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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: September 22nd, 2015.
Director: Matt Cimber
Cast: Lindis Guinness, hippies
Year: 1970/1970
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The Movies:
Vinegar Syndrome has dug up two early entries in Matt Cimber's filmography and now they're yours for the taking on DVD!
The Sensually Liberated Female:
The first film is based on the book The Sensual Female and in it the lovely Lindis Guinness essentially hosts us through a look at how women in Europe tend to be far more in touch with their bodies and their natural sexual urges than the ladies who live in the United States Of America. We know this is true because many of the American servicemen who served in Europe during World War II came home boasting about their sexual exploits!
From here the film covers how and why American society tends to want women to be more conservative in this area while it's more socially acceptable for boys of the same age to get in touch with their masculine side. With all of this over explained to the point where it becomes unintentionally humorous (the reasoning behind this is that it would allow more explicit material to be shown for the greater good of those in the audience - this is an educational movie, right?) we move on see, first hand, how women of the early seventies are front and center in a movement to take back their sexual rights!
As the 'documentary' plays out, we see ladies experimenting in carnal encounters of various kinds, with plenty of masturbation footage (with and without toys… and food stuffs of all sizes!) thrown in for good measure. Demonstrations are given of different pelvic exercises that women can do to get themselves ready to enter the sexual arena and then we learn why belly dancing is encouraged. As things draw to a close, we then witness women deciding to take a bit of the initiative in the bedroom and figure out what their male partners have to offer, which ultimately results in a fair bit of hardcore footage worked into this - the very reason for the movie's existence in the first place.
He & She:
The second film starts off with an unusually long text scrawl in which different psychologists, doctors, medical experts and sex therapist types provide quotes about the joys of sex, we meet a hippie couple who show you, the viewer, first hand all the finer points of the mating ritual atop a massive (and bizarrely colored) revolving bed!
After they screw (and the narrator mispronounces 'fellatio!' - Fell-at-eee-oh….?), we see them head into a city to hang out. When they're done hanging out there, they head out to the countryside to hang out some more. Lots of hanging out, these hippies do, and the film quantifies this filler footage as an opportunity for us to witness the intricacies of foreplay. That's a bit of a stretch, but okay.
Eventually, our hippies get back to bumping and grinding and then the movie allows us to go into the minds of both partners individually as they go about their boffing. This is done through the power of the filmic montage wherein we see what each partner associates various sex acts with, how the act of lovemaking conjures up strange memories of their childhoods and oh so much more - it's a completely bizarre and wholly ineffective sequence but hot damn if it isn't a kick to see it.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Both films are presented in new 2k scans, the first from a 35mm archival print and the second from a nicer, cleaner source. While they don't look as sterling as other Peekarama releases have, they're still presented in very nice shape. Colors are reproduced quite nicely and while print damage is apparent throughout it's fairly minor. These are grain, low budget pictures presented here authentically, as you'd want them to be, but they're certainly more than watchable.
The Dolby Digital Mono audio, in English (the only option), shows the limitations of the source but is, for the most part, just fine. There's a bit of hiss here and there but the tracks are well balanced and easy enough to follow. There are no subtitles provided.
The sole extra on the disc, aside from static menus and chapter selection, is a thirteen minute long interview with Matt Cimber who talks about how he got into filmmaking after working in the live theater industry in New York City. This change in careers led him to Los Angeles and he covers his time here talking about the sex films that are part of his early filmography. This is an interesting piece and not to be missed.
The Final Word:
Vinegar Syndrome's DVD release of Peekarama: The Sensually Liberated Female / He And She offers up two of Matt Cimber's more obscure early films in fine shape with a very interesting interview as its only extra. The movies themselves are interesting curios for sure, oddly made low budget sex pictures culled from the bottom of the barrel but not without entertainment value.
