Storyline
Did you know
- SoundtracksUn Homme et une Femme
(uncredited)
Music by Francis Lai
Lyrics by Pierre Barouh
Performed by Nicole Croisille and Pierre Barouh
Featured review
Pleasant but stilted romantic porn
I recall the "couples" era of porn history, when some filmmakers were trying to make movies that might appeal to both "mature" men & women (the Findlays, Cresse, Frost, Friedman need not apply). ISLE OF LOVE stems from this movement: it's a soporific but definitely romantic XXX outing. Something Weird has reissued it on Vol. 36 of its Dragon Art Theatre series.
As simple as it gets, film is introduced from his writing desk by our unnamed protagonist, a lucky fellow in his early 20s who thanks to an inheritance was taking a world cruise. He tells us how his ocean liner was shipwrecked (too cheap to show it) and he washed up on a remote island.
Lucky to a fault, he wakes up to find a basket of fruit (!) next to him, and soon meets his guardian angel, a non-English speaking beauty who he instantly seduces and turns this easy-going idyll into tight closeups of the XXX variety. However, film is so tastefully done and languorously paced that it doesn't resemble the usual porn experience at all, save the explicit penetration and money shots.
Based on her drawing a cute sunburst in the sand and translating her native name, he christens her Sunshine, and the rest of this uneventful opus is just the two of them making love. They're rescued by a passing ship (again not shown) and film's coda has them making love again, now in his apartment a year later. Yes, she was a keeper.
It's hard to believe that a feature-length (51 minutes, anyway) movie can be made of such scant material, but ISLE OF LOVE is the proof. Helen Butone (or whatever her real name) is a pretty, all-American heroine in a role that cried out for some more exotic casting, but her XXX work is definitely a turn-on. The nondescript hero Rocky Newton is less impressive, though his sexual performance is adequate.
Director "Jack Strong" is clearly misnamed in his adopted moniker -his approach is even lighterweight than that associated with the master of jailbait and soft focus, David Hamilton. He probably ended up working at Wimpy burger after his show biz career petered out.
The fact that nothing happens turns ISLE OF LOVE into a static travelogue. If the pretentious writers of TV's "LOST" series had taken a similar approach we could have had just Jack & Freckles week after week simulating coitus, and dropped all that Polar Bear, Dharma and good & evil crap.
My harshest criticism has to be leveled at the soundtrack. Mr. Strong conjured up just 5 minutes of music: Francis Lai's theme from A MAN AND A WOMAN and a romantic trumpet-led ballad, and proceeded to repeat them about 10 times in a loop. The effect is quite annoying, especially as I was sick of the "da da da da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da..." routine decades ago. Movie is shot MOS, with only the hero's droning voice-over, and was probably better than Sominex in its late night grindhouse unspoolings.
One novelty is the filmmakers pulling a trick out of the play-to-film SLEUTH handbook. Three actors are credited at the opening, including one Foxie Box. But the movie is strictly a two-hander, only Newton and Butone appear on screen for the duration. As I typed the theatrical term "two-hander", I realized that from an audience point of view, one would have to classify the film more accurately as a "one-hander".
As simple as it gets, film is introduced from his writing desk by our unnamed protagonist, a lucky fellow in his early 20s who thanks to an inheritance was taking a world cruise. He tells us how his ocean liner was shipwrecked (too cheap to show it) and he washed up on a remote island.
Lucky to a fault, he wakes up to find a basket of fruit (!) next to him, and soon meets his guardian angel, a non-English speaking beauty who he instantly seduces and turns this easy-going idyll into tight closeups of the XXX variety. However, film is so tastefully done and languorously paced that it doesn't resemble the usual porn experience at all, save the explicit penetration and money shots.
Based on her drawing a cute sunburst in the sand and translating her native name, he christens her Sunshine, and the rest of this uneventful opus is just the two of them making love. They're rescued by a passing ship (again not shown) and film's coda has them making love again, now in his apartment a year later. Yes, she was a keeper.
It's hard to believe that a feature-length (51 minutes, anyway) movie can be made of such scant material, but ISLE OF LOVE is the proof. Helen Butone (or whatever her real name) is a pretty, all-American heroine in a role that cried out for some more exotic casting, but her XXX work is definitely a turn-on. The nondescript hero Rocky Newton is less impressive, though his sexual performance is adequate.
Director "Jack Strong" is clearly misnamed in his adopted moniker -his approach is even lighterweight than that associated with the master of jailbait and soft focus, David Hamilton. He probably ended up working at Wimpy burger after his show biz career petered out.
The fact that nothing happens turns ISLE OF LOVE into a static travelogue. If the pretentious writers of TV's "LOST" series had taken a similar approach we could have had just Jack & Freckles week after week simulating coitus, and dropped all that Polar Bear, Dharma and good & evil crap.
My harshest criticism has to be leveled at the soundtrack. Mr. Strong conjured up just 5 minutes of music: Francis Lai's theme from A MAN AND A WOMAN and a romantic trumpet-led ballad, and proceeded to repeat them about 10 times in a loop. The effect is quite annoying, especially as I was sick of the "da da da da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da..." routine decades ago. Movie is shot MOS, with only the hero's droning voice-over, and was probably better than Sominex in its late night grindhouse unspoolings.
One novelty is the filmmakers pulling a trick out of the play-to-film SLEUTH handbook. Three actors are credited at the opening, including one Foxie Box. But the movie is strictly a two-hander, only Newton and Butone appear on screen for the duration. As I typed the theatrical term "two-hander", I realized that from an audience point of view, one would have to classify the film more accurately as a "one-hander".
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- lor_
- Aug 11, 2010
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