Long before Ashton Kutcher first thought of ‘punking’ his celebrity friends, in fact, a considerable time before he was even born there was a bald little man named Allen Funt created an entirely new mode of entertainment with the use of hidden cameras. The show was simply called ‘Candid Camera’. It ran an unbelievable thirty eight years starting in 1948, the very dawn of the television age surviving up until 2004 by which time the series was taken over by his son, Peter. The concept was brilliant in its simplicity. Set up some unusual situation, hide a camera and film the reaction of regular, unsuspecting people. Unlike some of the antics deployed in ‘Punk’d’ Funt always made sure the pranks were harmless, only mildly embarrassing and most important of all funny. When Funt or one of his cohorts jumped out shouting the famous tagline ‘Smile, You’re on Candid Camera’ the typical reaction from the target was laughter mixed with a touch of relief that their sanity was still intact. ‘Candid Camera’ pioneered reality television and added the phrase ‘hidden camera’ to our vernacular. Like millions of others I grew up with this series. It was the staple of Sunday night programming. In my area Sunday night meant ‘Disney’, ‘Ed Sullivan’, ‘Perry Mason’ topping off the evening with ‘Candid Camera’ and ‘What’s my Line’. Most of this was well after my youthful bedtime but I would sneak out of bed to covertly catch the proceedings. All too often my laughter revealed me to my parents. By 1970 the standards of what was permissible in movies was drastically changing. Filmmakers were fervently pushing the envelope especially in sexual matters. This did not go unnoticed by Me. Funt and his covert operatives. He came up with an idea for a feature length film employing the well proven methodology of his television resulting in the film under review here, ‘What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?’ This was a considerably more adult themed variation on the TV series featuring nudity. Of course nothing even close to this could be shown on TV and initially the MPAA’s new rating system would give this the dreaded ‘X’ rating although twelve years later it was reclassified with an ‘R’ rating.

The fundamental premise is more insightful than many people realized. Each prank that Funt pulled off actually gave thoughtful insight into the psychological construction of our society. The reason the show lasted such an incredibly long time is these rather well crafted pranks provided insight into the mind of the regular person. This film was a lost treasure in this concern, a look back in time to when our current sexual mores were in the process of being formed. ‘Naked Lady’ was made just after the Woodstock generation was born but a decade before the uninhibited excesses of the eighties. Though of us that came of age at this time most likely remember this film from the theaters, at least those of us with access to ones that would run ‘X’ rated films. Funt had a keen mind into the human psyche, one that easily could have qualified him for a doctorate in the subject. He had a real knack for crafting circumstances that would strip bear the inner working of his subject’s reactions. Some of the bits used here may appear odd, socially unacceptable and even bordering on harassment by today’s politically correct standards but overall the experiments continue to hold up as valid and, most importantly, remain funny. In one segment a tailor gets a little too ‘hands on’ with female customers in order to see how many will complain. In today’s political climate such a stunt could very likely place you on a predators watch list.

The titular moment has a woman going about her day apparently unaware, or at least unconcerned, that she is entirely naked. It is the ‘Emperor’s clothes fable played out in a modern city with an attractive young woman. Another has a pretty young woman with the tiniest possible miniskirt asking men to steady a ladder while she climbs it. To their credit most of the male subjects refrain from gawking up the abbreviated strip of fabric. One segment broadens the test parameters to a consideration of the effects of peer pressure. There are five men in a waiting room, four are plants hired by Funt, and the fifth is the subject. The four casually begin to disrobe. In the majority of the cases the fifth man follows suite, so to speak. Another segment looks at the generation gap when it comes to views on nudity. Residents in a senior citizen facility are queried as to whether a new reproduction of Michelangelo’s David requires a fig leaf. Then there is another pretty woman walking down the street topping men asking them to kiss her. Not everyone accepts the offer. One of the bits tied strongly to the social conventions of the time featured actor Richard Roundtree in an examination of the reaction to an interracial couple.

Funt embraces the sociological probative value of his work by going deeper onto an understanding of his subjects. Between the segments Funt directly confronts people asking them directed questions giving them the opportunity to talk openly about sexual matters. This may seem mundane now in an age of so many emo daytime talk shows but forty years ago it was a novel concept. While watching this film it is best to consider it a time capsule providing a window into our culture four decades ago. This film has been difficult to find especially on disc but it is now part of the constantly expanding manufacture on demand line from MGM. Once again they came up with a little lost treasure perfect for the serious collector.