| LAURA'S TOYS YEAR: 1975 RATED: "X" RUN TIME: 103 MINS DIRECTOR: JOE SARNO STARRING: REBECCA BROOKE, ERIC EDWARDS, CATHJA GRAFF MY RATING: 3/5 CATEGORY: EROTICA I didn’t think he’d be able to do it but Joe Sarno finally found a pair of breasts that rival even Rebecca Brooke’s (who, for those who may have forgotten, was voted by the denizens of Snake Mountain as having the best breasts of the seventies and maybe of all time). We’re talking Cathja Graff here fiends, and tonight we’re talking Laura’s Toys, Joe Sarno’s 1975 Swedish erotica effort starring most of his standard stable (Brooke and Edwards should be familiar to anyone whose seen Sarno’s better films) – and this time nobody cries during intercourse. Yeah, I’m as surprised as you are. Once again I have to point out that, even with this being “just” a skin flick, Sarno does a great job with the cinematography and really captures not only the locations he shot in, but also the era. Now, I’m sure there’ll be a lot of folks out there who’ll be quick point out that a lot of genre filmmakers of the time had their films set definitively in the decade in which they worked, but when you’re primary concern in a movie is the skin quotient, it really sticks out just how well shot these flicks were. Course, the abundant skin doesn’t hurt either – never does – and it’s just as good in this one as it was in the other Sarno flicks we’ve already checked out. Rebecca Brooke again looks great and gets naked in most of her scenes (of particular note are her outdoor nude scenes which should really appeal to the “chicks in nature” fiends out there), Cathja Graff actually gives her a run for her money in the looks department (if you can believe it this is her only credited work), and then there’s the lesbian brigade that happens to roll into town right around the time ol’ Laura discovers her man diddlin’ his assistant… Really the only negative commentary I have on this one is that it plays out a little too by-the-books so far as seventies erotica is concerned and, unlike some of Sarno’s weirder flicks (and I mean that mostly in his character’s motivations and actions), never does much of anything to differentiate itself from the hordes of other Swedish skin flicks of the seventies. How sad is it that these flicks are starting to run together for me now… Scenes To Look Out For: - Goddamn, can Rebecca Brooke ever star in a skin flick that she’s not having men stolen left and right by her “mama”? I’m not sure if there’s some sort of real personal history there or not (Rebecca, if you’re out there, write in and let us know), but that shit’s getting a little weird. - You gotta love that skin flick mentality. Nowhere else but in a Joe Sarno flick is a lesbian fourway considered revenge for matrimonial infidelity. - Now, I’ll admit I’m not the foremost authority on meditation or anything, but I’m pretty sure when you’re sittin’ in the middle of the floor rubbing your crotch (or, and this may be even further from the basic idea, somebody else’s crotch) you’re not exactly lookin’ for inner peace. - Somebody out there wanna tell me how they got a Peter Pan analogy out of 90 minutes of lesbian orgies, cheating husbands, sexual reawakenings, diddlin’, headmistress rape, candle masturbation and more tits and ass than my DVD collection? Somehow that just doesn’t smack of children’s literature to me. The Story: Laura, her archaeologist husband, and his buttoned down assistant spend a working summer on some island just outside of Sweden and revel in being your three standard Joe Sarno character archetypes. Laura’s the wanton wife character who’ll sleep with pretty well anything and is just full of dirty stories. Her husband (Sarno regular Eric Edwards) is the man of the picture who’s fidelity is about as long as his zipper. And Anna, the assistant, is the achingly beautiful-yet-shy and inexperienced young tart who – get this – is on the verge of a sexual awakening. Lots of awakenings in these movies…usually sexual. Anyway, shit’s going along fine until Anna starts looking for bones somewhere other than the hillside and Laura finds out her man is cheating, amazingly, before she gets the chance to. Then the four lesbians in town get involved and shit really starts going down(hill). Catch that one? Good. After Shocks: Laura’s Toys is yet another decent Sarno effort and a really good, well shot example of that classic Swedish erotica we all so love. The gals are gorgeous, Rebecca Brooke continues to be one of the sexiest and most convincing softcore actresses of the era, Cathja Graff has a great debut, and the sleaze just keeps on a comin’. Well worth checking out for Sarno or Brooke fans or anyone looking for some good clean (or not so clean) vintage Swedish erotica. 3 out of 5 – recommended. You can pick Laura’s Toys up on special edition DVD from the fine folks at Retro Seduction Cinema. It’s got commentary by Eric Edwards, interviews with the Sarnos and Edwards, and a bunch of trailers for other Joe Sarno flicks. Great DVD, great video transfer, and one hell of a flick. Pick up your copy at www.retroseductioncinema.com. |
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