Covergirl

My review was written in June 1984 after watching the film on Thorn EMI video cassette. "Covergirl" is an uninspired, glossy Canadian tax-shelter picture, lensed in 1981 under the title "Dreamworld" and marginally released this past January by New World.in Denver and other regional daes. Purporting to show a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the glamorous world of New York modelling, pic plays in similar fashion to a tv-movie with nudity and swearing added, making it neither fish nor fowl for theatrical use. Beautiful blonde Irena Ferris is introed here as Kit Paget, an up-and-coming fashion model who meets wiz-kid promoter T. C. Sloane (Jeff Conaway) in a traffic accident. Incident proves fateful, as Sloane gets a massive crush on her, takes over her career and quickly builds her into a world-famous model, designated the "Dreamworld Girl". Amidst numerous soap opera subplots, Sloane's empire almost crumbles as his key associate Harrison (Kenneth Welsh) stages a corporate coup to topple Sloane from power. Under Jean-Claude Lord's direction, which emphasizes visual glitz and kitschy details, acting here is a bot arch with lead Conaway unfortunately overdoing a (perhaps unconscious) vocal impression of George Segal throuhout in his brash. Dislikeable role. Writer-actor Charles Dennis' script suffers from gauche dialog (Cathie Shiriff at one point exclaims: "He's got a light meter where his heart's supposed to be", played straight) and fails to present a fresh point-of-view to the usual success story material. Ferris and cohorts are attractive, but wel-bdgeted opus (reportedly in the $5,000,000 range) could have benefitted from some star names. All told, forgettable film is unlikely to register in film history alongside the Rita Hayworth musical classic "Cover Girl" or even a well-received west coast-made pono title byh that name released three years ago.

Synopsis: KIT PAGET (Irena Ferris) is a moderate successful New York model who realizes her career is in a holding pattern. Although she lives well in a Manhattan townhouse with two other models, Dee Anderson (Roberta Leighton) and Avril Craig (Deborah Wakeham), Kit has become cynical about ever reaching the exclusive circle of top-dollar model. Eva Randall (Paulle Clark), the woman who owns the modeling agency that signed Kit, is inundated with numerous financial dilemmas, tempestuous models and ex-partners who have opened their own agencies and subsequently "stolen" her top models. In an accident of fate, Kit meets T.C. SLOANE (Jeff Conaway), a dashing video and computer entrepreneur, when his limousine collides with her taxi. Although she takes an intense disliking to him, his attraction to her is immediate. Sloane begins to actively pursue Kit with the idea of grooming her into a top superstar model. He shows up at a fur presentation where Kit is scheduled to model. He buys all the furs she displays, then makes the master of ceremonies change the entire program - focusing exclusively on Kit. After the show, he invites her to dinner. Kit is curious and somewhat flattered and accepts his offer. Sloane and Kit come to a profit-sharing agreement, giving him the responsibility of launching her career. Kit, however, is not one to acquiesce she values her independence, and resents Sloane for trying to take over both her professional and personal life. Meanwhile, Kit's two roommates are going through their own private hells. Avril is in the midst of a breakdown and Dee, who has been moonlighting as a prostitute. Kit knows she has turned down her friends, and wants to make things change to bring them back together again. But the way to Stardom is very long and full of pitfalls... COVERGIRL is a 89 minutes long Canadian and American Co-Production, set in New York (partly filmed in New York, but mostly in Toronto and Montréal). It's a typical model's film genre of the eighties. Not bad, not good... The story is full of clichés, and the supermodel's world is very stereotyped. But the way it is presented is quite interesting. Fame is not that accessible, and to reach it is a minefield. The images are sometimes way too much (the first dinner with Kit and T.C. is just... well, how did they come to show that ?! It's so dumb and unrealistic, even in a "dreamworld" ! It's not romantic at all, it's absurd and silly !). But Irena Ferris and Jeff Conaway get along together very well, and form a couple we can easily believe in, and follow. Irena has a couple of very fine scenes where she can act. But most of the time, the only thing the director asked her was to model and show up, not to act ! That's not necessarily a good thing, even if she was really a model that wanted to become an actress at the times (the film was filmed from August to November of 1981,and was released in January of 1984 in the USA). So the film itself is not a great issue, but it's entertaining and refreshing. And some scenes with actor William Hutt (who plays Alton Cockridge), Kenneth Welsh (Harrison) and the foxy Samantha Logan (Topsy) are very cool to watch. Well... Wellcome Back to the Glamorous Eighties !

