‘The story of a girl who falls in love with the world’s greatest obscene phone call’, is written on the poster of the cult film The Telephone Book (1971). Alice, the rather naive recipient of the phone call, becomes sexually aroused by the voice of the caller who names himself John Smith and she goes looking for him. All the men she meets want the same thing: to get the blonde girl, who likes sleeping under the American flag, into bed.
Former commercial maker Nelson Lyon turned The Telephone Book into an occasionally trendily designed film in which everything remains respectable. Apart from a few bare breasts, the genitals remain decently out of sight. The cast includes three extras from the circle around Andy Warhol, who was himself cut out of the film, and a young Jill Clayburgh is making her debut. The climax is in colour and is made up of an exuberantly designed animation sequence.
Film details
- Country of production
- USA
- Year
- 1971
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2010
- Length
- 88"
- Medium/Format
- 35mm
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