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China & Silk

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    Ian Jane
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  • China & Silk



    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: September 27th, 2016.
    Director: Steve Scott
    Cast: Kristara Barrington, Harry Reems, Paul Thomas, Ginger Lynn, Susan Hart, Herschel Savage
    Year: 1984
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    China & Silk, directed by Steve Scott (who also gave us Trashy Lady), opens with a scene set in Cambodia. Here an American G.I. named Harry Parker (Harry Reems) is shot by enemy forces but is saved by a beautiful Asian woman. Years later, Parker is working as a cop and his latest case is to try and bust open a drug smuggling ring that seems to be tied into a company named Wong's imports run by the beautiful and mysterious Lily Chang (Kristara Barrington). When we first meet her, she's getting it on with a guy named Sid (Paul Barresi), who looks like a muscle bound Burt Reynolds. Meanwhile, Parker's screwing an informant named Suzi (Susan Hart) in the back of his car, hoping to get some information out of her.

    From there, a cop named Mike Shaw is getting it on with a woman named Mai Lee (Tawny Mason). After they go at it, they wind up in the morgue, some strange marks on Shaw's arm the only clue as to how they passed. Parker talks to Shaw's widow, Nancy (Colleen Brennan), but they're not sure what really happened. As Parker tries to get closer to solving the case, two undercover cops - Charlie Wells (Herschel Savage) and Mandy Walker (Ginger Lynn) - get to work. They know that a stewardess named Sandy Morgan (Cara Lott) has ties to Chang's business operations and they aim to get to the bottom of it. Charlie impersonates a telephone repairman and coaxes Sandy into letting him fix her phone - but of course, he bugs it… and then bones her. Mandy listens in on the action and after that, decides she wants a piece of Charlie for herself. They go at it in their surveillance van while their phone bug gets them the info they need to crack the case. From there, Mandy replaces Sandy as Lily's agent, unbeknownst to her contact, Roy Harmon (Eric Edwards).

    China & Silk is a well paced XXX mystery movie with a decent enough plot and a genuinely solid twist ending. They story holds your attention in between the various sex scenes that make up the bulk of the film's running time and the whole thing is pretty entertaining. While the opening scene in 'Cambodia' is clearly just Reems popping about a cheap set (all the smoke and prop plants in the world can't hide this), the production values are otherwise fairly solid. The score is alright, though at times you'll have to giggle a bit as while each sex scene seems to get its own music, that music is usually a quick little snippet that seems to have been left on repeat.

    None of this would really matter that much if the cast weren't up to par, but thankfully China & Silk scores high marks here as well. Harry Reems is in fine form, his scene with the lovely Susan Hart where he pounds away at her in a car with his head poking out of the sun roof is amusing but also pretty steamy and passionate. Kristara Barrington is sultry and attractive and the scene she shares with Cara Lott, who is just plain cute in this movie, is a highlight of the film to be sure. Throw in Ginger Lynn in her prime and fun supporting work from Eric Edwards, Paul Thomas and an amusingly cocky Herschel Savage and things all shape up nicely in this department. It almost makes you forgive Scott for casting the lovely Colleen Brennan (a.k.a. Sharon Kelly) and not having her partake in any of the onscreen action or even disrobing!

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    Presented on a 25GB Blu-ray disc restored from the original 16mm negative in 2k, China & Silk makes its high definition debut from Vinegar Syndrome in AVC encoded 1080p framed at 1.85.1 widescreen. As you might guess given that it's a 16mm production, the image is fairly grainy but not at the expense of clarity or detail. Texture and depth are quite strong here and the picture is quite clean, showing very little print damage. Skin tones look nice and lifelike, warm without appearing too pink or oversaturated, while contrast is good here too. Black levels are nice and solid and the disc is well authored in that there are no obvious compression artifacts nor is there any evidence of edge enhancement or noise reduction.

    The English language DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track sounds pretty solid. There are no alternate language options or subtitles provided on this release. Clarity and balance are fine throughout and the dialogue is always plenty easy to understand. The score, which can be amusingly repetitive at times, sounds nice enough and there are no problems to note with any hiss or distortion.

    Extras start off with a commentary track from cinematographer Tom Howard that's moderated by filmmaker 'David McCabe.' Howard photographed all of the late Steve Scott's movies and he knew the director quite well. He talks about how he met him as Sal Grasso while in college and from there how he wound up working with him on various pictures. He also talks about how they improved their craft the more they worked, how Scott had 'such a love of film' and how he really studied the medium and how he worked a day job in the mail room at Universal Studios! Howard also talks about how at this point in his career shooting adult films he'd never 'had a relationship with a female' and how it was all new to him, but how he was so distracted by f-stops and lenses that it was all consuming and led to him being detached to the action. He also talks about shooting gay adult films, how his naivety was quickly shed, what it was like working in the pre-AIDs industry, how and why he wound up meeting John Cassavetes, his thoughts on some of the scripts he shot, how they tried to make China & Silk look like a Hollywood production, and doing what he did more out of love than for money. It's a good, a nice mix of technical information about the work required of a cinematographer, memories of working with Scott, how the industry has changed over the years and general information about working on China & Silk specifically.

    Also included on the disc is a second commentary from Herschel Savage who is joined by Bill Margold (who won't let the fact that he had nothing to do with the movie stop him from chiming in on it). They talk about Reems to start things off, and then they go on to express their admiration for the production values featured in the movie. They talk about Kristara Barrington quite favorably and share some memories of her, how Margold once saw Ron Jeremy drink an entire bottle of 'Pina Colada' on set once, and how Paul Thomas looks like he's suffering in the movie and was probably 'waiting to do his next hit of coke!' They then note the awkwardness involved in having sex in a car, the art of milking a lesbian scene for as long as you want to pad a film and how 'the guys wish they knew what they know - they know how to take care of each other.' Margold and Savage then go on to talk about how men are on the planet to "fill up hot lesbian cunts" and just sort of go off from there and wax nostalgic about the physical stress caused by fisting, how old the Hitachi Magic Wand is and other related nuttiness. These guys don't mix words, they talk trash about Peter North (who pops up in the orgy scene), argue about… pretty much everything… their mutual admiration for Cara Lott and Ginger Lynn, the specifics of having sex in a van, how Herschel's watch dates his scene with Lynn and lots more.

    Menus and chapter stops are also included on the disc. As this is a combo pack release we also get a DVD version of the movie included inside the clear plastic Blu-ray case. Extras on the DVD are identical to those found on the Blu-ray disc.

    The Final Word:

    China & Silk is a well made XXX mystery with a decent plot and a great cast. Cara Lott and Ginger Lynn fans will definitely appreciate seeing these two fine ladies featured prominently here and Kristara Barrington is a lot of fun to watch too. The guys all deliver in their respective roles, the production values are just fine, and all in all this makes for a fun watch. Vinegar Syndrome have done their typically excellent job bringing the movie to Blu-ray for the first time, presenting it in very fine shape and with two interesting commentary tracks. Recommended!d

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!






























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