The Blue Hour w/ One Naked Night & Three in a Towel (1971 / 1965 / 1969)
Studio: Vinegar Syndrome
Theatrical Release: 1971 / 1965 / 1969
DVD Release: November 12, 2013
Director(s): Sergei Goncharoff, Ron Nicholas, Albert T. Viola
Not Rated
Review by James Klein
Vinegar Syndrome's release of three obscure early soft core films may be a find for some. These films, with the main feature being The Blue Hour, all revolve around a woman's sexuality. It can be both haunting and fulfilling according to the triple feature displayed here. One things for sure: they are all so goddamn boring. Better get your fix of caffeine before embarking on The Blue Hour and it's two other "friends".
Let's start with The Blue Hour or as I like to call it, the Boring Hour (clocking in at 82 minutes, this is more like a Boring Hour and a Half). This strange and incoherent drama is about a woman named Tanya who lives with her current husband but continues to be haunted by her past. The movie constantly jumps around in time, thus causing the viewer to be completely lost. Tanya was once a model who happened to be attacked by the people she worked for but before that she lived in Greece with her Greek uncle who tried to rape her but before that she lived on an island where she tried to seduce a priest...
One can't tell what is going on with The Blue Hour and while I tend to enjoy strange and experimental films, especially from the beautiful 1970's, this one is just downright dull. The woman who plays Tanya is an awful actress (she is not listed in imdb for some strange reason) and most of her lines seem to be dubbed or re-shot. When she does speak, it's like nails on a chalkboard. The avant-garde editing is a mess, causing one to acquire a headache while watching these bizarre images flash before ones eye. There is no clear idea or point in The Blue Hour with an ending where Tanya thinks she has killed someone in her past is suddenly resolved.
The second film, One Naked Night, almost plays like a film noir mixed in with a cheap exploitation coming of age story with a touch of Russ Meyer thrown in. In this film, a young woman named Candy Stevens has journeyed to New York City to stay with a friend after the death of Candy's mother. Candy's mother committed suicide and was also a call girl, two things Candy is trying to steer away from. As Candy meets up with her friend and strange neighbor Barbara (Audrey Campbell, bets known for playing Olga in Olga's Girls and its many sequels) she takes a liking to two photographers who make a living by taking risqué pictures of various women clothed and un-clothed.
Once Candy is heartbroken by one of the men, she jumps into the arms of the other photographer who later breaks her heart by not paying enough attention to her. As Candy takes refuge in Barbara, she then turns into the slut her mother once was. Will Candy fall down the same path as her Mom? While One Naked Night is the best of the three films thanks to some beautiful black and white photography and a plausible and engaging plot, One Naked Night falls victim to the same problem that The Blue Hour had: it's really boring and we simply don't care for any of these characters or what happens to them.
The final film, Three in a Towel, is the closest film to being a soft core adult movie. It is also by the far the stupidest of the three films. However, it does have a ton of nudity to entertain some viewers and a few oddities that can appease to certain viewers looking for something strange. Three in a Towel has no dialog with only a few lines that are spoken are by a narrator reading Shakespeare (unless you wanted some bad ADR by a few characters). The movie centers on a man named Romeo who tries to seduce a woman off the street and takes her to his boat which also holds three young hippie gals. The woman leaves and Romeo pretty much says fuck it, and jumps on the boat and bangs these young gals. As the film mostly centers on these young women kissing and touching one another as well as Romeo, there is a tiny subplot later on with Romeo having an orgy at his own home with different women. That's it.
Three in a Towel is one of the few adult films that really grossed me out. It's the scene where these young lasses decide to eat food while playing with one another. I'm sorry but seeing a girl with mustard all over her mouth and fingers as another one eats bologna and the other a donut is not sexy to me. While I did laugh, I had to turn my head when I saw their long hairs get caught in their mouth as food began to stick to their faces.
Vinegar Syndrome did go out of their way in remastering these three movies and I have to admit, they all look really good. Especially One Naked Night with its crisp black and white photography. I was very impressed with all three films visually. Three in a Towel did have some scratches and jumps but being as that is the cheapest of all the films, I can somewhat forgive it. The 2.0 sound is average at best though and one may need to turn up the volume a few notches when he/she watches these. Aside from a theatrical trailer for Three in a Towel, there are no other special features.\
The Blue Hour along with One Naked Night and Three in a Towel is only for hard core fans of sexploitation from the early days. Others may feel the same way as I did...bored senselessly.
