As a lifelong completist (former philatelist and jazz LP collector) I've been watching as many '60s and '70s porn (soft and hard) films as humanly possible, in quest of elusive gems. I bought a copy of LOVE LIPS several years ago in an Abigail Clayton 3-fer DVD from Alpha Blue Archives and never watched it, so I was shocked yesterday to discover a forgotten classic. To me, it is the best of the so-called Porno Chic films made in the mid-'70s by directors like Radley Metzger and Howard Ziehm that achieved crossover bookings.
Title sounds sleazy but is actually relevant here, since this hour and a half XXX movie has no scenes of intercourse, strictly oral sex (plus hand-jobs). It is a glamorous exercise in erotic suspense that many fans might find too precious, but I was won over gradually to its unique mood.
Premise resembles an erotic approach to an Agatha Christie mystery "Ten Little N*ggers" (pardon my use of the term, but as Terrence Howard said so eloquently in a recent interview about TV not permitting use of the N-word despite its prevalence in contemporary Black society, get over it).
Six random people, with absolutely nothing in common, are invited to a party at a California mansion, and their mysterious, wheel chair-bound host has them each relate after a formal dinner what each one thinks makes them feel important or special, in the form of an erotic fantasy they cherish. All the while his equally mysterious spouse, a beautiful but poker-faced woman from India, sits watchfully at the table.
On this slim outline a mesmerizing saga unfolds from obscure writer/producer/director Dale J. Martin, an unsung auteur if ever there was one. Picture is lavishly produced, with lovely visuals including that wonderful (since abandoned) '60s lyrical technique of shallow-focus romping in the fields (think slow-motion Alan Bates and Jennie Linden in Ken Russell's WOMEN IN LOVE).
Most unusual, and expensive-looking are action sequences one doesn't find or expect in Adult movies or even mainstream B-movies. Frisco stalwart Turk Lyon is an auto mechanic who dons a tuxedo for the occasion and when asked tells of dreaming he's driving a red Ferrari, picking up a blonde hitchhiker who goes down on him while the car is moving at a fast clip. This sequence is filmed not faked with a real Ferrari, and makes for an exhilarating sequence.
Similarly, bosomy Laura Bourbon dreams of being on a yacht with a handsome stud and servicing him below decks. The yacht voyage may be brief but is staged full-scale, quite an expenditure for a film when even a Hitchcock would have likely just faked it with back-screen projection.
Star name of the film is Laurien Dominique, styled as a blonde movie & stage actress who flies in to attend the party from France, and dreams of a threesome with Frisco talent John Seeman and Joey Silvera appearing uncredited.
A black-on-black fantasy is delivered for airline exec Jonathan Younger who gets serviced sensually by one of Frisco's top performers Desiree West (also uncredited). In what would normally be the Sharon Thorpe role (she must have been too busy to be cast here), we have plain-Jane looking Miranda Chaney/Jocelyn Martene as a recent divorcée who imagines a picnic (the '60s romp) with a handsome man, and becomes quite sexy disrobed and with a cock in her hand (and mouth).
Martin and his anonymous cinematographer use tight closeups for the hand-job and fellatio footage, reminiscent of the breakthrough visuals of Joao Fernandes - I would love to see LOVE LIPS on the big screen to see these "cock as big as a skyscraper" type shots.
Also on board is Abigail Clayton as Lyon's so beautiful but hapless wife, who only gives him a hand- job and shows a bare breast in one of her least explicit roles (even less explicit than her cross-over "mainstream" (by default) starring stint with Gerard Depardieu in Marco Ferreri's weird BYE BYE MONKEY). Ken Scudder completes the San Francisco talent contribution as a very lucky cab driver who gets a blow job from Laurien Dominique, making her late for the party.
Film doesn't stint on any niceties, as in featuring a mighty impressive vintage Mercedes Benz stretch limo in Chaney's fantasy.
Ending is terrific, leaving satisfyingly to the viewer's imagination the story and fate of the 6th guest, a journalism professor. His, like that of Indira Mahal as the mysterious hostess Yasmine, is one of many non-sex roles.
