Between the Sheets

This minor Sam Weston (a/k/a "Anthony Spinelli") offering still compares favorably to even the most accomplished efforts of many a lesser talent. Hot on the heels of his masterpiece THE DANCERS, also produced by Marga Aulbach in her "Michele Ames" guise, it was considered something of a disappointment at the time though its superstar cast makes it mandatory viewing for anyone truly devoted to dirty movie history. Taking a breather from their more involving dramatic endeavors, Sam & Son (his frequent writer, as "Michael Ellis", who took over directorial reign after dad's first stroke as "Mitchell Spinelli") had no higher ambition than to deliver a frothy farce, resorting to that old sex film stand-by : the talking bed, recounting its past exploits to a new mattress. Michel Lemoine laid down the ground rules for this most peculiar carnal conceit in the soft core arena with 1973's CONFIDENCES EROTIQUES D'UN LIT TROP ACCUEILLANT which had late lamented Olga Georges-Picot rubbing shoulders and other assorted body parts with blue screen nobility like Janine Reynaud and Anne Libert. Though memory fails me – getting on in years, you know – I'm pretty sure at least one German sex comedy followed suit. As hardcore gradually became the rule, it provided a popular staple for fornication filmmakers in lack of inspiration, still popping up in the mid-'90s with Toni English's BEDLAM. Even Weston would spin another variation with THE LAST CONDOM as the titular item recounts the way its brethren were employed at a busy motel !

Of course, in all these cases the set-up is a mere ploy to connect a multitude of sex scenes, the more imaginative examples taking the trouble to stage these during various historical periods at least. So in a way, this makes for a companion piece to Larry Revene's enjoyable SIZZLE with a necklace followed from '30s Prohibition to '70s wife swap parties and Shaun Costello's superior PANDORA'S MIRROR that had an antique mirror reflecting its perverted past from the Civil War onwards. Annette Haven plays a prim 'n' proper maiden exchanging her virtue for tea leaves (!) to devious Brit R.J. Reynolds in the film's first and weakest encounter, one of the few unimpressive feats this traditionally terrific adult actress has ever racked up, due to a complete lack of chemistry. A modern day premise about a husband and wife's coming to terms with her being several rungs farther up on the corporate ladder suffers from trite scripting but also represents the sole screen pairing of Veronica Hart and Richard Pacheco, two of the finest thespians the industry has ever spawned. The '60s spaced out hippie scene offers Joey Silvera, to whom "off the wall" comes naturally, and Tigr who resorts to the coy mannerisms of the retarded character she played so well in Weston's outstanding NOTHING TO HIDE to severely diminished effect. With the sub par out of the way, let us now get to the good stuff. Eric Edwards and then real life girlfriend, the sadly deceased Arcadia Lake, score big time as Yankee soldier and captive Southern belle in their Civil War episode. Superstar Seka shines as kind-hearted if slow-witted moll to '30s gangster John Leslie in the most elaborate segment, a virtual mini movie with good gags and even better boinking. Vanessa Del Rio, the real Mexican Spitfire, brings up the rear (as a matter of speaking, her trademark anal expertise unfortunately not called upon) as a none too convincing '50s sweater chick allowing her biker boyfriend Randy West to move to third base and beyond in exchange for an engagement ring.

Nicely produced, with gauzy lighting and even a title song that sounds like a last minute cut from a Broadway show, BETWEEN THE SHEETS may ultimately offer little but an excuse for star-gazing yet – considering the top talent involved – that's quite enough, thank you. Sam displays his customary intelligence and sensitivity with each successive scenario, its start-stop episodic nature making it feel rather more uneven than his best work, on a par with his comparable vignette-style SKIN ON SKIN and much of his subsequent video output, superior for the medium at that time. In the end, there's definitely more good than bad here, making for a painless – indeed, occasionally rather pleasurable – way to pass an hour and a half.