The Movie:

The biggest 3-D sex film of all time, The Stewardesses may not be high on plot or character development but it definitely delivers exactly what you'd expect a 3-D softcore sex film to provide - titillation!

The film follows a group of pretty, young flight attendants as they go about their work. When the flights are over, they spend their layover time doing drugs and screwing anything and everything in site, from a pilot to a lamp to one another! While all of this is going on around her, a stewardess named Samantha (Christina Hart) starts to feel it for a passenger named Colin Winthrop (Michael Garrett) who makes a healthy living as an advertising guru. Samantha's not as innocent as she might want Colin to believe, however, as she figures he's just what she needs to land her first big break as an actress.

And that's about it, as far as the storyline is concerned. As mentioned, there isn't much here in that regard, what plot development there is exists for the sole purpose of stringing together the film's copious amount of sex scenes. On that level, it all works fairly well. This is a cheap exploitation film after all, one that was created for the singular purpose of cashing in on the potential that 3-D filmmaking gave skin flicks like this one - and it worked! The Stewardesses did huge box office numbers when it played theaters in the late sixties and has gone on to become one of the biggest 3-D money makers of all time. Sex definitely sells, and late sixties/early seventies America was definitely buying.

Of course, the film was shot to make the most of its 3-D process. All manner of objects and body parts thrust at you from the screen, from a pool cue and a guitar to feet and breasts, and its all in good fun even if the intent is obvious and completely unnecessary outside of the 3-D context. The cast, made up of a few recognizable drive-on starlets like Suzanne Fields, Monica Gayle and a bunch of actors and actresses you've never seen before or since, do a fine job with the material. The script isn't demanding of any intense acting but the girls all play their perky parts quite well while the male cast members seem to be having a good time playing macho archetypes like pilots and soldiers and having their way with the willing women.

The film is well shot and moves along at a good pace and contains enough fun 3-D effects to ensure that the picture is never dull. It's a fun relic of a film that still entertains and which will certainly appeal to exploitation film fans or 3-D fanatics.

Disc One includes the 3-D version of the film included in both color and black and white with a note saying that the black and white version may provide a better 3-D experience (and it does). Disc two contains the 2-D version of the film. Each version is presented uncut with a beginning to end running time of 1:32:59.

The Video:

The Stewardesses is presented in what looks to be its proper 1.33.1 fullframe aspect ratio in a pretty solid transfer that is, unfortunately, interlaced interlaced. Given that the three different versions of the film are taken from three different sources you can expect things to fluctuate a bit but regardless of which version of the film you opt for, thankfully things fare reasonably well. Yes, the image is grainy and there is some minor print damage present all the way around but color reproduction looks nice and detail levels aren't half bad at all. There aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts, macroblocking or edge enhancement and while the image isn't as clean as a modern feature might look, it's certainly more than watchable.

The Audio:

The same can be said about any one of the three Dolby Digital Mono tracks that are included in this set - they're not reference quality, but they generally sound fine. The dialogue is always perfectly audible, the levels are well mixed, and any hiss or distortion that does pop into the mix is minor and easy to overlook. No alternate language dubs, or subtitles are included, but the old school Mono mix included here does sound fine.

The Extras:

Supplements on the first disc start off with the original 3-D title sequence from 1969 (1:10) which is basically just some text cards before moving on to some deleted scenes (9:15) which are really just simple extensions and inconsequential bits but which are absolutely nice to see. Also included on this disc is a 3-D lens test (6:43) in which some of the sky foxes seen in the film will do things like thrust balloons towards you to make sure that the 3-D is working properly. All of the extras on this disc are presented sans sound so it's a little tricky to put the deleted scenes in context, but again, it's great to see it included here. Some 3-D menus and chapter selection are also included.

Disc two is a little beefier in terms of extras, starting off with A Short History of 3-D (11:32) that explains, very quickly, how the process works before discussing popular 3-D movies like House Of Wax among many others. It's not particularly in-depth but it's a fun look at some of the better known 3-D genre films (no love for Flesh For Frankenstein?). Up next is The Stewardesses: How It Was Shot And Shown (3:36) which allows Jeff Joseph from Sabucat Productions to talk about how the 'left image' and 'right image' were combined for the 3-D theatrical experience while he explains the technique behind the 3-D photography and projection systems used to make The Stewardesses the experience that it must have been during its original theatrical run. How The Stewardesses Took Off (21:33) is a collection of interviews with the cast and crew of the film. Look for input from writer/director Allan Silliphant, actor/make-up artist Bill Condos, producer/cinematographer Chris Condon, crewmember Dan Symmes, actress Christina Hart, film scholar Eric Schaefer PH.D., qne art-director Victoria Condon-Silliphant, as well as clips from the original radio ad used to promote the movie and a bunch of promotional art pieces and still photographs. The interviewees talk about the 3-D process, what it was like working on the picture, the controversy that arose from the film's graphic sex scenes, the resulting box office success, the picture's impact and more. It's a very interesting documentary that does a very nice job of documenting the history of the picture. Rounding out the extras on disc two are the film's original theatrical trailer (2:40) and the SCTV sketch, Dr. Tongue's House Of Stewardesses (6:09) in which the Count Floyd and the late, great John Candy host Monster Chiller Horror Theater with some help from Eugene Levy in a really fun parody of the film.

Inside the packaging, look for two pairs of anaglyph (red & blue) 3-D glasses and an insert booklet that contains an enjoyable but all too brief essay from 3-D historian Daniel Symmes that provides some basic but welcome information on the history of the film.

Overall:

There's room for improvement with the transfer but that said, Shout! Factory has done a very nice job with this release by including three different versions of the film and some enjoyable and interesting extra features. Recommended!

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.