The Notorious Bettie Page

I finally had an excuse to go into town and was surprised to find out that this film was still playing, so I took in a late afternoon viewing, and came out pretty impressed by Gretchen Mol's performance, which was good enough for me to forget what Gretchen even looked like while she was playing Bettie throughout the film. She captured not only the look of Bettie, but her attitude and spirit as well. I did enjoy the "greatest hits" scenes of how Bettie's most lasting and indelible images were taken by the photographers during her modeling phase. Mol totally nails these scenes.

Unfortunately, the "greatest hits" scenes don't a great screenplay make, and it was simply an average screenplay, but it was still an interesting look at the life and times of Bettie Page from her beginnings, through her modeling days, and finally her life after modeling. The bulk of the drama is created from the proceedings generated from the "indecent" photos being sent over state lines with the postal service by Irving Klaw, the man who not only ran a photograpy service for regular cinema stars, but dabbled in fetish photography that landed him and his business in hot water with the government.

I enjoyed it for what it was, so it gets 3 stars, or a grade of B (for Bettie, of course).