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10
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Guest
Review by Troy
Howarth |
"Dr.
Christina", a curvaceous blonde who writes
sex advice columns for a tabloid in Sweden, journeys
to Paris for material on her latest erotic article...
You gotta
hand it to Nick Philips —
the man made a lot of crap in his career, especially
when he tried to break into the mainstream with
a couple of shockingly shoddy horror flicks (such
as Satan's
Black Wedding), but he's stuck with it through
times good and bad. On the strength of his wonderfully
loopy Les Chic, I approached
this one with some enthusiasm, but unfortunately
my hopes were not rewarded.
Like
Les Chic, the film
shows all the signs of being ad-libbed on the
fly, with lots of footage shot without sound,
making heavy use of voice-over dialogue. Yet while
the "groovy" musings of the narrator on Les
Chic added to the film's charm and appeal,
the pretentious, flowery ramblings of Dr. Christina
detracts considerably from the experience. For
a hardcore picture, it has to be noted that there
is also surprisingly little action. On top of
that, the action that is there isn't all that
spectacular — the
absence of Rene Bond, so central to the appeal
of Les Chic, is definitely
felt here.
The first interlude involves
Christina walking in on a French couple as they
are making love. Rather than interrupt, Christina
stands off by herself, watching the action without
appearing to get too aroused by it all — she doesn't
even let her fingers do the walking, if you know
what I mean. The scene itself is pretty flat,
and the ludicrous 'French' hat the girl wears
throughout doesn't exactly scream 'erotic'. It's
a pretty standard affair, encompassing some oral
action and 69, but there is no pop shot to cap
it off. Kind of like a joke without a punchline,
that.
The second
scene is a dream sequence, in which Christina
imagines a lesbian couple engaging in some foot
fetish action. The brunette in the scene is a
real cutie, and the scene gets some mileage out
of her presence. Lots of boot licking and boob
on vagina action are on display, and if the scene
never really catches fire (thanks to the languid
reactions of the blonde performer) it is still
an improvement on the sequence that preceded it.
Last
on display is another lesbian tryst, this time
at a live sex club where Christina goes to have
a meal and some vino. The presence of the imposingly
endowed Uschi Digard (later in the Fantasm
flicks with Renee Bond) ensures that this scene
is a winner, but even it never really catches
on fire — Digard's
partner in the scene isn't particularly striking,
and though Digard puts her best breast forward,
the action feels a bit limp and artificial.
That's
it as far as action goes...
Much of the running time is actually comprised
of tourist shots of Paris as Christina wanders
about thinking about life, love and pussy. The
voice-overs wear thin, the padding feels interminable,
and the sex doesn't really spark —
if only Philips had the foresight to pair the
brunette from the fetish sequence with Digard...
now that would be entertainment.
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E.I.'s release of Dr.
Christina of Sweden, as part of their After
Hours line of vintage erotica, is satisfying.
The fullframe feature looks battered and rough,
but this is likely as good as the film will ever
look. The film isn't particularly well photographed
to begin with, and there is something to be said
for all the grain and print damage in that it
reminds one of the film's grindhouse origins.
The film appears to have been shot fullframe,
likely on 16mm, and the presentation is watchable
throughout. The mono English soundtrack is acceptable
— Christina's philosophical
commentary on sex comes through loud and clear,
unfortunately, and the sex scenes are mostly presented
silent with some canned jazz music to back it
up. Extras include an interview with Philips,
an interview with grindhouse film historian 42nd
Street Pete, liner notes by 42nd Street Pete,
and a bonus short film, the hardcore Sex
Nurse (1970).
The interviews are fun to watch —
Philips (real name: Nick Millard) comes off as
a down to Earth guy with no pretensions about
his career, and Pete, as ever, does a good job
of filling one in on the context in which these
films were made. His liner notes make a good companion
piece to the interview, especially since he's
able to discuss Sex Nurse,
which is not talked about in the interview. Running
about 58 minutes,
Sex Nurse has little
plot and basically involves some frustrated men
and women indulging their carnal desires in a
clinic. The sex is actually better than in the
main feature, with a few attractive performers
getting into their work with gusto, but it's still
nothing to write home about. The source print
is very battered, with plenty of vertical scratches
and the like, and the mono sound is sometimes
difficult to hear. Sex Nurse
has been given the 1.78 treatment, and has been
enhanced for widescreen sets.
5/11/06
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