Hollywood BABYLON is a unique film in that half of it is a documentary and half of it a typical sexploitation film, circa the early 1970s. It's clearly inspired by the Kenneth Anger book of the same name, chronicling hedonism among Hollywood royalty in the 1920s. How much of it you believe is up to you, but it does make for interesting viewing/reading material.
The best parts of this film are those which act as the straight documentary. The narrative is sufficiently earnest and accompanied by various clips of silent film stars such as Charlie Chaplin. The sexploitation stuff is mildly interesting and features actors pretending to be greats like Chaplin, Dietrich, Valentino etc. and typically involved in orgy or random sex scenes. There's a lot of mild fetish stuff with cross dressing, S&M, and lesbianism making an appearance.
The sex stuff isn't very interesting and feels quite repetitive, even though a lot of stand-out starlets are used (like arresting Meyer actress Uschi Digard). The scene involving Fatty Arbuckle and his perversions is probably the most shocking. Other than that, Hollywood BABYLON is a curio at best, but the historical/reality ties at least make it worth a watch unlike other entries in this overworked genre.
The best parts of this film are those which act as the straight documentary. The narrative is sufficiently earnest and accompanied by various clips of silent film stars such as Charlie Chaplin. The sexploitation stuff is mildly interesting and features actors pretending to be greats like Chaplin, Dietrich, Valentino etc. and typically involved in orgy or random sex scenes. There's a lot of mild fetish stuff with cross dressing, S&M, and lesbianism making an appearance.
The sex stuff isn't very interesting and feels quite repetitive, even though a lot of stand-out starlets are used (like arresting Meyer actress Uschi Digard). The scene involving Fatty Arbuckle and his perversions is probably the most shocking. Other than that, Hollywood BABYLON is a curio at best, but the historical/reality ties at least make it worth a watch unlike other entries in this overworked genre.