My review was written in June 1984 after watching the film on Thorn EMI video cassette. "Covergirl" is an uninspired, glossy Canadian tax-shelter picture, lensed in 1981 under the title "Dreamworld" and marginally released this past January by New World.in Denver and other regional daes. Purporting to show a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the glamorous world of New York modelling, pic plays in similar fashion to a tv-movie with nudity and swearing added, making it neither fish nor fowl for theatrical use. Beautiful blonde Irena Ferris is introed here as Kit Paget, an up-and-coming fashion model who meets wiz-kid promoter T. C. Sloane (Jeff Conaway) in a traffic accident. Incident proves fateful, as Sloane gets a massive crush on her, takes over her career and quickly builds her into a world-famous model, designated the "Dreamworld Girl". Amidst numerous soap opera subplots, Sloane's empire almost crumbles as his key associate Harrison (Kenneth Welsh) stages a corporate coup to topple Sloane from power. Under Jean-Claude Lord's direction, which emphasizes visual glitz and kitschy details, acting here is a bot arch with lead Conaway unfortunately overdoing a (perhaps unconscious) vocal impression of George Segal throuhout in his brash. Dislikeable role. Writer-actor Charles Dennis' script suffers from gauche dialog (Cathie Shiriff at one point exclaims: "He's got a light meter where his heart's supposed to be", played straight) and fails to present a fresh point-of-view to the usual success story material. Ferris and cohorts are attractive, but wel-bdgeted opus (reportedly in the $5,000,000 range) could have benefitted from some star names. All told, forgettable film is unlikely to register in film history alongside the Rita Hayworth musical classic "Cover Girl" or even a well-received west coast-made pono title byh that name released three years ago.

Synopsis: KIT PAGET (Irena Ferris) is a moderate successful New York model who realizes her career is in a holding pattern. Although she lives well in a Manhattan townhouse with two other models, Dee Anderson (Roberta Leighton) and Avril Craig (Deborah Wakeham), Kit has become cynical about ever reaching the exclusive circle of top-dollar model. Eva Randall (Paulle Clark), the woman who owns the modeling agency that signed Kit, is inundated with numerous financial dilemmas, tempestuous models and ex-partners who have opened their own agencies and subsequently "stolen" her top models. In an accident of fate, Kit meets T.C. SLOANE (Jeff Conaway), a dashing video and computer entrepreneur, when his limousine collides with her taxi. Although she takes an intense disliking to him, his attraction to her is immediate. Sloane begins to actively pursue Kit with the idea of grooming her into a top superstar model. He shows up at a fur presentation where Kit is scheduled to model. He buys all the furs she displays, then makes the master of ceremonies change the entire program - focusing exclusively on Kit. After the show, he invites her to dinner. Kit is curious and somewhat flattered and accepts his offer. Sloane and Kit come to a profit-sharing agreement, giving him the responsibility of launching her career. Kit, however, is not one to acquiesce she values her independence, and resents Sloane for trying to take over both her professional and personal life. Meanwhile, Kit's two roommates are going through their own private hells. Avril is in the midst of a breakdown and Dee, who has been moonlighting as a prostitute. Kit knows she has turned down her friends, and wants to make things change to bring them back together again. But the way to Stardom is very long and full of pitfalls... COVERGIRL is a 89 minutes long Canadian and American Co-Production, set in New York (partly filmed in New York, but mostly in Toronto and Montréal). It's a typical model's film genre of the eighties. Not bad, not good... The story is full of clichés, and the supermodel's world is very stereotyped. But the way it is presented is quite interesting. Fame is not that accessible, and to reach it is a minefield. The images are sometimes way too much (the first dinner with Kit and T.C. is just... well, how did they come to show that ?! It's so dumb and unrealistic, even in a "dreamworld" ! It's not romantic at all, it's absurd and silly !). But Irena Ferris and Jeff Conaway get along together very well, and form a couple we can easily believe in, and follow. Irena has a couple of very fine scenes where she can act. But most of the time, the only thing the director asked her was to model and show up, not to act ! That's not necessarily a good thing, even if she was really a model that wanted to become an actress at the times (the film was filmed from August to November of 1981,and was released in January of 1984 in the USA). So the film itself is not a great issue, but it's entertaining and refreshing. And some scenes with actor William Hutt (who plays Alton Cockridge), Kenneth Welsh (Harrison) and the foxy Samantha Logan (Topsy) are very cool to watch. Well... Wellcome Back to the Glamorous Eighties !