Imperial's Rating:

Brilliant, charming piece of fluff with excellent production values and an awesome cast: Georgina Spelvin, John Leslie, Lesllie Bovee, Paul Thomas, Clair Dia and both halves of A&A in great form. This is one of those movies ("Naked Afternoon" is another) which make it clear that Abigail Clayton had a boobjob later on in her career. Here we have the natural Abby; the breasts are clearly smaller and bouncier than the versions in "Health Spa" and "Seven into Snowy". Mind you, it has taken some major consultations with Peter and some frame-by-frame action to firmly establish this unfortunate event. Even so, Abby remains Abby, i.e. Imperial Pardon, dudes. Hands off you militant naturalists (that's you, Ron! :-))

The movie's revelation is a very youthful looking (22-year old according to the database) Annette Haven, and by God, porn's most beautiful star ever has never looked that good. For those unfamiliar with the lady (poor things), Annette Haven kept making films until her mid 30s and looked virtually the same as when she was breaking out. This uncanny ability to seemingly defy age -also notable in Veronica Hart's case- is attested by people who have seen her now, i.e. in her *forties*. But I guess youth DOES make a difference, even in Annie's case. Here we also get to see a different sort of Annette, one not very frequently encountered in her career: she plays a "girlish" rather than a "womanly" part. She also seems to have a little more weight than in her latter films, but it all seems to have gone to make her breasts fuller if anything. Gentlemen, there *is* perfection upon this Earth. After this vision, for it can only be described as such, Annette stormed the #1 spot in the Imperial Top 10.

Thankfully, Annie is this movie's centerpiece. She is in 4 scenes (all b-g) and continuously struts around showing off her wondrous beauty. The other principals, all heavyweights of the time, barely appear in one scene each (actually my copy seems to have been chopped and Clair Dia's scene with John Leslie is nowhere to be found). Annie's everywhere. The best scene of all in my opinion is the final one in the shower with Paul Thomas. I've seen a lot of Annette Haven movies (not nearly enough though :-( ) and that must rank among her best.

Not least among the flick's merits is the very cute plot. Georgina Spelvin is widowed after a particularly vivacious bout of sex, and realizes that without financial support from a man her luxurious lifestyle is doomed. She therefore decides to take her two daughters (Dia and Haven) out of boarding school and into the marriage market in the hope that a rich son-in-law will solve the problem. Inevitably, after a tour of dinner parties and eligible bachelors' homes (all involving good sex of course) the two daughters run off with a couple of penniless youths and Georgina finds out she will have to fend off for herself. What I found remarkable, and indeed almost unheard of in porn, in the exposition of this plot is that the two main characters (Spelvin and Haven) reveal to have some *depth* as the movie proceeds. But this is still a comedy, and at times it is delightfully light and refreshing, almost as sparkling as "The Opening of Misty Beethoven", the king of porn comedies IMHO. Annie and Spelvin give solid acting performances, as usual. The whole production is carefully and capably undertaken; the costumes are good, the girls drive around in a Rolls, and the opening theme tune is a wonderful little ditty that you can't seem to stop whistling at work :-). The only problem is the sound. It may have been a problem of my copy but at times this was atrocious; it had a pitch reminding one of a 30s talkie.

Overall, this is a movie that deserves the appelation "classic" and not just because it is 20 years old. A beautiful, lighthearted film, perfect for couples on a more romantic (rather than purely raunchy) mood. Rating: 3.85, but only provisionally, since the quality of my copy was so poor.

This movie received the Best Film of the Year award in 1977 from the Adult Film Association of America.

Copyright © Imperial Reviews

Posted By Imperial, www.excaliburfilms.com | 10/5/06 1:58 PM