The Dark Side of Tomorrow

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The Dark Side of Tomorrow
Just the Two Of Us
Thedarksideoftomorrowcover.png
Video cover
Directed by Barbara Peeters
Jack Deerson
Written by
  • David Novik
  • Barbara Peeters
Produced byDavid Novik
Starring
CinematographyJacques Deerson
Edited byRichard Weber
Music byJerry Wright
Production
company
Distributed byAble Films
Release date
  • July 1970 (1970-07) [1]
Running time
74 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Dark Side of Tomorrow is a 1970 American exploitation film directed by Barbara Peeters and Jack Deerson. [2] It was written by David Novik and Peeters, and stars Elisabeth Plumb, Alisa Courtney and John Aprea.

Contents

It was re-released in 1975 as Just the Two of Us. [3] [A]

Plot

The film follows two bored Los Angeles housewives, Adria and Denise, living in a housing development called Rockpointe who begin an affair while their husbands are away on government business. When the two start fighting, Denise enters into a relationship with a woman fashion designer, while Adria takes an unemployed actor as her lover. Adria's husband then returns home unexpectedly catching her and the actor in bed, and beats them up, announcing their marriage is over. Now that Adria is totally free of her husband, the film ends with her returning to her former relationship with Denise.

Cast

Production

The film was financed by an Israeli investor who wanted an X-rated sex film. Director Barbara Peeters changed the storyline to center around a lesbian relationship. She feels the fact it was from a female director was significant: "If you are going to involve yourself in subjects that heretofore have been taboo, the first moves in that direction should be as close to reality as possible." [4]

Reception

Author Maya Montañez Smukler said that when the movie was released, it "received poor reviews." She quoted a review in Variety Magazine as saying, the film is a "low-budget indie melodrama about loneliness and lesbianism ... that tries hard to be sensitive and in good taste, not successfully enough to make it commercially as art but just enough to take it out of the sexploitation class." [5]

Emmett Weaver wrote in the Birmingham Post-Herald that the film is a "study of lesbianism, a subject which should particularly shock any adult movie fan these days since it is dealt with quite frequently on the screen." [6] William Collins of The Philadelphia Inquirer called the film a "lesbian soap opera; and they look as happy as any couple photographed on horseback against the setting sun." [7]

In their review of the film, Psychotronic Video wrote that "characters talk a lot and the sex scenes are very brief and intercut with other scenes; some of the soft rock songs by a band with female backup singers, that plays at a beach pot party are really good." [8]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ There are advertisements for the movie being shown in 1973 and 1974 under the title of Just the Two Of Us. [9] [10] [11] [12]

References

  1. ↑ American Film Institute (1976). Krafsur, Richard P. (ed.). Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States . Feature Films 1961–1970. Vol. F6. New York: R. R. Bowker. p. 228. ISBN   0-8352-0453-7.
  2. ↑ Langman, Larry (1981). Guide to American Film Directors. Scarecrow Press. p. 269. ISBN   978-0-8108-1467-7.
  3. ↑ Longino, Bob (November 11, 2005). "Gay-Lesbian Film Festival Opens With Greater Reach". The Atlanta Journal - Constitution . p. E8. Just the Two of Us—The 1975 exploitation film (originally released as The Dark Side of Tomorrow) is about two lonely housewives who begin an affair after witnessing lesbians kissing at a restaurant.
  4. ↑ Gross, Linda. (February 12, 1978). "A Woman's Place Is in... Exploitation Films?". Los Angeles Times . pp.  34–36.
  5. ↑ Smukler, Maya Montañez (2018). "1970s Cultures of Production: Studio, Art House, and Exploitation". Liberating Hollywood: Women Directors and the Feminist Reform of 1970s American Cinema. Rutgers University Press. p. 150. ISBN   978-0-8135-8749-3.
  6. ↑ Weaver, Emmett (November 12, 1970). "Film Hits of Yesteryear at Movie Houses". Birmingham Post-Herald . p. 6.
  7. ↑ Collins, William (December 3, 1970). "Dark Side Follows Paired-Women Trend". The Philadelphia Inquirer . p. 19.
  8. ↑ Weldon, Michael J., ed. (Winter 1994). "Reviews: Just The Two Of Us". Psychotronic Video . No. 19. p. 14.
  9. "Just The Two Of Us". Pensacola News Journal . December 1, 1973. p. 5C.
  10. "Just The Two Of Us". The Mobile Register . May 10, 1973. p. 2G.
  11. "Just The Two Of Us". The Pittsburgh Press . October 25, 1974. p. 16.
  12. "Just The Two Of Us". The Bay City Times . February 1, 1974. p. 5B.
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