Penthouse Behind The Scenes makes an unvarnished and engagingly successful effort to ditch the airbrush and the distancing device of film to present the Pets as amiable and accessible creatures. Does it ever.

This is essentially a collection of shot-on-video interviews and fooflaws proving that, to err is human, but only the real die-hard fans will recognize outtakes from such projects as The 25th Anniversary Swimsuit Edition. (Hint: a minor item like an identifying screen caption would have gone a long way to generate viewer interest and sales of those particular videos.)

Julie Smith, a spectacular blonde, is shown getting off-stage direction from Julie Strain. Celeste is presented amply in more ways than one; one model hoses down after a mud fight in what turns out to be some pretty eventful improve. Another blonde gets oiled down by eager beaver stage hands, and interview topics range from sex in unusual places to exhibitionism, and, yes, one guy actually tried eating out one the pets during a love scene. Or so she claims.

Not every girl is I.D.'d of course, and that's another minor drawback, but this tape has so many fun elements – including eye-popping body shots – going for it, which more than offsets the downside.