Stephen Dwoskin Films

Stephen Dwsokin films are peculiarly unconventional works which are probably best described as experimentally avant-garde.  It’s a shame however that watching them is something of an endurance test since they are rarely about anything in particular and often seem to be randomly put together with no obvious structure or attempt to employ a narrative which is likely to engage the casual viewer.

Stephen Dwoskin was born in America but moved to Britain in the 1960s in his 20s where he spent the rest of his life.  Most of his films were made in England using a mixture of actors from Britain and Germany, where he also had connections.  As a child he contracted polio which left him unable to walk without crutches and some of his films autobiographically show him coping with this disability.  He died in 2012.

Several of the films contain female nudity and some of these actresses remain unidentified beyond them being on a shortlist of possibilities, because whilst the films have acting credits these are usually just an alphabetical list of names making it hard to tell who was playing which parts.

Here are details of two of the full-length features which contain nudity from British actresses that I can't as yet add to the database due to not being able to pinpoint their names.

Central Bazaar (1976)

141 mins

Cast:

With: Maggie Corey, Marc Chaimowicz, Eddie Doyle, Mike Flower, Iggy Evelyn Joyce, Carola Regnier, Maria Elena Rivera, Jay Sheridan, Libby Spry

Also: Carolyn Rogers, A. Harvey

The name "A. Harvey" crops up in a number of Dwoskin films and it has therefore been possible to determine he must be the black male actor who appears in all those films.  In one film "Trying To Kiss The Moon (1994)", his name is credited in full as Astley Harvey.  Jay Sheridan could be a male or female name, but seems more likely to be male, since there are six women in it and six definite female names listed.

The six actresses featured

A) She speaks and has an English accent (she tells a long "Three Little Pigs" story).  She has a couple of topless scenes and one wearing transparent panties

B) Does not speak.  She has a topless scene.  This actress does not appear as much as the others and therefore could potentially be the lesser "also" name listed as Carolyn Rogers

C) Oriental appearance, several topless and full frontal scenes

D) A slightly older woman.  She has no nudity

E) She has no nudity in this film.  This actress is Carola Regnier who is a German actress and can be identified via her appearances in other Dwoskin films Behindert (1974) and Tod und Teufel (1974) (in both of those she does have topless scenes)

F) She speaks and possibly sounds a bit American(?).  She has several topless scenes.

I have been unable to get anywhere with working out who is who other than Carola Regnier.  Actress A is the one I would most like to identify since she definitely seems to be British from the way she speaks.

SCENES IN DETAIL

Actress A: Topless with her right breast out of her open robe as she lets a man bounce it playfully with his finger • topless kneeling on the floor as she rubs cream onto F's back with help from C and one of the men • topless sitting together on the floor with C and F caressing each other and cuddling • lower nudity seen through transparent panties while wearing a short orange top as she stands around with one of the men as they play fight.

Actress B: Topless with her breasts out of the top of a basque as she rolls around on the floor smooching with one of the men who is dressed in women's lingerie - then fully topless as they continue after she has painted her face.

Actress C: Her right breast is seen out of her top while kissing a man • full frontal nudity laying on some cushions - then topless sitting on the floor with another girl • full frontal nudity standing as two other girls undress her - then sitting around with one of them as they cuddle • topless wearing a transparent orangey veil wrap • full frontal nudity on the floor as one of the men F rub cream on her • topless and rear nudity sitting together on the floor with A and F caressing each other and cuddling • topless with her breasts painted gold as she dresses up as a geisha girl helped by F • full frontal nudity standing looking seductively into the camera

Actress F: Topless fooling around play-fighting with one of the men • topless with the front of her body painted and adorned with red button shapes while sitting on the floor with C as they cuddle and caress - (then) topless sitting alone - then topless laying down as the man rubs cream onto her legs • topless sitting rubbing cream onto C • topless as she helps C dress up as a geisha girl • topless standing around watching A and one of the men have a play fight



Outside In (1981)

110 minutes

Cast

Actresses: Claudia Boulton, Olimpia Carlisi, Kathie Conn, Beatrice Cordua, Suzie Crowley, Didi Hopkins, Jane Janovic, Ilona Jeismann, Merdelle Jordine, Edith Kramer, Marie Manet, Nathalie Manet, Dorothy Mogg, Layla Newall

