Here it is; this is the 100th review on this site. A review I debated, but I've done The Bitch at this point, so we've firmly crossed the soft-core event horizon. Arguably, there is more sex in that mainstream, top-ten 1979-UK-box-office-revived-Joan-Collins'-career flick than in Midnight Blue. It is a perfect example of late-Silk Stockings era dreck. To be clear, this Silk Stockings, not this one. Someone else can do the math on that; I only obsessively calculate one kind of percentage on this site.
Many reviews noted that Midnight Blue aspires to be more than just a Playboy softcore romp, for good or ill. It also boasts a slightly more upscale cast, though perhaps I'm not remembering where Dean Stockwell was in his career trajectory at the time. Also, most notably, it's from 1997 and prominently features a huge fox coat.
Midnight Blue – The Film
So, we have the Playboy Entertainment Group-released tale of a mid-level banker who encounters what appears to be a high-class escort while stopping over in Atlanta. They do the deed, talk (at length) about the painting hanging up in the hotel room, grab breakfast, and finally, he heads to LA; obsession switch flipped. He's pretty surprised to meet his new boss's wife, who looks exactly like said escort in Atlanta but claims otherwise. What is the shocking twist? Well, hang on; I'll be spoiling it below.
Midnight Blue – The Furs
To say this film is heavily front-loaded on the fur fashion front is an understatement. It is the Dolly Parton of fur fashion cinematic experiences. Mostly because what's up front is pretty spectacular.
So this is Martine (Annabel Schofield) rolling up to the bar and looking for a patsy for the evening. This is Martine's blush fox fur coat. We like Martine's blush fox fur coat.
Which is great, because we will be seeing a lot of it. How much, you ask? Well, from the time Martine strides on screen in this magnificent coat to when she ambles off, it covers about 18 of the film's 94-minute runtime.
One might uncharitably call quite a bit of this section of the film “padding,” but if your padding is a full-length fox, then sign me up.
There's not much else to say about this because eventually, posting pictures of the same blush fox fur coat will become a little repetitive. But, suffice to say, Martin (Damian Chapa) here beds down with Martine.
They grab breakfast, and Martine exists with all the grace this coat demands.
Martin gets obsessed with tracking down Martine. Later in the film, he returns to the scene of the blush fox and zeros in on the first fur coat he sees.
We are suddenly and vividly reminded it is 1997 and that Martin is a dumbass for mistaking this terrible faux lynx for the ethereal beauty of Martine's fox coat.
Martine's marquee coat is seen again, though only from far away, as Martin's stalking campaign appears to bear fruit.
Finally, we arrive at the big reveal at the airport, where Martin's quarry arrives in a full-length mink, which I'll charitably assume is real, though, with this kind of thing, I could go either way.
We see Martine is actually waiting in her signature blush fox. The mink-wearing lady is Georgine, Martine's *gasp* twin sister!
The two coats are seen on screen together very briefly in this split-screen of Annabel Schofield in both roles.
So 100 reviews in the bank. Midnight Blue is definitely the best fur film of the ‘90s. Yes, that is a low bar, now that you mention it. I'm sure someone will bring up Glenn Close's 101 Dalmations, but I'm going to force you to remember there wasn't a massive amount of fur in that movie, and none of it holds a candle to the full-length fox in this one. The sequel delivered, but it's from 2000. Midnight Blue cracks the 10% on-screen ratio mark and does it with a great coat.
Fur Runtime: approx 11:18 minutes
Film Runtime: 94 minutes
On-Screen Fur Ratio: 12%
Find-a-Fur: Midnight Blue, 1997
(all times are approximate)
- 03:00 – 10:25 – blush fox fur coat
- 15:00 – 16:43 – ”
- 17:14 – 19:10 – ”
- 20:10 – 21:45 – ”
- 27:55 – faux lynx
- 54:40 – blush fox
- 1:24:20 – 1:26:05 – mink to blush
How could a guy not turn to mush upon seeing this lovely fox wearing woman at hotel bar or anywhere? Seems he did the All-Male guy thing and pursue her to the bedroom. Lucky bastard. And shooitng the movie..? Seeing her wear the fox coat on set for most of the film…? Heaven!
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