Underplayed Gems

The Naked Ape (1973)

The Naked Ape poster
Directed by
Donald Driver
Genre
comedy film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 25m
Rated
PG
Rating
4.4 of 10 from 12 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A live-action comedy adaptation of a famous non-fiction book about human behavior. It tries to examine human customs and instincts through sketches and animated segments.

light-heartedplayfuldatedenergeticquirkywhimsicalunevenmockumentary-like

What happens

The Naked Ape is a 1973 American comedy film, loosely adapted from the non-fiction book of the same name by Desmond Morris, written and directed by Donald Driver, and starring Johnny Crawford, Victoria Principal, Dennis Olivieri, Diana Darrin, Norman Grabowski, and John Hillerman, with animated segments created by Murakami Wolf Studios. The film was released on August 1, 1973, by Universal Pictures. The Desmond Morris book had been optioned for a film adaptation in 1968, and aside from some factual consultation, Morris was not involved in the screenplay writing. Initially set up at Universal, after initial screenplay drafts were submitted, the book was deemed unfilmable and was almost sent into turnaround, until Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner, who had been producing other film projects at the time, agreed to co-finance the project. Leading lady Victoria Principal later said that her career momentum was hurt by the film's failure. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.