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Released by: Alpha Blue Archives
Released on: December, 2014.
Director: Richard Kantner (as Ramsey Karson)
Cast: Sharon Thorpe, Desiree West, Joan Devlon, Mimi Morgan, Georgina Spelvin
Year: 1975
The Movie:
Richard Kantner's 1975 film Fantasy In Blue is, at least as presented here, a softcore picture that tells the tale of Leon Aimsley (John Seeman) and his wife Angelique (Sharon Thorpe). When the movie opens, some seriously bad ass wah-wah guitar music is playing over top of the two of them making sweet, sweet love. Or at least it should be sweet - but it's not. It's clear from the look on her face that the thrill is gone, while he just seems to be going through the humpy humpy motions. When he finishes up and heads to the can, she takes matters into her own hands.
In order to rekindle the fire they once had, they decide to go and act out their fantasies. This starts off with Leon heading into town to visit Casey (Georgina Spelvin doing a funny southern accent for some reason), an old friend of his from days past who now runs a whorehouse, but not before putting in a quick call to his pal Tanner (Tyler Hill sporting some absolutely MASSVIE sideburns), who speaks in mumbles and wears a weird denim jacket. When the opportunity presents itself, Leon gladly bangs one of Casey's employees in the back of a car. He's screwing around and lying to his wife about it. Next we see him hit up the beach where he and two lovely ladies head into a nearby house to grope and fondle one another to the sounds of some weird lounge music (the sex here is a bit more graphic but still not quite hardcore). From there Leon winds up back at Casey's place where they watch a couple screw out the window (Desiree West and John Leslie being the couple in question).
After that, it turns out that there' an orgy happening later on and the Aimsley's are invited. Leon is into it, but Angelique isn't so sure. He convinces her to attend, however, on the condition that if she gets weirded out by all of this she can split. As the sun sets, they head on over to the house where the party is in full swing. Lots of people are drinking and living it up and then they start screwing around - which is what happens at orgies, don't you know (Leslie and West show up here too as do Turk Lyon, Joan Devlon, and not surprisingly Hill too). Casey gets the Aimsley's acquainted with everyone else, Tanner and Angelique go at it, John Leslie screws a girl lowered onto his dong in a hanging wicker chair and some girls (West, Toni Scott and a couple of other ladies) do some oil wrestling.
But will Angelique and Leon rekindle their love?
This one is a bit predictable but it's a fun watch. The story moves at a good pace, there is a nice mix of humor, drama and sex and the ladies all look great. The score is also pretty cool, which always helps with movies like this, and there are some interesting notables in the cast. This is as much a showcase for John Seeman as for Thorpe, as he's in a lot of the scenes, but Thorpe is definitely in fine form even if Spelvin is the real scene-stealer here.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Fantasy In Blue arrives on DVD in its original 1.33.1 fullframe aspect ratio. It does look to have been sourced from a tape, but at least it was a tape in decent shape. Ignore the tracking lines that show up on the bottom of the frame and you should come out of this one with your eyeballs intact. There is some trailing during fast motion and some color fading that's hard to ignore. This doesn't look amazing, not by a long shot, but it's watchable enough.
The only audio option for the feature attraction is an English language Dolby Digital Mono track. There's some hiss here and there and some jumps and spikes in the balance of the levels but for the most part the dialogue comes through okay.
Extras start off with the first bonus film, 1976's Sharon's Rosebud, produced and directed by Richard Wilton. A narrator tells us that Sharon is a college educated, very pretty porn star from San Francisco. From here Thrope is interviewed about how much she loves her work, her preferences in terms of sex, what it's like being naked on camera, and plenty more. Thorpe is pretty, articulate and interesting enough to listen to as she sits in front of the camera in a pink gown, a pearl necklace and some huge sunglasses. As the interviews play out, we get a few sex scenes thrown into the mix, understandably with Thorpe as the focus of each scene. We see her get it on with another girl, we see her go down on a guy (“having it squirt on my hands… it's always the bestâ€), we see her ride a dude and then we see her lift up her gown and play with herself - this scene is just flat out odd, as she's masturbating but doing it with such a clinical, scientific slant on things that it almost doesn't seem like she is.
