Take It Out in Trade
Take It Out in Trade is a softcore pornographic comedy, written and directed by Ed Wood. The plot centers on a couple who hire a private investigator to locate their missing daughter. He finds her in a "house of ill-repute," full of various soft-core couplings. Long believed to be a lost film, a single 16mm release print from the archive of Something Weird Video was digitally scanned and screened in 2017, followed by a Blu-ray release in 2018.[1]
Take It Out in Trade | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ed Wood |
Produced by | Edward Ashdown Richard Gonzalez |
Written by | Ed Wood |
Starring | Ed Wood Duke Moore Nona Carver Michael Donovan O'Donnell Linda Colpin |
Cinematography | Hal Guthu |
Edited by | Ed Wood |
Distributed by | Ashdown-Gonzalez Productions |
Running time | 80 mins |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Cast
- Nona Carver - Sleazy Maisie Rumpledinck
- Duke Moore - Frank Riley
- Michael Donovan O'Donnell - Mac McGregor
- Donna Stanley - Shirley Riley
- Ed Wood - Alecia
- Linda Colpin
- Monica Gayle
Apart from The Amazing Criswell (who appeared in Orgy of the Dead), Duke Moore is the only one of Wood's stable of actors from his 1950s films to appear in one of his sexploitation films. [Nona Carver was a girlfriend of Wood regular Kenne Duncan. Wood himself appeared in the film as a transvestite named "Alecia".
Unavailability
Take It Out in Trade was commonly believed to be a lost film, but a full 80-minute print was publicly exhibited at Anthology Film Archives in New York City in September 2014.[2] In Nightmare of Ecstasy, his 1992 biography of Ed Wood, Rudolph Grey claimed to have discovered a rare copy during his research. He reported that the film has "psychedelic touches," with red being dominant in the film's visual scheme. The website of Something Weird Video also claims that it is not a lost film.[3] In the 1990s, three reels of silent outtake footage was discovered in the projection booth of a Santa Monica movie theatre containing bloopers, behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, and alternative takes. The footage was released on VHS in 1995 by Something Weird Video as Take It Out in Trade: The Outtakes, and later made available on DVD and via download.[3]
On 25 September 2017, a 2K transfer of the film was presented as a "Secret Screening" at the 2017 Fantastic Fest. The screening ignited controversy as it took place during the fallout of a sexual harassment scandal involving festival personnel.[4]
Home release
On 31 July 2018, it was announced that Take It Out in Trade will be released on Blu-ray via the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA). It will contain the new 2K transfer, as well as special features, including commentary by filmmaker Frank Henenlotter, Ed Wood's biographer Rudolph Grey, and AGFA's Joseph A. Ziemba, 70 minutes of outtakes, liner notes by Grey, a bonus film The Love Feast (also in new 2K transfer), and reversible cover art. The set will be available from 13 November 2018.[5][1]
See also
References
- Sokol, Tony (28 August 2018). "Ed Wood's Last Film Take It Out in Trade Gets Release Date". Den of Geek. DoG Tech LLC. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
- http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_screenings/calendar?view=list&month=09&year=2014#showing-43174
- "TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE: The Outtakes". Something Weird Video. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
- Rife, Katie (September 25, 2017). "An Unseen Ed Wood Movie Ignites a Firestorm of Controversy at Fantastic Fest". The A.V. Club.
- "AGFA: 2K Restoration of Ed Wood's Take it Out in Trade Coming to Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
Further reading
- The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1996), documentary film directed by Brett Thompson
- Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992) ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8