Actors: Jaroslav Bradac, Mitch Davies, Georges Depuis, Bobby Gill, Chris Hammond, A. Harvey, Tony Haygarth, Chris Martin, Derek O'Connor, Tony Rohr, Stephen Dwoskin

Uncertain Gender: Jackie Hackworth

A) (no nudity) Stephen's girlfriend in prologue, she does not speak, she may be called "Liz" but it's not entirety clear if the name refers to her, if it does then it is a fictional character name because that does not match any of the actresses

B) (full frontal nudity) Steve's cleaner, she speaks and has an English accent 

C) (slightly see-through dress) character name "Stephanie", speaks and has an English accent

D) (no nudity) Green glitter hair wig, young, speaks French

E) (no nudity) English accent, This is Claudia Boulton who has been identified via an appearance in a 2001 UK film called "Kannibal" in which the double moles near her mouth are also seen when she is being interviewed in that film's DVD extras (during the actual film she wears a mask)

F) (no nudity) speaks German

G) (no nudity) speaks with an American accent

H) (no nudity) English accent, black skin.  This is Merdelle Jordine because she is known to be a black actress and there was only this one black actress in the film.

I) (topless) Steve's friend arriving home, She speaks German and also English with a German accent

J) (no nudity) English accent, character name "Bobby"

K) (no nudity) speaks French

L) (no nudity) American accent

M) (topless scene) short red hair, she does not speak

N) (topless scene) she does not speak

O) (no nudity) she does not speak, she might be the same as Actress K

P) (no nudity) she does not speak, she seems to resemble Jane Janovic who still has her picture in the Spotlight directory

Actress B is the one I would most like to identify since she definitely seems to be a British actress from her speaking voice. 

SCENES IN DETAIL

Actress B: Full frontal nudity as she comes into Steve's (Stephen Dwoskin) room naked and sits on his bed to kiss him after building up a friendly ever-more-relaxed rapport with him over a period of time working as his room cleaner.

Actress C: Singing in a group wearing a dress that is very clingy and perhaps slightly see-through

Actress I: Topless with her left breast seen as she arrives at Steve's (Stephen Dwoskin) flat with her suitcase and immediately unfastens the front of her dress as she opens the front door and greets him in German - then topless as she picks up her case and walks down the hallway • topless sitting in her briefs as she puts on her handicapped friend Steve's leg callipers and then struggles to her feet using his crutches and then walks around his flat clumsily getting used to the restriction of movement - then topless as she sits down on his bed with him and lays down laughing uncontrollably at how ridiculous she feels and the effort required just to move around.

Actress M: Topless as she takes off the party frock she has been trying on on an upstairs landing - seen at a medium distance from the bottom of the stairs

Actress N: topless in a bedroom as she stands to put on a kinky black PVC dominatrix costume

Details of other Stephen Dwoskin films

• The b&w short Take Me (1968) has nude scenes from an actress identified in the credits as Clodagh Brown - she is the only person in the film
• The film Dyn Amo (1972) has topless or nude scenes featuring Jenny Runacre, Pat Ford, Catherine Kessler and Linda Marlowe
• The film Behindert (1974) has a couple of topless scenes with Carole Regnier.  Stephen Dwoskin appears as himself in this film and she is playing his girlfriend
• The film Tod und Teufel (1974) has a very brief topless glimpse of Carole Regnier
• The short Girl (1975) (filmed in 1971) has a long nude scene with Linda Marlowe (credited as Linda Marlow).  In fact her standing naked facing the camera doing nothing IS the entire film which lasts 22 minutes
• The film The Silent Cry (1977) has several nude scenes featuring Cosey Fanni Tutti (credited as Cosey P-Orridge).  The film itself gives no way to identify which one she is but she is identifiable via other things she appeared in during the 1970s.

The one major Stephen Dwoskin film I've not seen is Further and Particular (1988).  From a few clips seen I know it has some topless scenes but cannot tell who they are.  IMDB has entries for Stephen Dwoskin's films, but usually with only a fraction of the credited cast members actually listed.

  

Grease Monkeys Update

Further to an earlier post about the hypnotist scene in an early episode of BBC3's Grease Monkeys from 2003, a contributor has pointed me towards the solution.

