Hollywood BABYLON is a unique film in that half of it is a documentary and half of it a typical sexploitation film, circa the early 1970s. It's clearly inspired by the Kenneth Anger book of the same name, chronicling hedonism among Hollywood royalty in the 1920s. How much of it you believe is up to you, but it does make for interesting viewing/reading material.The best parts of this film are those which act as the straight documentary. The narrative is sufficiently earnest and accompanied by various clips of silent film stars such as Charlie Chaplin. The sexploitation stuff is mildly interesting and features actors pretending to be greats like Chaplin, Dietrich, Valentino etc. and typically involved in orgy or random sex scenes. There's a lot of mild fetish stuff with cross dressing, S&M, and lesbianism making an appearance.The sex stuff isn't very interesting and feels quite repetitive, even though a lot of stand-out starlets are used (like arresting Meyer actress Uschi Digard). The scene involving Fatty Arbuckle and his perversions is probably the most shocking. Other than that, Hollywood BABYLON is a curio at best, but the historical/reality ties at least make it worth a watch unlike other entries in this overworked genre.

Kenneth Anger's book Hollywood Babylon is one hell of an expose of the early days of Hollywood sleaze even though some of it was probably embellished. However I think it cannot be denied that their were wild parties, rampant sex and despicable behaviour with all sorts of cover ups to protect the guilty.This movie version is loosely based on the book but nowhere near as biting or entertaining. Kenneth has anger but not the wit. This is old public domain footage with some soft porn re-enactments of some sleaze from the stars of the silent screen.The film starts brightly enough but after a while it stops mentioning the scandalous stars that misbehaved. I guess at the time some of the stars involved were still alive and the producers of the film did not want to be sued.It is a curious film worth watching while having access to Wikipedia so you can find out more about the stars featured and what might had actually happened in their private lives. I think some of the stories seem less sordid now, even Fatty Arbuckle's use of a champagne bottle to make up for his shortcomings.

Based on the Kenneth Anger book of the same name, HOLLYWOOD BABYLON is over 50% public domain silent movie footage with boring narration over it. I can't believe I'm commenting on this, as it is really nothing to comment on, but there are some good sequences of Uschi Digard as a lesbian Marlene Dietrich and the re-enactment of the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. Otherwise, nothing to shout about and certainly nothing to seek out. Maybe if you're a Hollywood scandal fanatic, but even then, more time is spent on Hollywood history (mostly fictional).

This is pure exploitation (in the best sense). You take some scenes from classic public domain films (Keaton etc.) mixed it with historical WWI footage and then you spice it up with some wild softcore re-enactments of the scandals from Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon" book and, BANG!, you've got a hit! Oliver Stone, eat your heart out! Boobqueen Uschi ("Supervixens", "Scavengers", "Touch Of Sweden" etc.) Digart's portrait of a lesbian Marlene Dietrich is a blast. More informative (and funnier) than Discovery History Channel! The slick but stale flicks of the PC 90's can't hold a candle to the wonderful world of 70's exploitation cinema. So get your psychotronic kicks, daddy-o!