THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES

Gerard Damiano, 1973

Starring: Georgina Spelvin, John Clemens, Harry Reams, Marc Stevens

There once was a lady Miss Jones,

determined to jump someone’s bones.

She found her true niche 

in a cock sandwich,

but her pleasure the Devil postponed.

Why yes, I did compose a limerick in honor of The Devil in Miss Jones, one of the best porn films of all time. Gerard Damiano, director of another classic, Deep Throat, created one of the first hardcore films with a serious plot, a capable lead actress, and a surprisingly melancholic tone. It was co-produced by Harry Reems (here Reams), star of Deep Throat and one of the most popular ‘70s porn actors, partly due to his arrest for the Deep Throat-related obscenity trial. 

The untraditional but excellent Georgina Spelvin stars as the titular Miss Jones, a virtuous woman thoroughly unsatisfied with her life. After she kills herself, she learns she is going to be sent to Hell, because of her suicide. Mr. Abaca, a sort of otherworldly counselor, takes pity on her because of her dull, pleasureless life, and gives her a window of time to return and experience everything she missed out on. A teacher (Harry Reams) introduces her to oral, anal, and vaginal sex, which turns her into a nymphomaniac. She goes on to have an oiled down lesbian encounter, a few masturbatory experiences with a bowl of fruit, a python, and a shower hose, a blow job-heavy threesome with a man and another woman, and - drumroll, please - cinema’s first double penetration scene during the final MMF threesome. Then Miss Jones is sent to a No Exit-like Hell, a place where she craves pleasure, but will eternally receive none, as her only company is a man (a cameo from Damiano) more interested in flies than sex. 

Though this film stands out because of its imaginative sex scenes and depressing, melodramatic plot, star Georgina Spelvin is the real reason to see this film. Spelvin, who was 36 at the time the film was made, does not look like a conventional porn star, but is thoroughly erotic in every scene of the film and I could not imagine another actor in her place. She went on to do more porn films after this, but is utterly fearless here. 

One of the most popular porn films of all time, The Devil in Miss Jones premiered in New York and was occasionally shown as a double bill with Deep Throat and broke the box office record for a porn film. It was popular enough to require 8 sequels and a remake (with Jenna Jameson) over the years, some of which have small appearances from Spelvin. 

The film is dated, particularly if you are only used to watching contemporary, fake-looking porn, and the pre-suicide beginning should be avoided, if possible, but I cannot recommend The Devil in Miss Jones strongly enough. There’s an excellent double-disc DVD from Media Blasters/Raincoat that includes some wonderful special features. The first disc includes a great commentary from Damiano, which is worth the price of this release alone. The second disc includes the cut, TV print of the film, which lacks all direct hardcore shots. There’s a wonderful, lengthy interview with Spelvin, a handful of trailers, a photo gallery, etc.

Don’t confuse this with The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), a comedy starring Jean Arthur.