Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Queen of the Blues Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 1, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Mary Millington Movie Collection.

MM.

For film fans, those redolent initials might unavoidably call up images of a gorgeous blonde who was one of the top box office stars of her day, who it was said had bedded at least one of the most powerful politicians in the country, and one who tragically died young from an apparent suicide, though there are still rumors of foul play swirling around her demise. Marilyn Monroe, you say? Well, sure, her, too, but for fans in the United Kingdom in particular MM could just as easily make them think of a woman who was completely notorious in her native land but whose fame is a bit more sparse on this side of the pond, Mary Millington. Millington was the face (and body) of British porn in the 1970s, becoming one of the biggest ticket sellers of her era in England. That UK renown accounts for what may strike some as a perplexing aspect of this Region A release: it comes from Screenbound Pictures, a label located in England, and its cover also clearly features a British Board of Film Classification rating. It turns out MVD Visual is distributing a limited number of copies of the original Region B release (which offered region free discs, in case anyone is/was worried) for sale here in “the colonies” and other Region A markets. The release offers a grab bag of Millington’s often provocative work in porn, as well as a documentary about her.

There was evidently a bit of a panic in some circles when Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair had nowhere near the returns of either Come Play with Me or The Playbirds, and according to the interesting writing by compiler Simon Sheridan included in this set's insert booklet, this film was basically rushed into production and released quickly in the hopes of maintaining some kind of momentum. There's very little plot here, with the action taking place at what amounts to a glorified strip club, albeit one with a comedian emcee, with Mary as one of the performers. Now, this is said with tongue planted firmly in cheek, but the cutaways from the on stage performers to a variety of what I can only term as Fellini-esque faces in the audience may remind some of a similar technique used in a somewhat higher profile film, Cabaret.

Queen of the Blues Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Queen of the Blues is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Screenbound Pictures with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. While the insert booklet doesn't have any information on the element utilized or restoration undertaken, there is a brief restoration video Screenbound has on YouTube which shows the improvement delivered on this release compared to previous home video releases. This is another presentation that comes close to the general excellence seen in Come Play with Me, but which does have some quality variances. There's noticeable wobble during the opening credits, and occasional other (admittedly very slight) age related wear and tear does peek through. The prevalence of red bathed scenes in the nightclub leads to some deficits in fine detail, and there are a couple of very dark scenes that have crush in the blackest sections of the frame. Grain can tend to look just a little swarm like at times against the red backgrounds in particular. My score is 3.75.

Queen of the Blues Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Queen of the Blues has one of the funkier scores in this set, and it sounds nicely full bodied on the LPCM 2.0 mono track included here. Dialogue is also rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and I noticed no problems of any kind with regard to any age related damage or distortion. As with all of the features in this set, there are no subtitles available.

Queen of the Blues Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio commentary by Simon Sheraton and Allan Warren


• Mary Millington's True Blue Confessions (1980) Prologue and Feature (1080p; 43:22) was an exploitation film released after Millington's death. For more information and some additional screenshots, please see our Mary Millington's True Blue Confessions Blu-ray review.


• Mary Millington's World Striptease Extravaganza (1981) Feature (1080p; 47:17) is another posthumous exploitation outing.


• Aural Sex (1080p; 7:02) focuses on an erotic recording by Millington.


• 1981 Emmanuelle in Soho Prologue (1080p; 6:37)


• 1981 The Naked Truth VHS Introduction (1080p; 1:37)

Queen of the Blues Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is frankly a kind of sad film for Mary Millington to have ended her career with, with little of the sly, winking comedy of her earliest efforts and without even the same sort of salacious content that some of those films offered. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplementary package enjoyable for those who are considering a purchase.