Softcore Reviews

It’s not often that we review hardcore movies here at Softcore Reviews. We’ll make an exception for this one on the basis of historical relevance…

Here it is. The softcore film to end all softcore films. The softcore film so hard it’s almost hardcore. I mean, the hardcore film that’s so sensual, it must be softcore. Huh? Well, which is it?

The films of Joe Sarno’s greatest period, the 1970s, are all well-known, but his movies from a decade earlier are lesser-known and in many cases lost forever. Here’s one such movie except—lo and behold, in 2008, somebody found a pristine negative in a vault.

Joe Sarno approaches perfection here with a simple tale of a married couple and how they deal with the presence of another woman. I could go on with my usual flights of fancy, about the Ingmar Bergman-like treatment of the relationship, or the way that the island scenery reflects the cloistered nature of said relationship, and after the jump, I will…

What we have here is not so much softcore as the historical gateway drug to softcore. With no nudity and no sex, this movie is tame even by 1966 standards, but there’s something about it that leaves you wanting more…