As balance to the no-nothing review previously posted on IMDb, LITTLE ME AND MARLA STRANGELOVE is a quality porn film, forgotten but still arousing decades later.
Director Kirdy Stevens and his scripter Helene Terrie were soon to hit the big time with the classic TABOO and its sequels, but LITTLE ME is a mini-classic in its own right. It's not as famous as LITTLE GIRLS BLUE and other hits in the "underage sex" category, but is perhaps the best example of this misunderstood genre.
Long before attorney general Alberto Gonzales discovered the billion dollar kiddie porn industry, and failed to wipe it out despite the cooperation of leading banks and credit card companies going after the kingpins, there existed a lucrative and legal version of this material. It consists of the dozens of films employing adult actresses to portray underage teens engaged in XXX sex.
Unlike 21st Century all-sex videos, these early films have story lines and the fun (and arousal value) comes from the situations. Even the many, many loops in the field, often starring the likes of Tawny Pearl and consistently dirty old man (at a young age) John Leslie, present interesting vignettes.
For LITTLE ME Stevens & Terrie concocted a very effective bait and switch. The principal protagonist, who is the focus of the narrative and does most of the talking and instigating is Marla Strangelove (played by one-shot actress Dianne Dale), a bad influence on schoolmate Debbie (cult star Nancy Hoffman).
In a key scene, when challenged Marla recites a lengthy laundry list of activities and hobbies that she loves and thinks about, but concludes that sex is always on her mind. For that reason, she's constantly having sex and always egging Debbie on to do the same.
Film opens with Debbie balking at making it with one of their boyfriends in a van, so Marla is inside servicing both boys as poor Debbie walks home (estimated 5 miles) right next to the slow-moving van, while the young driver mocks and titillates her by giving color commentary on what's going on in the back.
Debbie is not inexperienced, as we find out she has had sex with boys and enjoyed it, but is simply not willing to go whole-hog like Marla. This being a porn film, there is no greater sin than that reluctance.
The vignettes of the girls getting it on are humorous and consistently stimulating, including a bizarre and comical bondage sequence after they stupidly let a guy in a Cadillac give them a ride ("there are two of us and only one of him -what could go wrong?"). Lengthy middle section of the film has them watching what they thought would be home movies made by Debbie's dad, but they turn out to be stag loops featuring Serena, Sandy Dempsey and John Holmes, introducing the girls to the wonders of double penetration and anal sex.
Unlike his later TABOO melodramas, Stevens is strictly light-hearted here, pursuing the equally taboo (as incest was his gravy train) subject of sex with underage girls. My favorite film in this genre is completely forgotten: the Victorian comedy FLOSSIE, A VENUS OF 15, reissued by Alpha Blue Archives to zero reaction. LITTLE ME is also effective, due to the sexiness and convincing youthfulness of its two heroines.
Though Hoffman is in the subsidiary role, she is simply so cute and innocent looking, despite the rigors of hardcore sex in her performance, that she became a minor cult star in the genre. Not only co-starring in LITTLE GIRLS BLUE, but also such hits as TEENY BUNS and CANDY STRIPERS. Why her co-star here Dianne Dale never made it is a mystery.
Male cast is unimpressive, with the ubiquitous Ric Lutze, nearing the end of his successful porn run, making little impression late in the film humping Dale.
