FILM

These aren't just sex loops, though that's their primary function. An effort at creating an historical mood is on display in The Musketeer's Dinner (1920), as a Louis XIII-era character has his way with a serving wench, Miss Butterfly encapsulates Puccini's opera in a smutty manner, allowing Cio-Cio-San to comfort herself with her female companion, Pinkerton to be serviced by a young Chinese boy, and then finally for everyone to pile onto each other. There's a good deal of group sex on display here, and no one seems very particular about gender, age, or other characteristics. In addition to ready bisexuality, there are other taboos being flouted here. There are not one but two separate films centering on naughty nuns and priests, making Mr. Abbot Bitt at Convent (1925) and Homework (1920) two of the earliest nunsploitation pictures on record. But that's not the half of it. There are urination frolics, homosexual rape, voyuerism, and even onscreen bestiality in these pictures. Yikes. It's not likely that you'll find such verboten material on display at your local adult bookstore. The package concludes with an animated short from 1925, Buried Treasure, featuring the amusing character Eveready Harton, who has an interesting relationship with his detachable penis. The piece is quite surprising and hilarious in its own very smutty way, and features still more animal antics.
Michel Reilhac is listed as the director of this 2002 assemblage, though the shorts themselves are completely uncredited (other than a few joke credits). Little is provided in the way of explanatory material beyond the statement that many of these films were shown at brothels for the entertainment of customers. A few silly remarks are provided on intertitles in between the films, but no information regarding their provenance, history, or preservation is included. While the names of the participants are most likely lost to history, surely there must be more that can be said about these films. Despite that, this is an entertaining and undeniably little collection of vintage erotica; somehow the patina of 75 to 100 years gives them a respectability that is sorely lacking from any similar modern shot-on-video feature with similar subject matter. Recommended, but only to very open-minded fans of silent cinema or those interested in the historical origins of modern porn. Just don't look for it on the shelves at Wal-Mart.

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