. The best-known version of the story was released in 1947 as a vehicle for actress Betty Hutton. This 1967 version is inspired by the silent version -- the visual humor is a series of ancient slapstick routines, filmed in fast-motion and featuring runaway cars and people falling off ladders. A few of these moments are funny, but the strained verbal humor is below the level of even THE MONKEES.
Of the acting, the less said the better about Pat Boone (George) and Pamela Austin (Pauline), especially when compared to an old pro like Terry-Thomas, who bravely battles the inanities to turn in a good comic performance.
Before George can fulfill his promise, the foundling home is shut down and teenaged Pauline goes to work in Africa(?) as a tutor for sex-crazed 12-year-old Prince Benji (whose voice is dubbed by June Foray to sound like Rocket J. Squirrel). She rebuffs his advances ("It's very bad manners to threaten your teacher with a simitar"), and during her escape from Benji's palace is sold to Bombo, "white pygmy chief of the Congo." Her rescuer, a white hunter and "member of the Royal blues," Willy Sten-Martin (Terry-Thomas), falls in love with her and chases her through the rest of the movie. Likewise, George follows her, too, looking for true love, accompanied by his male secretary.
THE PERILS OF PAULINE ka-chunks along on a preponderance of incident as George, Sten-Martin and Pauline criss-cross the globe. Pauline is cryogenically frozen (so is George)... George is brainwashed... Pauline appears in a film by "far-out" Italian filmmaker Frederico Frandisi... has to seduce a gorilla... becomes a Russian cosmonaut... climbs over the Berlin Wall... etc.
So goes THE PERILS OF PAULINE, originally a pilot episode for an unsold TV series, expanded for theatrical release. Influenced by mid-60s comedy series like GET SMART and THE MONKEES -- and co-directed by GET SMART alumnus Joshua Shelley -- THE PERILS OF PAULINE is far too long at 93 minutes and aimed at ten-year-old mentalities.
The basis for this movie, a 1914 serial with "cliffhanger endings" between chapters, was remade in 1934. The best-known version of the story was released in 1947 as a vehicle for actress Betty Hutton. This 1967 version is inspired by the silent version -- the visual humor is a series of ancient slapstick routines, filmed in fast-motion and featuring runaway cars and people falling off ladders. A few of these moments are funny, but the strained verbal humor is below the level of even THE MONKEES.
Of the acting, the less said the better about Pat Boone (George) and Pamela Austin (Pauline), especially when compared to an old pro like Terry-Thomas, who bravely battles the inanities to turn in a good comic performance.