review for The Immoral Mr. Teas on AllMovie

Incredibly quaint by today's X-rated standards, The Immoral Mr. Teas nevertheless is the grandfather of the pornographic movie industry and so rates a footnote (whether of fame or infamy depends upon an individual's perspective, of course) in film history. Before Teas, the only "nudie" flicks that received any real theatrical distribution were "documentaries" of nudist camps or naturalists, which existed really only to exhibit naked bodies rather than to tell a story about its real life subjects. With Teas, creator Russ Meyer came up with a fictional story-based nudie flick, one in which rather than there being a clinical interest in nudity, nakedness was presented as being something erotic. However, it's important to note that the nudity in Teas doesn't lead to any sexual activity; there are plenty of nude female forms, but no "indecent" touching. Indeed, the title character almost treats his newfound ability to see the naked form beneath a woman's clothes as something of a curse. There's a fair amount of humor to be found in Teas, though not wit of a Shavian level, and Meyer does a fine job of providing narration that comically contrasts with what is visually being presented. Bill Teas does well enough as the man with the magic eyesight, although it's hardly what one would call a challenging part or brilliant acting. The women are the eye candy that they are intended to be, and there's a sense of fun -- infantile fun, to be sure -- throughout the whole, episodic little picture.