After that, Mick Jones comes in for an interracial scene. He takes care of her as the off camera narrator encourages her to use him as her own personal sex object. After that we get some random footage of her hitchhiking which leads to another lesbian scene narrated by Thorpe. They go at it atop a really crazy colorful blanket to the sounds of some free jazz on the soundtrack. It turns out this is just a fantasy playing in her head as Mick continues to chow down. After that? She fantasizes about screwing her teacher while she was in school and then we see them go at it and another female student joins in turning all of this into a three-way as Thorpe's narration goes off on weird tangents about how much she loves clits! Jones is still going at it, which leads to a third fantasy where Thorpe fantasizes about she and her sister (Claire Dia) taking on a 'big, strong, brawny farmhand working in the sun.' They coerce the guy into following them into the hay loft for another three-way then some incestuous sister action involving what looks like a carrot while a banjo wails away on the soundtrack. Cut back to 'reality' and Jones is still down there doing what he's doing, eventually bringing her to where she wants to be, finishing up the sex scene and the feature as her narration repeats, over and over again 'how I come…' - seriously, she says this about fifty times. It's weird. THE END!
The third feature on the disc is Please Please Me, a feature made in 1978 by Pacific Coast Films. Thorpe is here, but champion sword swallower Angel Haze (a.k.a. Erica Strauss) is the real star of the show. She plays a woman named Mary, who is married to Jack (Paul Thomas). Not surprisingly, the magic is gone. She tells us as the opening credits roll that she knows how lovemaking should be, but it's not like that anymore. Her mind wanders a lot - she fantasizes about Jack pleasing her in the boudoir, the two of them quiet passionate as they go at it - but that doesn't exist outside of her mind.
From here, we see Jack hang out with his pal George (George Matthews) - he tells Jack that in order to spice up his love life he should go buy some sex toys because “to keep a marriage alive you've got to be creative!†Jack takes the advice and we cut to the bedroom where he awkwardly fondles some vibrators. Wifey comes home and he tries them out on her but he's drunk and unsure of himself. It doesn't go as well as it should even if “the man at the store said you'd like it.â€
Mary just flat out needs more than Jack can give her right now. Her marriage is a mess - she tells Jack she's going to go out and find a job, tells him she's going to become the new Barbara Walters (possibly the only time she's been name-checked in a porno film!), which somehow segues into a pretty serious deep throat/sixty-nine session between husband and wife while bubbles float around them and strange muzak plays in the background. From there, Mary tries things out with a black dude and then in another scene she tries things out with another girl when a picnic in the woods turns into a horny grope session (this is where Thorpe comes in and it's a pretty good scene to be honest). While she might get what she needs physically from these encounters there is more to life than that and she knows it. Jack, meanwhile, goes to see a shrink and then he bones another lady (Bonnie Holiday). While Jack and Mary cure what ails them and once again now the pleasures of true love? Spoilers! Yep, they will, and then they will have sex and the movie will end.
What matters most about this movie isn't Thorpe, Thomas or even Haze - what matters is this: the shrink that Paul Thomas goes to see is credited as 'Persilla Alden.' It's spelled a little differently maybe, but check this out:
Persilla Alden in Please Please Me:
Priscilla Alden in fucking DEATH NURSE:
That's right, friends, Crazy Fat Ethel shows up in this porno movie. She keeps her clothes on, but it's her. Let that sink in for a few minutes…
Outside of that we get a promo spot for the Alpha Blue Archives Retro Starlets line, static menus and feature selection.
The Final Word:
Fantasy In Blue is a pretty fun little softcore diversion with a great cast and some decent bump and grind action. It moves at a good pace and the soundtrack is killer. The extra features included on the disc are just as obscure and just as odd. Sharon's Rosebud gives us a glimpse into Thorpe's (supposed) hyper-sexual psyche while Please Please Me not only offers up some quality couplings but the presence of the one and only Crazy Fat Ethel as well. If that's not enough for you, well, I don't know what to tell you.
