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Dr. Christina of Sweden Collector's Edition DVD
Another fine pair of vintage smut films from the rip, roaring seventies, this double feature from Retro-Seduction Cinema's After Hours line features a great Nick Philip's film, Dr. Christina Of Sweden (which once again teams him up with Uschi Digard and her fantastic boobies) which makes it's home video debut paired with Sex Nurse, a fun romp through sexy land that somehow just feels like a good match for the first film.
Dr. Christina Of Sweden:
The film starts off with a female narrator telling us that Dr. Christina Of Sweden was the pen name she used to write sexy articles for a few newspapers. From here, we learn about how she went out to research those articles, beginning with her arrival in Paris, the city of love where the bulk of the film was actually shot. Our narrator struts around the streets and tells us what she sees for a few minutes, and once she's set up in her hotel, she hits the pavement and starts her research by cruising around the seedy side of the town. She starts off by interviewing a young couple about their promiscuous ways – when she finds them they're having sex on the couch (she says she would have called but they didn't have a phone) so she stands in the doorway and watches them get it on ("Their young love making was like poetry"" she tells us).She watches them sixty-nine on the couch for a bit, then comments as they have sex from a few different angles, after which she heads back to her hotel to write down her notes.
Cut to more Paris scenery, and we find the good doctor cruising around town with a funky headband on looking for more fun. She's eager to see the Paris she's read so much about, and after taking in the Eiffel Tower and a few other landmarks, she goes shopping and then she gets drunk and has a dream wherein two lesbians are getting it on in a bedroom. In typical Nick Philips fashion, one of the girls is wearing some white go-go boots (which her lover licks up and down) and we get to watch, like Christina does in her mind, the two lovelies going down and going at it full tilt with nothing left to the imagination. They even use a feather and then later a strap-on in their bedroom play, which seems to be something that the narrator digs.
When Christina awakens, she heads back out into Paris and rides the train to the other side of town. She wanders around, takes in the site, and scribbles down some more notes. Though she already has ample material for her article, she wants more and after enjoying a smoke and some more sight seeing, she winds up at a show where Uschi and another woman make sweet, sweet lipstick lesbian love on a creepy looking old green couch. Much bumping and grinding and rubbing and licking ensues as Christina urges them to do more, more, more. Then it just ends as Christina heads back out into the street. I'm not sure if the film is incomplete or if it's just an unusually abrupt ending, but that's the way it goes.
While not as good as Philip's other hardcore offering, Les Chic starring the gorgeous Rene Bond, Dr. Christina Of Sweden is still a good example of his technique, with the strange narration, leg and boot fetish action, and an Uschi appearance to boot. The plot really only exists to piece together the sex scenes of which there are only three but they do make up the bulk of the film and they're rather steamy in an old school way.
Sex Nurse:
This one starts off with some newly generated computer graphic type credits (which state it was written, produced and directed by Emilio Portici) overtop a montage of people getting it on, before it introduces us to the titular nurse (who looks a bit like Linda Lovelace but isn't) who books some patients for her doctor. Speaking of the doctor, he's examining a girl's vagina in his office, which soon leads to sex, while the nurse is relieving some of their patient's tension using her oral skills. A second nurse, a cute blonde, and bangs some other dude in a back room somewhere while psychedelic music plays overtop. For the next half hour the camera cuts back and forth between the three fornicating couples until then the doctor sends his patient home so that he can examine the next girl, a brown haired cutie with a penchant for blowjobs. The doctor and the girl do exactly what you'd expect them to, and the go at it like rabbits right there on his desk. Everyone eventually finishes boning his or her respective partners and then the doctor sees his next patient, a guy! From there we get more bogus credits, the end.
This one really makes you appreciate the skill that Philips showed when he made Dr. Christina. Some of the sex is decent and the girls aren't half bad looking in a hairy seventies kind of way but the production values on this one are absolute crap as is the pacing, the storytelling, and most of the editing. If you want some unintentional hilarity, it'll deliver on that level but don't expect much more from this one.
The DVD Video:
The first film, Dr. Christina Of Sweden, is presented in what one can only assume is their original aspect ratio of 1.33.1. Compositions look to be intact and the framing seems fine, and thankfully, the presentation that the movie get aren't half bad. There's some minor print damage and some moderate to heavy grain in a few scenes but for the most part the image is clean enough and color reproduction, though slightly faded, isn't bad either. Fine detail gets a little lost in some of the softer scenes but overall things are pretty crisp. Black levels are moderate to strong and there aren't any problems with the digital transfer in terms of mpeg compression artifacts or edge enhancement and only a slight bit of aliasing shows up to rear its ugly head now and then. Sex Nurse shows up in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen and is in considerably rougher shape in that it has a lot more print damage. It's watchable but no better than that.
Sound:The English language Dolby Digital Mono sound mix on Dr. Christina isn't half bad on this double feature. There's some mild hiss present in a few scenes and the levels do fluctuate a tad but dialogue remains clean, clear and concise and the sound effects and background music are well balanced and don't over power the performers. Sex Nurse unfortunately sounds like it was recorded in a tin can as the dialogue is muffled and difficult to make out from start to finish. No alternate language dubs, subtitles or closed captioning options are provided for this release.
Extras:The two main extra features on this release come in the form of a pair of video interviews. The first interview is with Nick Philips (five and a half minutes), the director of Dr. Christina Of Sweden, who does a really good job of explaining his techniques and the aesthetic that he was going for in a few of the movies he was making during this time frame. It's interesting to hear him discuss his films and to discuss some of the performers that he worked with on them. The second interview is with 'Grindhouse Historian' 42nd St. Pete (five minutes), who gives us some useful background information on both of the films contained on this DVD.
Last but certainly not least, inside the keepcase you'll find a nice set of liner notes from 42nd St. Pete that do a good job of explaining what the appeal is of some of these older films and why they remain popular today. This lengthy essay is spiced up with some cool photos from the film and it's worth reading if you have an interest in this material.
Final Thoughts:The more of these old smut films that Retro-Seduction Cinema wants to release, the better. Nick Philip's Dr. Christina Of Sweden has a fine cast, some steamy scenes, and plenty of perky atmosphere while Sex Nurse is as goofy and trashy as you'd expect without a whole lot to offer save for a few good laughs. Lots of unseemly fun to be had with this double feature and some nice extra features make it an easy recommendation for fans of this material.
Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.
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