Bettie Page—Dark Angel is a dull look at the last three years of Bettie Page’s career as a pin-up and bondage model in the 1950s before she vanished into obscurity. Dutch director Nico B. (the evil mind behind Pig) takes what could be described as a Thanksgiving pageant approach to Bettie’s bio – the DVD packaging calls it “episodic,” but even episodes have something of a dramatic arc; here, the static glimpses we get of Bettie’s life (Bettie at a Bondage Shoot; Bettie Goes to Hollywood; Bettie Wants to Act) are as lifeless as an educational film, and the stilted performances by the cast (Paige Richards has Bettie’s figure but none of her spark) drain whatever juice might be summoned by the numerous scenes of cheesecake and fetish photo shoots. The latter is Dark Angel’s sole virtue; Nico B. faithfully reproduces the look and feel of photographer/filmmaker Irving Klaw’s black-and-white bondage films, many of which were destroyed after Klaw (played here by Haunted Garage’s Dukey Flyswatter) was investigated by the government. But since many still exist – and are easily obtainable from Cult Epics – one wonders why anyone would need to see the carbon copies, no matter how well-crafted they are. The life and career of Bettie Page was anything but boring, but you’d never guess that from watching Dark Angel.