Josephine Markham Webster has posted the clip on YouTube identifying herself as the hypnotised girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y7s4g5NXHE

I've seen her name on the IMDB listings for Grease Monkeys before but hadn't thought it could be her because her character name is shown as "Hypnotist's Assistant" which doesn't really seem to fit (unless it transpired she was his stooge), but much more pointedly her name is attached to episode 10 which is the wrong episode entirely.

However, now looking again at other sources I see that Josephine Markham is listed for episode 1 on the Kaleidoscope Guide which fits much better.  Although this in itself is somewhat puzzling because if it is listed there that must mean she was credited after all.  I had always been under the impression that hers was an uncredited role but that seemingly turns out not to be the case.  It could be that the end credits were listed without character names and no one who watched it at the time was able to match her name up.

Josephine Markham Webster is a photographic model and has her own website.  Photos of her show a fair likeness to the girl in the scene although without her self-identification I wouldn't have been able to tell for sure.

Worthy Site Footnotes #2

Here's a second batch of Site Footnotes entries.  These are both of Tamzin Malleson who is probably best remembered for being in C4's Teachers, but she was also in Bodies, Always and Everyone and Dangerfield.  She is now a regular in Midsomer Murders (although possibly a bit underused in that?).

As far as I'm aware she has never done any actual nudity but here are two things she's been in that I would say are worth a mention, both of which are oft repeated on ITV3 because of the perennially popular series they happen to be part of.

Firstly, A Touch of Frost: Deep Waters from 1996 which was her first TV role. 

And secondly, Poirot: Evil Under The Sun which was first shown on 15 Dec 2002, although the copyright date at the end is 2000.

The Warp (1979)

I have recently had the opportunity to review a video recording of the marathon performance of the 1979 stage play The Warp within which there turns out to be a major surprise.  Read on for more details ...

The Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool's Production of The Warp performed at the ICA in January 1979, written by Neil Oram, directed by Ken Campbell.

The Warp was a ten-play cycle charting the early adult life of a character called Philip Masters over a twenty-year period from 1958 - 1978.  The plays detail Phil's development from an 18-year-old teddy boy with a talent for ad-libbing poetry, into a bohemian hippy seeking transcendental enlightenment to make sense of his life.  Along the way he encounters a wide range of bizarre characters from UFO-ologists to Scientologists as well as having a string of failed relationships with women.

The plays were commissioned in 1978 by director and actor Ken Campbell from his writer friend Neil Oram who based the story on some of his own experiences.  The resultant plays were initially performed individually in 1979 at London's ICA until eventually all of the plays were performed together in a continuous performance lasting a record-breaking 22 hours. 

Philip Masters was played by Russell Denton who appeared in virtually every scene.  The other parts were played by a company of (then) mostly unknown actors many of whom played multiple roles.  Future familiar names amongst the cast were Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy and another that I'll come to soon.

This historic performance was videoed for the record on early portable equipment and eventually writer Neil Oram made most of the material available to purchase, first on video in the 1990s, and more recently on DVD.  The total running time of this was 15.5 hours.

As you may have guessed, the reason I am mentioning this on the blog is because a number of the actresses have nude scenes.  And whilst most of these actresses did not go on to become household names, there was one real surprise amongst them.  

The actress Janet Fielding, who was playing Phil's second girlfriend Hazel in the second and third play, would soon afterwards find fame as Doctor Who companion Tegan Jovanka in the Peter Davison era from 1981 to 1984.  She had two nude scenes.

Her involvement in this production of The Warp is mentioned on her IMDB biography " ... After leaving university she worked with an English writer/director named Albert Hunt, who in 1977 brought her to England in one of his shows.  Once in England she joined Ken Campbell at the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool and appeared in productions including 'The Warp' and 'The End is Nigh' ..."


Here are details of the scenes and the plays in which they occur.  Not all the plays had nudity.


Play 1 - The Storm's Howling Through Tiflis

Maya (as Eva)
Topless and rear nudity as she does a sexy strip in a tool shed for her boyfriend Phil Masters (Russell Denton) who has just given her the news that he is leaving for Africa - then topless kneeling on the floor and leaning forwards against a table as he makes love to her from behind.

