The Alley Cats

An early work from Radley Metzger, the king of elegant sexploitation in the 1960s, The Alley Cats blends a broad, soap-opera plot with Metzger's trademark fascination with lesbianism and bisexuality. Leslie (Anne Arthur) is engaged to marry Logan (Charlie Hickman), while Logan is fooling around on the side with Leslie's friend Agnes (Karin Field). Leslie has been playing the field as well, but when both Logan and her secondary lover of the moment, Christian (Harald Baerow), are both out of town, Leslie finds herself drawn into an unusual affair with the beautiful and mysterious Irena (Sabrina Koch). Set in Berlin (though the characters' accents don't sound terribly consistent), The Alley Cats features the fine photography, interesting production design, visual elegance, and tongue-in-cheek wit that set Metzger's work apart from most of his peers, though this film lacks the self-conscious artistry of Therese and Isabell and The Lickerish Quartet.