Behind the Green Door – Mitchell Brothers Film Group (UHD/Blu-ray/CD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1972
Directors: Artie Mitchell, Jim Mitchell
Writers: Billy Boyer, Mark Bradford, Artie Mitchell, Jerry Ward
Cast: Marilyn Chambers, Johnny Keyes, George McDonald, Ben Davidson

Release Date: December 2nd, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 71 Minutes 23 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD Mono French
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $64.98

"Gloria Saunders arrives at a quiet, bayside hotel for a relaxed evening. But the tranquility of her stay is quickly interrupted when a trio of men violently kidnap her, bringing her to a strange club. Confused and frightened, Gloria is soothingly informed that she is to be the centerpiece of an elaborate sexual performance that will fulfill her deepest longings and hidden desires, only to have no memory of the experience after it concludes. With no choice but to participate, she is prepared and brought on stage, where anonymous lovers of all types begin to emerge through the mysterious green door." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD), 4.5/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "newly restored from the 16mm reversal A/B rolls."

Behind the Green Door comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 53.6 GB

Feature: 52.7 GB

For anyone who has seen Behind the Green Door in any of its previous home media incarnations, this new release's transfer will be a revelation; it is virtually free of any print debris and what remains is extremely minor. Flesh tones and colors look correct; image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid; and the image always looks organic.

Behind the Green Door comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 37 GB

Feature: 21.5 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 4.5/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a DTS-HD mono mix in French. For this review I only listened to the English language track. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced, and range-wise, it represents the ambient sounds and the score well. Included are removable English SDH and removable French and German subtitles.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an audio commentary with Marilyn Chambers biographer Jared Stearns, an audio interview with actor George McDonald moderated by Ashley West of The Rialto Report (part 1), and an audio interview with actor George McDonald moderated by Ashley West of The Rialto Report (part 2).

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include an archival image gallery (posters/advertisements/stills), Japanese promo trailer (2 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English with text in Japanese), initial release trailer (3 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English with removable French subtitles), wide release trailer (4 minutes 54 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English with removable French subtitles), 8mm digest version of Behind The Green Door (29 minutes 48 seconds, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono, no dialogue, music from the film playing in the background), a featurette about restoring Behind The Green Door titled Winding Through: Behind The Green Door (8 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Marilyn Chambers: From Soap to Superstar (8 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable French subtitles), a documentary titled Behind The Mitchell Brothers Film Group: Preserving The Legacy (41 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable French subtitles), an audio commentary with Jared Stearns, an audio interview with actor George McDonald moderated by Ashley West of The Rialto Report (part 1), and an audio interview with actor George McDonald moderated by Ashley West of The Rialto Report (part 2).

Other extras include reversible cover artwork, a 11x17 replica Japanese one-sheet, a 24-page booklet with the original short story for Behind The Green Door, a bonus CD with the original soundtrack of Behind The Green Door, a spot gloss hard slipcase + slipcover combo (limited to 4,000 units), and a 24-page perfect-bound book with an essay titled Notorious and Necessary: The Afterlife of Marilyn Chambers, Writing About a Life Many Tried to forget, and Why Her Work Still Matters written by Jared Stearns, an essay titled The Girl on the Soapbox: How Marilyn Chambers Helped Define San Francisco’s Sexual Revolution and Became a Cultural Icon written by Jared Stearns, an essay titled “Illusions of Light”: The Legacy of Behind The Green Door written by laura Helen Marks, an essay titled The Other Trucker: Who Was Yank Levine? written by Shawn Langrick, and archival images.

Summary:

A young woman named Gloria is abducted while on vacation. She is taken to a club known as the Green Door, where a voyeuristic audience watches a live sex show where she is the main attraction. Will the experience leave her scared for life or will it awaken her sexual desires?

When discussing classic adult cinema, certain films from this era stand out prominently. Four titles that immediately come to mind are Deep Throat, The Devil in Miss Jones, Debbie Does Dallas, and Behind the Green Door. During this era in adult cinema, plots were just more than filler between the sex scenes. Artie Mitchell and Jim Mitchell were two of adult cinema’s first auteurs; they approached sex films with their innovative techniques and emphasis on character and plot.

Behind the Green Door’s first sexual encounter does not happen until almost twenty minutes into the film. Once the sex starts, the remainder of the film is wall-to-wall sexual action, with a forty-minute chunk of the film devoted to one prolonged live sex act involving the film's lead character, Gloria Saunders, who is portrayed by Marilyn Chambers. This scene, which follows Gloria’s abduction, starts off with a more softcore tone before climaxing into a full-on hardcore film. The ways in which the sex scenes are framed earlier on in the film obscure some of the penetration, with the only unobstructed hardcore content being more oral-related. The film features only one money shot and it is without a doubt one of the most elaborate ever committed to celluloid. The money shot is shown in slow motion with weird psychedelic-like colors saturating the frame and most of the money shots are repeated for effect. This climax sequence to the live sex show lasts nearly six minutes.

Marilyn Chambers is cast in the role of the protagonist; she had little acting experience before this film, with her claim to fame at that point being the model on an Ivory Snow box. The Mitchell brothers basically use Marilyn Chambers as a prop to the greatest effect. That is not to say that her performance is not without its merits; she is not given much to work with dialog- and character-wise. Considering the audience that the filmmakers made Behind the Screen Door for, it devotes more time to exposition than it does sex scenes. That said, Behind the Screen Door's nearly twenty-minute setup might drive many potential viewers away from a truly unique adult cinematic experience. Ultimately, Behind the Screen Door is one of the highwater marks of adult cinema’s golden age, making it a must-see for fans of this era.

Mitchell Brothers Film Group gives Behind the Screen Door a definitive release. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer