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Released by: Alpha France
Released on: October 7th, 2014.
Director: Claude Bernard-Aubert (as Burd Tranbaree)
Cast: Christine Schwarz, Ghislain Van Hove, í‰lisabeth Buré, Richard Allan
Year: 1981
Purchase From TLA Video
The Movie:
The Black Silk Stockings (alternately known as Les base de soie noire and also released under the title of Educating Tricia - Caballero released it under that name) was directed in 1981 by Claude Bernard-Aubert (as Burd Tranbaree) for Alpha France. It's one of quite a few movies made around this time for adult audiences that revolves around a young woman leaving the family home to get an 'education.'
The young woman in question this time is Patricia (Christine Schwarz) who is sent by her mother to board at a home run by a man named Vincent (Ghislain Van Hove). Although Vincent is married, he has no qualms whatsoever about getting it on with the two maids, Jeanette (í‰lisabeth Buré) and Julie (Cathy Stewart). In fact, in a scene early on Jeanette teaches Julie how to best get him off orally while he intently plays away at his piano.
As Patricia gets more comfortable in her new surroundings, Jeannette shows her the ropes and lets her know all about what goes on in the house and how to best peep in on the action. See, Vincent does specialize in educating young ladies in just the way you'd expect, but so too does he throw swingers parties and host orgies. Jeanette has got holes drilled in the walls specifically to spy on this activity and Patricia is keen to learn from her. They've even got a one-way mirror set up for optimum viewing. Meanwhile, a trio of butlers (one of whom is Richard Allan) attends to many of the ladies who come in and out of Vincent's home. As Patricia becomes accustomed to watching, soon enough, just as you'd guess, she decides that it is time for her to take on a more active role…
In typical Alpha France fashion this one is nicely shot and features some impressive locations. The house used as Vincent's mansion is quite elegant and fitting for the story to take place in while the costuming, with the butler's all wearing identical outfits and the maids all decked out in their fancy French finery, also help to add to the quality of the production values on display. The camerawork is consistently solid, with shots properly set up and lit and good use of color on display throughout the entire movie.
As to the story itself, it has an interesting voyeuristic side to it that works rather well even if the plot of the picture is more than a little bit unoriginal. We know it's only a matter of time before Patricia gets in on the action and experiences her sexual awakening, the intrigue comes not from that but from anticipating what will happen with or between the other characters before that scene takes place. The sex is steamy, well performed and enthusiastic enough to be believable (even if some of the, erm, expulsions don't look all that authentic!) and the cast is attractive enough to keep this engaging. Christine Schwarz is very attractive and Hélí¨ne Shirley pops up for a romp here too. The ladies who play the two maids also do fine work and the perpetually amusing Richard Allan, with his trademark beard intact, does well even if his role is a smaller one. Ghislain Van Hove is great as Vincent and plays the part as a completely smug type - it works.
Video/Audio/Extras:
TLA Video, through a deal with Alpha France, presents The Black Silk Stockings on MOD/DVD-R in non-anamorphic widescreen but the transfer does appear to be in the movie's original aspect ratio. The image is a little soft but stable enough. Colors look okay, skin tones look appropriately natural and black levels are decent. There are times where some minor compression artifacts pop up and where colors bleed a bit, but otherwise this is a decent enough presentation even if it isn't going to blow you away. Keep your expectations in check.
The disc includes English and French language Dolby Digital Mono tracks but there are no English subtitles provided for the French track. Dialogue is pretty clean here, clear enough that you shouldn't have any issues understanding what's being said. The score has decent range and presence to it as well.
There are no extras on this disc.
The Final Word:
The Black Silk Stockings is pretty entertaining Euro-smut shot quite nicely and performed by a very game cast. The DVD is far from reference quality but it's watchable enough and the feature itself is steamy and entertaining enough that fans of French fuck films will appreciate it.
