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The Starlets
(1977): An expose of the Starlets Club, an exclusive
hangout for up and cumming... er, coming
actresses...
Directed by David Summers and
advertised as being in 4D (the first three dimensions
being 3D, the 4th being the pleasure derived from
seeing various body parts thrust from the screen),
The Starlets is a
fairly tedious hardcore potboiler.
The cast includes a couple
of attractive female performers — notably a brunette
who lights up the screen during her too-brief
appearances — but the only familiar 'names' (at
least for me) are veteran swordsmen Bill Margold
and John Leslie. Summers' direction is uninspired,
to say the least, failing to make the most of
the 3D gimmick beyond some tacky floating spider
and skull effects and the occasional jutting appendage
(usually an outstretched hand or foot, occasionally
a penis ready for action or some gyrating cleavage)
and crosscutting between sex scenes far too often.
The first section of the film is comprised of
several concurrent sex scenes, as a girl gets
it off with a policeman in her bedroom, a heavily
accented butler named Boris (!) has sex with his
mistress after getting her hot and ready to go
with a vibrator, and a swimming instructor (Margold)
has some underwater sex with his charge in a swimming
pool. The best scene, however, happens in the
second half as a creep hypnotizes a hot brunette
into having sex with him. The actress performs
with enthusiasm, and the hypnotic creep (who looks
to have been stoned during filming) spouts off
priceless gems like "Ride the cock horse to
Badbury Cross!" I know, I don't get it, either.
Anyway, it's an enjoyable vignette, though it,
too, is undermined by crosscutting to other action.
Sooner than focus on a single scene and allow
it to build momentum, Summers consistently exercises
poor judgment in cutting around to other scenes
— a flashy technique, and one that helps to take
the wind out of the viewer's sails.
Chastity
and the Starlets (1986): In between
being pleasured by Steve Drake, porn star Amber
Lynn tells the tale of the Starlets Club... which
somehow kind of ties in to a story of a young
girl (Taija Rae) looking to lose her virginity...
A shoddy, shot on video follow-up
to The Starlets,
Chastity and the Starlets
doesn't make much sense and includes way too much
stock footage from previous XXXers, but it generates
a bit more heat than its predecessor. It's a wonderfully
typical slice of '80s porn, at least so far as
the performers are concerned, and it doesn't make
some of the mistakes on display in The
Starlets.
The bookend segments featuring
Amber Lynn — she of the '80s hair and white high
heels — don't have much to do with anything, but
she's a pretty girl and a good performer. As veteran
porn star Steve Drake gives her oral sex, she
spouts a lot of gibberish about the Starlets Club
and acts as a sort of narrator, though she is
abandoned for much of the center piece of the
movie. She comes back at the end, however, and
gets to take some Drake seed to the face for her
troubles. The bulk of the narrative, however,
is concerned with a simpy "virgin" named Chastity
(played by the very cute Taija Rae) who goes on
a Wizard of Oz-like journey to lose her virginity.
The story doesn't make a lot of sense, but Margold
shows up in three different guises to help her
on her journey to self-discovery and self-gratification.
As John Leslie works his way through the peroxide
blonde supporting cast, Rae gives head to a young
Tom Byron before finally reaching her destination
and losing her cherry to Byron in a pretty good
final set-piece. Rae and Byron interact well in
their two scenes together, while the supporting
cast gamely goes through the motions as well.
Some stock footage of John Holmes is worked in
for no particular reason; the monstrously endowed
porno legend gets to work an actress over from
behind in a garden setting.
Poorly conceived and photographed,
not to mention laughably acted, Chastity
nevertheless delivers somewhat where it
counts. The sex is pretty good, the performers
seem to be having a good time, and at least Summers
is able to focus on one scene at a time without
diminishing the impact through over-cutting. It's
not a standout example of its genre, by any means,
and it has all the signs of a poorly thought-out
quickie follow-up, but it's reasonably enjoyable
for all the right reasons.
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After
Hours Cinema has released The
Starlets and Chastity
as part of their ongoing Grindhouse Directors
Series. The fullframe transfers look and sound
as good as one could reasonably expect.
The Starlets
is, of course, in rougher condition — the source
elements show their age, but it's never impossible
to watch. Colors are adequate, detail is OK and
print damage, while consistently in evidence,
is never impossible to cope with. Chastity,
being a shot on video production, looks a bit
better in terms of print damage (i.e., there isn't
any!), but has all the hallmarks of a cheap video
production. If you can get past that, it looks
decent enough and there are no authoring defects
the complain of. The two features are each granted
their own separate disc. Extras include a plethora
of trailers for vintage porn as well as some new
After Hours releases (Darian
Caine Exposed, for example, looks like
a winner!), and a booklet that contains a brief
essay and text interviews with David Summers and
Bill Margold.
10/20/08
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