1,001 WORDS

Meg of The Manifesto and Me . . . (1974) once again tries desperately to wring humor out of a topical problem. This time the theme is pornography--a ""spelling book"" hidden in the bathroom vanity turns out to be the tale of ""Madame M. in the bordello on Misery Hill."" Meg's discovery is complicated by her friend Suzy's insistence on treating the book as an original ""document"" and believing that their teacher must be the real Madame M. and Meg's brother David some kind of ""prevert."" Even as farce, it's hard to imagine that these kids don't know a book when they see one . . . or that Meg never heard the word ""prevert."" Another big laugh is Aunt Frantic who dyes her poodle blue, is mistaken for a monster in her green facial mask and, for a rousing conclusion, poisons the whole family with canned mushrooms in her Beef Bourguignon . . . Botulism would be too much to hope for; this ends with all concerned swilling Pepto-Bismol.