Russ Meyer's Up (1976) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Up" is so much better than other soft porn movies. It has lots of large, naked breasts and bizarre, creative dialogue and plot. The acting, cinematography, editing and picture quality is all top-notch stuff. However, I'm not sure it is worth the exhorbitant price. If Russ is going to charge 30-40 dollars for his fine films, he could at least spend an hour and a half doing a commentary track.

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Vanessa (1977) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a German take on the classic Emmanuelle. An Austrian convent schoolgirl inherits her uncle's string of brothels in the Far East. She flies off to Hong Kong to experience the naughty Orient. She is introduced to sex (what else) in all its forms, straight, lesbian, and forced - She finds a particular attraction in the latter - probably all those bare-bottomed spankings at the convent. Sex scenes here are of the very softcore variety (The whipping scenes are limp, lame and some of the least convincing around - good for a laugh though). Olivia Pascal is absolutely lovely as are two of the other ladies but the rest of the cast far less so. The Chinese women in particular were sadly wholly unattractive. Hong Kong is full of pretty Chinese girls so it's a wonder how they ended up with this sorry lot. Director Hubert Frank himself admits that they were "ugly" - his reminiscence about how he found them at the local strip-club is funny - they looked good when he hired them in the dark, but he got the shock of his life when he saw them again in the clear light of day. Acting quality is par for course in a softcore flick - fairly mediocre. As mildly amusing erotica, it's a pleasant enough way to spend the evening. Just sample the corny scene featuring the opening notes of Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (the famous music from 2001) as Jackie the blonde woman slowly opens her thighs to the entranced Prince Bandar. Couldn't stop laughing. Or witness Bandar's skills in psychic sex - and especially his ability to induce telepathic orgasms. Plus it's nice to see pretty women with natural body hair for a change - this film was made before the hairless barbie-doll revolution swept the world.
The transfer from Severin is rather disappointing. It's presented in 1.78:1 widescreen (anamorphic). It's acceptable but a full notch below Severin at its best. The print shows its age. Although it's been cleaned up, there are quite a few instances of print damage which are left uncorrected, some glaringly obvious. The print overall is dark and lacking in definition. It is soft, sometimes, blurry, although that is partly due to the photography. It is grainy. The colours are dull and quite lifeless - flat. Hong Kong never looked duller than here. But the picture in and of itself is quite watchable. What I did not like was the removal of the original German soundtrack. We are instead given a very badly dubbed English audio track with everybody sounding faintly American. I get very irritated by dubbing, especially when it's badly done. I would have loved to hear Olivia speaking in her own voice but alas no. The credits are all in German. The main Extra is a half-hour interview with Director and DP; all in German with obligatory English subtitles (burnt in). There is a 15-minute long wordless "Making of" featurette plus the original theatrical trailer. Worth a rental. Buy only if you're a die-hard fan of the lovely Olivia Pascal.

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The Infamous Saga Of An Innocent Schoolgirl Turned SexualPlaything... Now Totally Uncut & Uncensored"Where EMMANUELLE ended," theoriginal ads panted, "VANESSA begins!" The tantalizing Olivia Pascalof BLOODY MOON and ISLAND OF 1000 DELIGHTS stars as the titular teen whojourneys from curious convent virgin to prisoner of a lavish Hong Kongbordello. But along the way, she'll experience the sensual and shockingextremes of pleasure, pain and even black magic perversion. In a worldwhere respectable men and women have gone mad with greed and lust, can onesucculent young girl escape her family's ultimate legacy ofdepravity?Eva Garden (VIRGIN REPORT), Astrid Boner(SCHOOLGIRL REPORT) and Anton Diffring (MARK OF THE DEVIL II,FACELESS) co-star in this eye-popping flesh-fest, now fully restored andfeaturing some of the most talked-about scenes in European softcorehistory!

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Private Lessons (25th Anniversary Edition) (1981) Review

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(More customer reviews)Private Lessons is one of the top grossing independent films of all time pre-Miramax. Private Lessons was released in 1981, starring Sylvia Kristal, Eric Brown, and Howard Hessman(W. K. R. P. in Cincinnati). Private Lessons was the first in a genre of soft core, teenage, wet dream, pictures.
Originally, based on the novel, Philly by Dan Greenberg. Originally, the story was supposed to be a horror story with a blackmail plot, but when Silvia Kristal was cast the producers decided to turn the story into a sex comedy.
Alan Myerson, Dan Greenberg, and Howard Hessman handle the commentary on the DVD. Generally, they reminisce about what a pain this movie was to make, but generally they say it was a good experience.
I liked this movie, but just to let you know, it has been altered from the version, which is on VHS tape. It has also been revealed that Silvia Kristal had a body double, her name is Judy Helden.
However, Ms. Helden only appears in two scenes in the movie, and they are not the famous scenes which those of us in the 35 to 40 age group, who love the movie all know. Miss Helden's scenes appear towards the end of the movie, where we see aroused nipples on a breast, in one shot of the backside that does not match up with Sylvia Kristal's.
If you are a fan of Sylvia Kristal's, you will like this movie. If you are 35 to 40, and you can remember when this movie was released. You will probably like this movie. I will close this review with a question. Do you want to feel like you are 15 again?

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