Theme Song: A lot of disco music. No credit is given; see below video clip for a sample.
Interesting Dated References: The popularity of silky negligees; Private disco clubs.
Best Line: None
Social Context: In the early 80s, the collective subconscious of adult males in California became so saturated with cocaine and coconut oil they started to believe lingerie was the pinnacle of sexiness. It was the worst.
Summary: There’s not a lot I’m going to be able to say about a video with a sole purpose of titillation. There’s no way the target audience for this tape (presumably horny, lonely men afraid to purchase hardcore pornography) were ever going to be aroused by this tape.
On its exterior, Thighs and Whispers: A Look at Lingerie claims to be some type of documentary on the history of lingerie through the ages. It is not.
In actuality it’s a cavalcade of 80s chick with 80s butts and 80s hair adorned in various shiny, silk negligees, posing in front of a bunch of men and couples within an upper floor discotheque that has some giant zodiac chart on the ceiling.
And it was filmed direct to tape on camcorders with so many light tracers and so much tape haze you’ll think you’re in fucking art school, tripping balls and making horseshit that has no real world application.
Thighs and Whispers: A Look at Lingerie has a few different components. There’s the aforementioned discotheque footage. Then there are still photos of corresponding lingerie floating around and randomly inserted on the screen. But oddly, in all the photos the heads are cropped out.
In addition to those, there’s short episodic footage of a super 80s Italo-disco-looking guy prepping himself in the mirror, ogling women, doing shots at a bar, and fawning over girls (also in lingerie, but in a different setting). Add to that random “man on the street” interviews featuring a number of 80s hairstyles:
All of this is overdubbed with really average disco music, and some married couple commenting about the action on screen. Do you have an overall concept of the tape so far? Good, because just when you think you’ve got the concept down …
Someone in post production decided it would be advantageous to apply all kinds of video effects at random moments throughout the duration of the 45-minute runtime. Seriously, the poor men who bought this tape expecting to get some good masturbation material must have been so upset.
As a nice 80s time capsule, however, Thighs and Whispers: A Look at Lingerie delivers. Uncomfortable editing, terrible lighting, videoFX, hollow-eyed women prancing in front of hollow-eyed men, and a self-assured (possibly drug-induced) sense of sincerity. Here’s a few minutes for your enjoyment:
Worth Mentioning:
Filmed at Tiffany’s Private Club in Newport Beach, California. From what I can gather, this was a private “member’s only” discotheque on the third floor of some building. It’s closed now, but here’s a photo from its heyday, stolen from a Facebook Group that shows the zodiac ceiling, as well as a newspaper ad:
And here’s a photo of the entrance to the club from the video:
Poster and Box Art: The cover of the Betamax features two women in lingerie that do not appear in the movie. The production credit on the box is “Karl Video Productions.” I couldn’t find anything about this business on the internet.
Availability: Used VHS.