Released: 1998 by Pamela Green
Producer(s): Pamela Green
Music: (stock recordings)
Cinematography: Peter Cushing
Directed: Douglas Webb
Starring: Pamela Green
Rated: Not rated (or needed)
Format: VHS

Never Knowingly Overdressed is a must-have video for a connoisseur of fine nude art. Pamela Green, one of Britain.s premier nude models, and her late husband Doug Webb produced it. Since Doug was a professional photographer, with an extensive background in film studio still work, you can rest assured the quality of the still photographs shown is top-notch. The nude work is artistic and excellent, and Pamela is extremely self-assured out of her clothes. Even in the few adult strip films she did with George Harrison Marks, she may have been a bit naughty but she was never lewd. There were obviously standards that were adhered to in her heyday. This is one tape I can vouch for personally, since I.ve had extensive correspondence with Pamela (and some with her late husband), as well as having visited her while on vacation in England in 1998. She.s become a dear friend as a result of our association.

This project is a retrospective of a life lived in front of the camera. It chronicles Pamela.s early years in art and dance school, her introduction to nude modeling, and progresses through a career that spans four decades. She started doing nude work in the late .40s and was still at it in the late .70s! Most of her photographic work is excellent but the absolute zenith is her now famous nude work with Doug Webb. He was a photographer.s photographer, a man of impeccable craftsmanship who knew his art inside out. Each of his photographs is a study in lighting. Tragically, all his early work with Pamela was burned in a warehouse fire, so Doug and Pamela set out, when she was in her mid-forties, to recreate the entire portfolio. The result is a remarkable catalogue of work by a photographer and a model both at the top of their game.

There is a section of the tape featuring her work with George Harrison Marks, a photographer best known for his .girlie. films. A little known fact of this period is that Pamela was the genius behind a large part of Mark.s work. Pamela did a ton of work behind the scenes (some of it financial) in producing his photographs and films, helping to launch and produce their magazine Kamera, as well as Kamera Cine Productions. She also ran the mail order end of things. Pamela continued her work behind the camera with Doug Webb as well.

The price of this VHS is money well spent, for you get 135 minutes of narration, clips and stills. Pamela provides much explanation of her work, replete with well presented stills. Included, are five of the strip films Pamela did with Marks that are run silently for some unknown reason. A bit of appropriate sound track would have been nice. There is also an extensive section where Pamela.s photos run as a slide show, this time with a lovely musical soundtrack. The only jarring note of this first-rate production is that you have to reconcile the motherly figure of Pamela today with the siren (actually three sirens, if you count Rita Landre and Princess Somnar) of her photographic work. Nevertheless, this fact tends to humanize Pamela, as you realize the nude goddess is one of us mortals after all.

Never Knowingly Overdressed is an enjoyable viewing experience for anyone serious about art and artistic nudes, whether on canvas or on photographic paper. The standards are the highest throughout. Even the adult loops are more charming than raunchy. You.ll find plenty to admire in this videotape. Hopefully, it will eventually be redone for DVD.

Never Knowingly Overdressed provides a glimpse into another era, where art came before sex and where there were areas you simply didn.t venture into.