Once Upon a Temptress

Working from a solid script by Raven Touchstone/Penny Antine, Henri Pachard/Ron Sullivan hits the bull's-eye with "Once Upon a Temptress". This unpretentious project proves once again that talent will out -even in a period when porn videos were cranked out mindlessly by the 1000 to feed video stores (especially hungry for new arrivals and rentals) good writing, directing and performing can yield a result worthy of comparison with real movies, albeit low-budget and shot on videotape.

The self-reflexive Hollywood story unfolds over three time periods and has the leading actors playing multiple roles. Opening has Sullivan in a cameo as the doctor who revives heroine Alicia Monet in the hospital emergency room. She tells her story of attempted suicide to shrink Richard Pacheco, playing a character role (non-sex) for a change, from her hospital bed.

In the first level of flashbacks we see her as Daisy Parker, hired by John Leslie as Justin Deering, to write a screenplay based on the scandal and unsolved murder surrounding his grandfather Fletcher Deering, and a top actress of Hollywood's Golden Age, Norma Duncan (also played by Monet).

Daisy moved into a boarding house where Norma once lived, in order to work on the screenplay, aided by a trunk full of Fletcher's memorabilia and letters which figure prominently in the drama. Her neighbors there include Keisha and Nikki Knights, who will provide some sexual variety in later reels.

Much of the action is presented as flashbacks within flashbacks, as we see Norma's life and her interaction (often sexual) with interesting characters. Fletcher, her lover, is played by Leslie with slicked down hair to represent the Lotharios of that era like Ricardo Cortez. Joey Silvera is perhaps the least convincing of the actors here, as the nominal villain in both time frames: Joker, a pimp-like pal to Keisha and Knights, and earlier "The Count" replete with a Lugosi cape doing who knows what as a go- between and shadowy figure with some hold over Norma.

Touchstone provides several interesting twists in this familiar "Black Dahlia" genre storyline and it should be noted that overall Pachard's video is far more interesting and better made than both of those forgettable competing movies starring Diane Lane and Scarlett Johansson shot a decade ago.

Also prominent in one of her best pair of screen roles is Shanna McCullough, playing The Other Woman in both major time frames. She especially takes to the vaguely '20s/'30s costuming and hair styles to create a distinct look compared to her '80s incarnation.

Instead of wanting to turn off (or fast-forward) your VHS (now on DVD of course), "Temptress" is a rare porn opus that holds one's interest throughout. I've been watching dozens of Sullivan videos recently and will now attack an equally interesting body of work from Pantine, who under her Raven pseudonym is quite well-known from her scores of Paul Thomas projects.