NOTE: This actress is the only one credited without a complete name.  I could not establish if there was an actress from this time who was known by that single name or if it is a pseudonym.


Play 2 - The Weather on Orion

Janet Fielding (as Hazel)
Topless standing putting on her bra and the rest of her clothes as she and Phil Masters (Russell Denton) talk after having made love on a small table.

And the following two are part of the same scene:-

Michelle Franklin (as Audrey)
Rear nudity laying on a bed posing for her friend Phil Masters (Russell Denton) as he sketches her - later topless side view with her left breast briefly seen as she sits up on the bed when she is joined by Phil's girlfriend Hazel (Janet Fielding) where they smooch and writhe around sensually as Phil frantically sketches.

Janet Fielding (as Hazel)
Topless and then full frontal nudity standing and undressing to stockings and suspenders after arriving at her artist boyfriend Phil's bedsit so she can pose naked on the bed for him, joining his other friend Audrey (Michelle Franklin) who is already posing - then topless as she kneels on the bed with Audrey and then rear nudity as they smooch and writhe erotically while Phil frantically continues sketching until he can resist no longer and joins the pair of them on the bed.

NOTE: Michelle Franklin is not on IMDB for any TV or film roles.


Play 4 - Eye To Eye

Pat Donovan (as Meg)
Briefly topless sitting up in bed and taking off her shirt after taking the initiative and getting into Phil Masters' (Russell Denton) bed after he brings her back to his room - later topless and full frontal nudity as she sits up on the side of the bed and then stands up to put on her shirt after they have finished having sex.

NOTE: Pat Donovan is not on IMDB.  Unless she is Patricia Donovan who has three UK TV appearances listed from around the same time (1981 - 1984).


Play 6 - A Key In The Shredded Cloak

Maria Moustaka (as Rachel Gallop)
Topless laying on a mattress on the kitchen floor with like-minded free-thinking bohemian hippy Phil Masters (Russell Denton) expressing their free love when Phil's less-than-enamoured wife Meg (Pat Donovan) comes downstairs and expresses her disapproval by pouring a bowl of water over them both - then topless as she stands up upset and gets dressed and hurriedly leaves.

NOTE: Maria Moustaka is on IMDB for one thing


Play 10 - Pure White Light

Maria Moustaka (Rachel Gallop)
Topless sitting up in bed with her boyfriend Phil after they have made love for the first time after a few months apart as they catch up with recent events and then discuss where they want to go next.

Claudia Bolton (Clava)
Full frontal nudity as she steps out of her robes of worship and sits down cross-legged in the company of Phil Masters (Russell Denton), who has come to India seeking enlightenment from a guru to whom she is a devotee - then topless as she meditates and then explains to Phil what she is doing.

NOTE: Claudia Bolton is not on IMDB for any TV or film roles


Acknowledgments: Thanks to the correspondent who originally apprised me of the Janet Fielding scenes, and to the collector who lent the disks for me to review.

The actresses as they appear in THE WARP

If anyone knows a full or different name for Maya, or if Michelle Franklin, Pat Donovan and Claudia Bolton had acting careers under a different name (perhaps a married name) then please let me know.


Cast List
Because I've not seen them listed elsewhere here is the full cast list (in the order they are listed in the end credits)

Russell Denton (as Philip Masters), Pat Donovan (as Meg Masters), Maria Moustaka (as Rachel Gallop)

And playing several roles (I've omitted all the character names here but they are given)Bunny Reid, John Joyce, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Stephen Williams, Tony Maple, Michael Irwin, David Hatton, Michelle Franklin, Bruce Taylor, Joolia Capleman, Richard Hope, Richard Howard, Brian Calloway, Mitch Davis, Claudia Bolton, Eve Grace, Helen Cooper, Janet Fielding, Cindy Oswin, Adrian Christie, Chris Lynham, Maya, John Worren, Tim Albery, Nicole Perez, Jonathon Baxter, Tony D'Arriaga, Mary Ferguson, Maggie Jordon, Martin Skinner, George Harvey Webb, Una Lind.


FOOTNOTE: The 1982 film "Uliisses" featured some of the cast, including Russell Denton, performing selected scenes from the plays although it only begins to make some sense after understanding the context obtained from seeing the whole thing.