Overview: This 1973 documentary by the award-winning director Tony Palmer shone a light on the multi-millionaire Hugh Hefner and his Playboy empire. It gave Hefner the opportunity to tell his story and, of course, it offended the usual suspects - Mary Whitehouse, the Daily Express and many more.

DVD Verdict: 'Tony Palmer's 1973 Film About Hugh Hefner, The Founder and Editor of Playboy' charts Hefner's rise from a small-time publisher to Playboy becoming one of the world's best known brands! Beginning with no money at all it is amazing to behold as Hefner reveals that with no money how any major magazine in our time could possibly do anything close to it in current day terms.

Indeed, it all started with a little initial investment, his very own in fact! His investment in 'Playboy' was $600, all of it borrowed, but wow, look what it quickly spiraled into! He actually goes on to say that his entire empire can be estimated at around 200 million dollars and just one look suggests that today, well, I'd hesitate to say a lot, lot more!

Hefner talks, in his soft spoken, laid back manner about how his life was surrounded by beautiful things back then: female and materialistic, and all things that would make his life very, very pleasant. How he considered himself lucky because they weren't just the projection of other people's fantasies, but his also, of course.

The whole idea of Playboy was not just about sex, but to put the whole notion of play and pleasure back into the American concept of living. And it's as Hefner describes how the pages of Playboy did this that you can't help but stare at the shot footage of him as a young man (both black and white and color) and marvel at how someone managed to do so much with so little.

Born on April 9th, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, USA as Hugh Marston Hefner, the man has gone on to do so much, become an icon within our society, and has always said that the major civilizing force in the world is not religion, it's sex. He might well be on to something here. What do you think? This is a Full Screen Presentation (1.33:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.