The Blue Hour [Rating: 1.5]
One Naked Night [Rating: 2]
Three in a Towel [Rating: 1.5]
DVD [Rating: 2.5]
Theatrical Release: 1971 / 1965 / 1969
DVD Release: November 12, 2013
Director(s): Sergei Goncharoff, Ron Nicholas, Albert T. Viola
Not Rated
Review by James Klein
Vinegar Syndrome's release of three obscure early soft core films may be a find for some. These films, with the main feature being The Blue Hour, all revolve around a woman's sexuality. It can be both haunting and fulfilling according to the triple feature displayed here. One things for sure: they are all so goddamn boring. Better get your fix of caffeine before embarking on The Blue Hour and it's two other "friends".
Let's start with The Blue Hour or as I like to call it, the Boring Hour (clocking in at 82 minutes, this is more like a Boring Hour and a Half). This strange and incoherent drama is about a woman named Tanya who lives with her current husband but continues to be haunted by her past. The movie constantly jumps around in time, thus causing the viewer to be completely lost. Tanya was once a model who happened to be attacked by the people she worked for but before that she lived in Greece with her Greek uncle who tried to rape her but before that she lived on an island where she tried to seduce a priest...
One can't tell what is going on with The Blue Hour and while I tend to enjoy strange and experimental films, especially from the beautiful 1970's, this one is just downright dull. The woman who plays Tanya is an awful actress (she is not listed in imdb for some strange reason) and most of her lines seem to be dubbed or re-shot. When she does speak, it's like nails on a chalkboard. The avant-garde editing is a mess, causing one to acquire a headache while watching these bizarre images flash before ones eye. There is no clear idea or point in The Blue Hour with an ending where Tanya thinks she has killed someone in her past is suddenly resolved.
The second film, One Naked Night, almost plays like a film noir mixed in with a cheap exploitation coming of age story with a touch of Russ Meyer thrown in. In this film, a young woman named Candy Stevens has journeyed to New York City to stay with a friend after the death of Candy's mother. Candy's mother committed suicide and was also a call girl, two things Candy is trying to steer away from. As Candy meets up with her friend and strange neighbor Barbara (Audrey Campbell, bets known for playing Olga in Olga's Girls and its many sequels) she takes a liking to two photographers who make a living by taking risqué pictures of various women clothed and un-clothed.
Once Candy is heartbroken by one of the men, she jumps into the arms of the other photographer who later breaks her heart by not paying enough attention to her. As Candy takes refuge in Barbara, she then turns into the slut her mother once was. Will Candy fall down the same path as her Mom? While One Naked Night is the best of the three films thanks to some beautiful black and white photography and a plausible and engaging plot, One Naked Night falls victim to the same problem that The Blue Hour had: it's really boring and we simply don't care for any of these characters or what happens to them.
The final film, Three in a Towel, is the closest film to being a soft core adult movie. It is also by the far the stupidest of the three films. However, it does have a ton of nudity to entertain some viewers and a few oddities that can appease to certain viewers looking for something strange. Three in a Towel has no dialog with only a few lines that are spoken are by a narrator reading Shakespeare (unless you wanted some bad ADR by a few characters). The movie centers on a man named Romeo who tries to seduce a woman off the street and takes her to his boat which also holds three young hippie gals. The woman leaves and Romeo pretty much says fuck it, and jumps on the boat and bangs these young gals. As the film mostly centers on these young women kissing and touching one another as well as Romeo, there is a tiny subplot later on with Romeo having an orgy at his own home with different women. That's it.
Three in a Towel is one of the few adult films that really grossed me out. It's the scene where these young lasses decide to eat food while playing with one another. I'm sorry but seeing a girl with mustard all over her mouth and fingers as another one eats bologna and the other a donut is not sexy to me. While I did laugh, I had to turn my head when I saw their long hairs get caught in their mouth as food began to stick to their faces.
Vinegar Syndrome did go out of their way in remastering these three movies and I have to admit, they all look really good. Especially One Naked Night with its crisp black and white photography. I was very impressed with all three films visually. Three in a Towel did have some scratches and jumps but being as that is the cheapest of all the films, I can somewhat forgive it. The 2.0 sound is average at best though and one may need to turn up the volume a few notches when he/she watches these. Aside from a theatrical trailer for Three in a Towel, there are no other special features.\
The Blue Hour along with One Naked Night and Three in a Towel is only for hard core fans of sexploitation from the early days. Others may feel the same way as I did...bored senselessly.
The Blue Hour [Rating: 1.5]
One Naked Night [Rating: 2]
Three in a Towel [Rating: 1.5]
DVD [Rating: 2.5]
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