I’m a success! And you can’t stand it!
Guess what everyone? Today is my day! Why? I’ll spin you a tale.
I’m in Kim’s Video, where you can usually bank on finding me trolling the aisles looking for cult fare, and after returning a video, I wander downstairs to the DVD sales section. I’m looking at all the new releases, and I’m in the “M” section. Suddenly I look over, and GASP (I mean it, literally I gasped, super loudly) what do I see? Why, only one of my favorite movies OF. ALL. TIME :
Yes, that’s right. MAHOGANY!! I love this movie. But why did I gasp, you ask? (Seriously, it was loud. I apologized to the person next to me) Because Mahogany has never been available on DVD before this. Well it may have, very early on, but actually I think someone told me once that Diana Ross had blocked the release of it for some reason. I don’t know if that’s true, but who cares, it’s finally out.
Mahogany stars Diana Ross as, well, Mahogany, a girl from the projects who dreams of becoming a fashion designer but gets swept up by creepy photographer Anthony Perkins and becomes America’s Next Top Model of 1975. Her career is a smash, but she can’t keep a handle on Billy Dee Williams, her Congressman boyfriend. There are so many amazing high camp moment in this film. There’s the “I’m a success” scene, which drag queen Flotilla DeBarge used to lip sync to on repeat at Barracuda (and probably still does). There’s the scene where she screams at Italian factory workers (”Non-Capisco! Non-Capisco!”) There’s also the scene where she tries to order spaghetti! It’s a fabulous melodramatic camp extravaganza, that didn’t connect with the public on it’s release in 1975, but has connected with the gays, and this gay ever since. Hmmm, I wonder why?
The DVD cost me 11.99 plus tax. It’s no frills, with widescreen but no special features, but honestly, it doesn’t even need them. The movie is special enough! The colors of the space geisha outfits are much more vibrant than I’ve ever seen them. And the immortal car crash scene (”TAKE THE PICTURE!!! TAKE THE PICTURE!!”) shines in all its digitally restored glory. I love this movie!
Now this DVD release may be the only good thing to come out of the release of Dreamgirls. As you can see above, Paramount has clearly redesigned the DVD to cash in on Dreamgirls, which comes out next week. It’s not clear where the image of Diana Ross on the cover comes from, certainly not from the movie, and that pink capital neon font looks suspiciously like the Dreamgirls one. And the ghostly spotlight images make it look like the movie’s about a singer. Don’t be fooled! She’s a fashion designer!
This is the way the Mahogany poster should look:
Actually that’s more like what EVER poster should look like!
Support Mahogany! Go buy your copy today!