Highly recommended and proof positive that not only are there classic vintage porn films waiting to be discovered (or rediscovered) but that at their best they can easily blow away the lion's share of today's mainstream (non-sex) indie films.
Title sounds sleazy but is actually relevant here, since this hour and a half XXX movie has no scenes of intercourse, strictly oral sex (plus hand-jobs). It is a glamorous exercise in erotic suspense that many fans might find too precious, but I was won over gradually to its unique mood.
Premise resembles an erotic approach to an Agatha Christie mystery "Ten Little N*ggers" (pardon my use of the term, but as Terrence Howard said so eloquently in a recent interview about TV not permitting use of the N-word despite its prevalence in contemporary Black society, get over it).
Six random people, with absolutely nothing in common, are invited to a party at a California mansion, and their mysterious, wheel chair-bound host has them each relate after a formal dinner what each one thinks makes them feel important or special, in the form of an erotic fantasy they cherish. All the while his equally mysterious spouse, a beautiful but poker-faced woman from India, sits watchfully at the table.
On this slim outline a mesmerizing saga unfolds from obscure writer/producer/director Dale J. Martin, an unsung auteur if ever there was one. Picture is lavishly produced, with lovely visuals including that wonderful (since abandoned) '60s lyrical technique of shallow-focus romping in the fields (think slow-motion Alan Bates and Jennie Linden in Ken Russell's WOMEN IN LOVE).
Most unusual, and expensive-looking are action sequences one doesn't find or expect in Adult movies or even mainstream B-movies. Frisco stalwart Turk Lyon is an auto mechanic who dons a tuxedo for the occasion and when asked tells of dreaming he's driving a red Ferrari, picking up a blonde hitchhiker who goes down on him while the car is moving at a fast clip. This sequence is filmed not faked with a real Ferrari, and makes for an exhilarating sequence.
Similarly, bosomy Laura Bourbon dreams of being on a yacht with a handsome stud and servicing him below decks. The yacht voyage may be brief but is staged full-scale, quite an expenditure for a film when even a Hitchcock would have likely just faked it with back-screen projection.
Star name of the film is Laurien Dominique, styled as a blonde movie & stage actress who flies in to attend the party from France, and dreams of a threesome with Frisco talent John Seeman and Joey Silvera appearing uncredited.
A black-on-black fantasy is delivered for airline exec Jonathan Younger who gets serviced sensually by one of Frisco's top performers Desiree West (also uncredited). In what would normally be the Sharon Thorpe role (she must have been too busy to be cast here), we have plain-Jane looking Miranda Chaney/Jocelyn Martene as a recent divorcée who imagines a picnic (the '60s romp) with a handsome man, and becomes quite sexy disrobed and with a cock in her hand (and mouth).
Martin and his anonymous cinematographer use tight closeups for the hand-job and fellatio footage, reminiscent of the breakthrough visuals of Joao Fernandes - I would love to see LOVE LIPS on the big screen to see these "cock as big as a skyscraper" type shots.
Also on board is Abigail Clayton as Lyon's so beautiful but hapless wife, who only gives him a hand- job and shows a bare breast in one of her least explicit roles (even less explicit than her cross-over "mainstream" (by default) starring stint with Gerard Depardieu in Marco Ferreri's weird BYE BYE MONKEY). Ken Scudder completes the San Francisco talent contribution as a very lucky cab driver who gets a blow job from Laurien Dominique, making her late for the party.
Film doesn't stint on any niceties, as in featuring a mighty impressive vintage Mercedes Benz stretch limo in Chaney's fantasy.
Ending is terrific, leaving satisfyingly to the viewer's imagination the story and fate of the 6th guest, a journalism professor. His, like that of Indira Mahal as the mysterious hostess Yasmine, is one of many non-sex roles.
Highly recommended and proof positive that not only are there classic vintage porn films waiting to be discovered (or rediscovered) but that at their best they can easily blow away the lion's share of today's mainstream (non-sex) indie films.