Unashamed: A Romance Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Unashamed: A Romance Blu-ray Movie Review

A romance and a journey of the flesh...

The production was mounted at the Olympic Fields in Elsinore, California. The real-life nudist camp was one of the more prominent nudist camps at the time of the production. There is a sense that the production chose this location for the realism of presenting the lives of those engaged in a nudist colony. Bare-back, bare buttocks, and everything-in-between, the nudists lived their lives as if in harmony with nature itself.

The story begins to unfold with the seemingly shy secretary Rae Lane (Rae Kidd) convincing her boss Robert Stanley (Robert Lawton) to take some time out of his busy life to visit a nudist colony. When Robert decides to embark into new terrain, a trip to the colony reveals his secretary to be a member involved directly in the “free-spirited” nudist colony. The previously timid-seeming secretary now appears as beautiful as life itself: could there be a new romance at play between Rae and Robert?

As the film unfolds, Robert experiences the nudist colony in all of its unabashedly unashamed glory. The colony is comprised of laid back folk who enjoy their time spent frolicking around in the nude. There are scenes of the colony engaging in active sports (such as volleyball). There is also a camp ventriloquist: Ross Lynn (Rosslyn J. Cowen), who has a central part in the film (with the dummy handled by Woody McGillicuddy).

"Look! Blu-ray.com said our movie was pretty good!"

The production is credited to director Allen Stuart, who has no other known credits as a director. The film seems surprisingly accomplished from a directing stand-point that it makes one wonder if the director was actually “ashamed” of the project and its rampant nudity (ironic, given the title of the film). Hollywood filmmakers often went by the pseudonym Alan Smithee when they wanted to be disavowed from their project. Perhaps Allen Stuart is a riff on the same pseudonym. (If someone out there actually has details about the mysterious “Allen Stuart” and it turns out to be a surprise one-hit wonder filmmaker, do tell.)

Nonetheless, the so-called “Allen Stuart” is a surprisingly accomplished filmmaker, as the film has the chops to make for an interesting experience. The use of cinematography by George Sergeant and the editing by Holbrook N. Todd (Urubu, Sky Racket) are effective at giving the film an accomplished backbone. The style of filmmaking seems ahead of its time in more ways than one: the fast-cut edits resemble something Hollywood would not adorn as frequently until much later and the rampant nudity and free-spirited nature reflects early pre-code productions and not the more puritanical Hollywood code as the industry was in development.

One would suspect that such a freewheelin' production would have little in the way of plot or character and yet the film benefits from a better script than expected for a nudist colony fare. Based on the story by P.C. Scott-Richardson, the screenplay by William Lively (King of the Rocket Men, Lost Planet Airmen) manages to make you care about the characters and the journey they go on. The story is surprisingly engaging (and, no, that isn't simply placebo from the rampant nudity).

Yet the main attraction of Unashamed is the nudist ideology itself: an early example of exploitation cinema, film goers were likely unfamiliar with the frank examples of nudity Unashamed provides. The film handles the material with a clear enthusiasm for the nudist camp and audiences will feel as though they are welcomed in to the nudist lifestyle with ease. The actors feel right at home in the nude and the experience is convincing as a result. Though the filmmaking might seem tame compared to a modern production, the sensuality that is sometimes on display is still vital and convincing. Unashamed is a noteworthy genre production that (despite some minor foibles) is worth checking out.

Unashamed: A Romance Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, Unashamed: A Romance features a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. The scan is generally quite decent but it does have some thin scratches throughout, occasional print damage, and dirt. The presentation is far from being an example of a pristine print but it is also certainly watchable and has some reasonable sharpness. Nothing ever seems too out of focus. The encode quality is also quite reasonable.

Unashamed: A Romance Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release arrives on the format with an uncompressed PCM track. The audio is decent on this release but it is unspectacular. The track does an efficient job of reproducing the music. Dialogue is easy to understand. Yet the track can also sound a bit thin, scratchy, and occasionally muffled sounding. A passable track but one that still demonstrates considerable wear.

Unashamed: A Romance Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

For more information on the supplemental features on the disc please refer to the summary review page here.

Unashamed: A Romance Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Unashamed is an entertaining slice of old-school nudie exploitation (and I am not ashamed to say it). The film has gratuitous nudity in spades and one would expect nothing less from a film centered on exploring a nudist colony. The Blu-ray release is worth checking out. Recommended.