Customer Reviews

Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I rented this DVD locally, primarily for the stills of playmates over the last 50 years. Unfortunately, this is the weakest link of this project. While the stills are comprehensive (you do get a picture of every Playmate since the first issue) they are not given enough pixilation to make it possible to enlarge them with the zoom on your DVD player. Even a first level of zoom makes the picture clearly digitized, with frustrating loss of detail; second or third levels make it even worse. Also, the enlargement is often of the part of the overall photo that is least interesting to the viewer, depending on the portrait involved. To wit, you might wind up with a nicely enlarged view of some part of the Playmate that you are least interested in, while the rest of her is offscreen. Not that this matters much, because she now looks like a bad Cubist rendition anyway.

The video portion of the DVD is good, as usual with most Playboy products. No better no worse than any other Playboy DVD. But the gallery of stills is something of a disappointment, for the reasons given above.

Bottom line: rental only.

Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates is one hour and twelve minutes or if you count the trailers and the Playboy's Photographers segment one hour and forty-six minutes. The main reason I bought this two DVD set is that it came with the Playmates of the Year: The 80's bonus feature. I own the VHS version went looking for a DVD version of it.
The main DVD is like a cliff note version of the history of Playboy. I own the Playboy / Playmates: Early Years, which cover the first twenty-five years and that is one hour and twenty-minutes and more informative. 50 Years of Playmates does a few quick snippets of interview with some of the modern Playmates, but none before 1999. Also I notice that some of the information on the 50 Years of Playmates looks like it was copy and pasted from Playboy / Playmates: Early Years. Yes the 50 Years does show nude Playmates throughout the history of Playboy and they do talk to some but not in great length. If they were doing a documentary DVD then they fall short. Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates gets a B-.

DVD FEATURES

Disc 1

Play Feature
Scene Selection
1. Introduction
2. Cheers
3. In The Beginning
4. Playmate of the Month
5. Chicago
6. Playmate of the Year
7. The Centerfold Story
8. Age of Aquarius
9. Diversity & Power
10. Playboy After Dark
11. Dreams
12. On The Move
13. The Photographers
14. Innovations
15. My Favorite
16. The 25th Anniversary
17. The `80s
18. Playmates As Stars
19. Evalution
20. The New Millennium
21. Always A Playmate
22. Who Wants To Be A Centerfold?
23. The 50th Anniversary
24. Credits
Bonus Features
1. Playmates Centerfolds & Data Sheets
2. Playboy's Photographers
a. Arny Freytag
b. Richard Fegley
c. Pompeo Posar
3. Trailers
a. Video Centerfold: 2004 Playmate of the Year Camella DeCesare
b. Video Centerfold: 50th Anniversary Playmate Colleen Shannon
c. The Ultimate Playmate Search
d. 2004 Video Playmate Calendar
e. Rita

Disc 2

1. The '80s-54 minutes
a. Play Feature
b. Scene Selection
i. Introducition
ii. India Allen-Playboy Playmate of the Month for December 1987 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1988
iii. Terri Welles-Playboy Playmate of the Month for September 1983 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1981
iv. Barbara Edwards- Playboy Playmate of the Month for September 1983 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1984
v. Kathy Shower-Playboy Playmate of the Month for July 2000 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1986
vi. Donna Edmondson-Playboy Playmate of the Month for November 1986 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1987
vii. Dorothy Stratten-Playboy Playmate of the Month for August 1979 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1980
viii. Marianne Gravatte-Playboy Playmate of the Month for October 1982 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1983
ix. Shannon Tweed-Playboy Playmate of the Month for November 1981 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1982
x. Karen Velez-Playboy Playmate of the Month for December 1984 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1985
xi. Kimberly Conrad-Playmate of the Month for January 1988 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1989
xii. The Decade In Review
xiii. Credits
2. The '90s-1 hour 40 minutes
a. Play Feature
b. Scene Selection
i. Introducition
ii. Anna Nicole Smith-Playboy Playmate of the Month for May 1992 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1993
iii. Reneé Tenison-Playboy Playmate of the Month for November 1989 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1990
iv. Victoria Silvstedt-Playboy Playmate of the Month for December 1996, Germany's Playmate of the Month for June 1997, & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1997
v. Corinna Harney-Playboy Playmate of the Month for August 1991 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1992
vi. Lisa Matthews-Playboy Playmate of the Month for April 1990 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1991
vii. Jenny McCarthy-Playboy Playmate of the Month for October 1993 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1994
viii. Julie Lynn Cialini-Playmate of the Month for February 1994 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1995
ix. Karen McDougal-Playboy Playmate of the Month for December 1997 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1998
x. Stacy Sanches-Playboy Playmate of the Month for March 1995, Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1996 & Germany's Playmate of the Month for Miss June 1996
xi. Heather Kozar-Playboy Playmate of the Month for January 1998 & Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1999
xii. The Decade In Review
xiii. Credits

This product is self-explanatory. If you want to see highlights of the Playmates from years past, then this is for you. It does not cover each and every playmate in depth, of course, but it does highlight the notable ones. If you remember your 1st playmate sighting from 40 years back, then you might enjoy this as a quick and easy "time machine" back to those halcyon days.

The main feature is okay, but doesn't really show too much nude scenes of the Playmates, more of a documentary of Playboy magazine. The bonus disc is worth having, and watch over and over, as it's special since it includes features of Playmates rarely seen, since some are before the Video Calendars era. Terri Welles is one Playmate I really enjoy, who I wasn't familar with. She was 1981 PMOY, and that was before my time. Bonus disc have '80s and '90s PMOY reviews. So we get a history lesson. That's what this DVD selection is all about, a story of the history of Playboy.

THERE IS NOT A PLAYMATE THAT CAN COMPARE TO MARIEANNE GRAVATTE...ANY PUBLICATION THAT INCLUDES HER CANNOT RECEIVE LESS THAN 5 STARS!!!!!!!!!!!