Paradiso Blu

The notorious Joe d'Amato made any number of these sex-in-a-tropical paradise films in the late 70's/early 80's. Some were hardcore porn, some were softcore porn, some were horror flicks, and some of the most memorable were various combinations of all of these (i.e. "Orgasmo Nero", "Erotic Nights of the Living Dead", "Porno Holocaust"). This one is just a straight softcore porn flick, and a very boring one at that. The very tame sex scenes are few and far in between and there is very little dramatic tension.

After a rather unconvincing plane crash, a sexy stewardess (Anna Bergman) and a shy male virgin (Daniel Monahan) wash up on a deserted island. After many "Blue Lagoon" type longeurs, they eventually start schtupping each other. But then jealousy rears its head when a lone male sailor (Jon Richardson)shows up and gives it to Begman, while a native girl (Lucia Ramirez) the couple save from being sacrificed by her tribe makes the beast with two backs with Monahan. But that's it-- Bergman and Ramirez don't even get together for interracial lesbian scene or a threesome. Very disappointing.

The cast is, well uh, interesting. Monahan would become most famous for playing "Pewee" in the "Porky's" series a few years later. Anna Bergman is the daughter of Swedish director Ingemar Bergman, but she mostly appeared in low-brow British sex comedies with the likes of Mary Millington and Suzy Mandel. She's quite sexy actually, but this just is not her forte (D'Amato made two very similar but much better softcore films like this--"Eleven Days, Eleven Nights" and "The Alcove"--with his regular female star Laura Gemser, and while neither actress would ever kicked out of anyone's bed, Gemser is just far better in these type of roles). Hilariously, D'Amato signed Bergman's named to this as the DIRECTOR--apparently trying to capture that no doubt large audience of compulsively masturbating Igemar Bergman fans.

The cinematography I'm sure was very good originally, but good luck finding anything but a crappy-looking Italian-language bootleg of this. I just can't in good conscience recommend this one I'm afraid.

Paradiso Blu (1980)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Entertaining Italian rip-off of THE BLUE LAGOON has a plane crashing and only two people surviving. Peter (Dan Monahan) is a shy virgin and Karen (Anna Bergman) is a beautiful stewardist who knows all about sexuality. The two of them end up on a deserted island where they fight but eventually fall in love and find sex. Soon a stranger (John Richardson) arrives on the island and throws their relationship into a new direction.

This here is a pretty interesting little picture for a number of reasons. Obviously it was released the same year as THE BLUE LAGOON so I'd be interested in knowing how close together they were actually released. Another interesting factor is that lead actress Bergman is the daughter to legend Ingmar Bergman. Then you've got Monahan in a pre-PORKY'S role. You've also got Lucia Ramirez in a brief part and she's known for appearing in several D'Amato movies including EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD. Then, there's D'Amato who appears to be trying to come across mainstream with this picture. It was clearly shot on the same location as many of his other Caribbean movies but those expecting anything graphic will be disappointed.

I had the view the film in Italian without any subtitles but the set-up is pretty simple to follow. For the most part I was really caught up with this film for a couple reasons. The locations are obviously extremely good looking so this is a major plus as is the cinematography, which was always the strong point to any D'Amato film. Another positive thing the film has going for it are the performances. I thought Bergman was actually very good in the picture and she just walks around with a certain grace that jumped off the screen even though I was unable to follow what she was saying. She's certainly a very beautiful woman and is easy on the eyes when it comes to the sexuality scenes. Monahan is also good here as are the two supporting players but there's no question that Bergman is the star here.

There are also some very campy moments including the entire plane crash sequence. We never see the actual crash, which is obviously budget issues but the scenes inside the plane are hilarious because the "crash" basically consists of people walking back and forth through the aisles. The story itself isn't really anything original (obviously) and the lack of any real drama is a negative. Still, PARADISO BLU has enough interesting things going for it that it's easy to recommend. I'm not sure if the film was ever dubbed in English or if an English friendly version is out there but it seems like a company would try to do something with this due to its connections to other popular films.