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From: "12-stringer" <[email protected]> The Virgin and the Lover (1973) VCA cassette, mid-1980s Written and directed by Kemal Horulu, this NewYork-made film is supposedly derived from a French novella. Technically, it's quite advanced for its day. I saw this theatrically a couple of times in the 70s but didn't really appreciate it till I bought a video copy about 10 years later. The sex is a mixture of hardcore and softcore, production values are very good for the budget, and it is an excellent specimen of the ambitious, porn-chic wannabe films of the early-mid 1970s. Pic has a lot more story than the average porn film and even features G-rated falling in love montage sequences. Cast: Eric Edwards, Leah Marlon (non-sex), Jonathan John (non-sex), Jennifer Welles (non-sex), Darby Lloyd Rains, Helen Madigan, Olinka Podany (non-sex), Susan Sloan, Julia Sorel, Nancy Marshall (non-sex), plus an older guy who plays a psychiatrist and whose name is not in my notes (non-sex). Filmmaker Edwards has some psychological problems, which include his keeping a femme mannequin in his apartment, which he dresses up in a pantsuit and cute derby hat. Every now and then the mannequin comes to life and has sex with him after losing the pantsuit and derby. Obviously this is one of the reasons he's visiting a shrink! Meanwhile, the shrink's receptionist, terribly peachy Leah Marlon, has fallen for EE and wants to help with his sexual adjustment. Edwards' mannequin comes to life first as tall, sandy-hair model type Nancy Marshall. She strips to beaver, fondles herself genteelly, gets her nipples sucked, and Edwards dry humps her on the bed. It's strictly softcore, about 1969 style. Leah's cheating boyfriend Jonathan John (a short Eddie Mekka type with hairy ass, who favors black kini briefs), has a sex party with swinger friends Julia Sorel, Marc Stevens, and Helen Madigan. He sucks Julia's perky tits on the sofa and dry humps her there while Marc and Helen simulate on the floor. Julia tells him that "everybody knows" his g.f. has been stepping out with Edwards. (Logically, this scene belongs somewhere else in the storyline, as it's about a couple reels ahead of the plot.) John has to leave. With the straight actor out of the way, the sequence goes to civilized hardcore. We cut to Marc and Helen on the floor, where she's giving him the kind of lap dance you might score if you had enough cash and the bouncer was on a smoke break. Julia joins them and she and Helen take turns sucking Marc's dick. Helen was at her physical peak in 1973, and she's a knockout here. Julia is a long haired college girl actress type, with OK natural body and a tolerable urban accent (the 12-stringer is from WV and thinks everyone else sounds funny). Julia overacts a lot while doing lingus on Helen and receiving it doggie from Marc (no full body shots with penetration but it looks like her butt). She sucks Stevens' balls while he fucks Helen, and then the girls jack him to a w-a 2-girl facial. (Julia's only other movie credit known to me is a role in the Joe Sarno softcore film "Misty," made about the same time as this picture.) John lets himself into Leah's apartment while she's taking a shower. Goddamn! She's black haired, 5'3", with about 42DD naturals, a slim waist, nicely flaring hips, and neat black bush that is vivid against her pale skin. If she's still around, those tits are probably down to her knees by now, but she was one knockout in 1973, as well as an OK actress who was not remotely your basic porn chick. (She's also featured, in second femme lead as a bad girl, in the 1973 west coast film "Tender Loving Care," which was shot as a nudie but released as something more like a Roger Corman nurse picture. Billing there is Leah Simon. She's featured more prominently here and looks much better.) John peels her out of her towel and they simulate sex on the bed. Filmmaker Edwards is editing his new movie, "Two Women." We watch over his shoulder as he screens it on the movieola. Darby Lloyd Rains is a little pissed that roomie Jen Welles is on a date with a guy. When Jen comes home, they eventually get up to softcore G/G makeout. Pic was made a year or so before Welles took the plunge into hardcore. At home, Edwards' mannequin comes to life as Darby. She gives him some OK hardcore, ending with a w-a facial/oral CS. Edwards and Leah begin going out together. Montage stuff, with some hardcore material interspersed. They go to the theater, watch squirrels in Central Park, take a horse-drawn carriage ride around the park (just like a Lifetime movie). The horse is guided by pretty petite Susan Sloan, looking like a sweet farm girl in her jeans. Guess who the mannequin comes to life as? Mmm. Suze blows him, he licks her tight-looking crack, then fucks her, all in regulation hardcore. The porn pix don't show her off as well as they could (I would have put her on top as much as possible), but she's still quite detectable as a major babe of early porn, who still has a devoted cult following. John visits Leah's co-worker, Olinka Podany (a blonde and somewhat bovine foreign chick with big tits who was an early Hustler centerfold) and gropes her out of her babydoll nightie, then humps her on the floor. John must have had a clause in his contract that he didn't have to show anything except his hairy ass. Olinka flashes her muff but not her split. She probably had a contract, too, because this scene is strictly simulation. Edwards edits his film some more. Darby and Jen do perhaps fake lingus but fairly convincing simulation, then Darby sits in a chair and fingers/dildoes herself while Jen watches. This is explicit, but Jen doesn't take part in the hardcore demonstration. At home, Edwards fondles his mannequin disconsolately. When it comes to life, however, it's Leah. ('Bout time!) They do a long simulated scene that I find quite sexy despite the lack of blowjobs, piston shots, and ejaculations. They're in love, and we get more Lifetime Channel montage for the happy ending. The psychiatrist has a mannequin of his own, hoping some of that Edwards luck will rub off on him, no doubt. What this really wants to be is a porn art film, and it succeeds fairly well. The sex is warm, not scalding, but consistently warm and sometimes more than that. Production values are very good, considering the budget, and the actors mostly turn in performances as professional as the tech work (Olinka is clearly not altogether at home in English.) If the Porn Directors ' Guild had a softball game, Kemal Horolu would be playing on the same team as Joe Sarno, Ted Roter, and Armand Weston. Turn-on value: an easy *** from me, though likely to be a minority opinion Quality: ***
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