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Glenda (Glenda Kemp) loves nothing more than dancing, so she takes
ballet-lessons from a very early age. Eventually, she is asked by a club
owner to do some gogo-dancing in his club, and she soon realizes how much
she enjoys it. Her boyfriend Kevin though strongly disapproves, thinking
it's just one step away from pornography (even though in her acts, there
is no nudity involved), and her (foster-)parents would rather see her
become a teacher. But Glenda just can't give up dancing and rather breaks
off with her boyfriend.
Eventually, her brother Richard gives her a snake, an animal she was
always fond of, which she incorporates into her nightclub act ... and this
act soon catches the attention of Brannigan, who owns a bigger nightclub
and can pay her more than double ... so before long she agrees to dance in
his club from now on, in far better choreographed shows with higher
production values and the like. Eventually though, Brannigan asks her to
do some private strip-shows for a selected crowd for a bit of extra cash,
but she considers herself a dancer and refuses to totally undress ...
until her brother desperately needs money, and she agrees to do four
shows, jsut to raise enough money for Richard ... however, she soon seems
to have licked blood, and one day during her nightclub show just totally
undresses without even being asked to, enjoying every minute of dancing in
the nude - which is a big no-no in South Africa, and the police closes the
club.
Surprisingly, Brannigan is far from angry, instead he sees the
closedown of his club as free publicity and takes Glenda plus snake, plus
Glenda's striptease act on the road, touring half the country to ecstatic
crowds. However, eventually the police catches up with them, and while
Brannigan makes an escape act, Glenda has to defend herself and her
actions in court (since, as I said, strip shows aren't exactly legal in
South Africa).
Eventually, though, Glenda is acquitted, and immediately she wants to
take up her strip performances again, this time with her brother, the only
one who stood by her all the time, as manager, and she only wants to
perform to selected audiences, since this way she can evade the law. Her
performances are a great success, and they grow racier all the time ...
until the police catches up with her once again, since the promoter at one
of the venues she's playing didn't take the selected audience
clause in her contract too seriously ... and this time, Glenda is
convicted to never strip again.
In tears, Glenda phones her boyriend Kevin, whom she still loves and
who still loves her, promises him to give up dancing and become a teacher,
and asks him over ... however, somehow her snakes have escaped their
terrarium and choke her to death before Kevin finally arrives.
Snake Dancer is a nice piece of 1970's sexploitation with some
really hot striptease performances by Glenda Kemp that go far beyond
simple undressing and ae sometimes based on biblical motives (Adam &
Eve and the snake). That said, Snake Dancer is on the other ahnd
nothing special, it's a nice genre film with plenty to look at, but
nothing one hasn't seen elsewhere. Fans of 1970's sexploitation however
are sure to like it.
Maybe the story behind the film is actually more interesting than the
film itself:
Snake Dancer was partailly based on the life of Glenda Kemp, a
school teacher who turned striptease performer and gained some notoriety
in South Africa. Producer/director Dirk DeVilliers though that the perfect
stuff to exploit for both domestic and international release, and getting
the actual Glenda Kemp for the lead role was just the ising on the cake.
Unfortunately, censorship in South Africa was still very strict in the
1970's, so he had to shoot a very tame version with all the nudity
involved - which for obvious reasons turned this sexploitation pic into a
bomb in domestic markets. On the other hand, for the international
markets, even the racier version with all the nudity intact was too tame
since in 1976 the traditional sexfilm was already ont he decline giving
way to hardcore porn ... so why try to release an obscure sexfilm from
South Africa ... ?
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