DRIVE-IN COLLECTION: THE FIRST TIME (1978)/ORIENTAL BABYSITTER (1977)
Director: Anthony Spinelli (as Leonard Burke)
Vinegar Syndrome

One of Vinegar Syndrome's first DVDs was a double feature of porn auteur Anthony Spinelli's EXPECTATIONS and CONFESSIONS, and their latest "Drive-In Collection" pairing features another Spinelli duo: THE FIRST TIME and ORIENTAL BABYSITTER.

THE FIRST TIME refers to Sue Morris' (Mimi Morga, SCREWPLES) first porn shoot. A telephone company receptionist, Sue cannot get her deadbeat husband Dan (Joey Silvera, BABYLON BLUE) to find a job so she has no choice but to take up his suggestion that she act in "explicit sex films" (as she refers to them). Jake (Jack Wright, EXPECTATIONS), the owner of the house where the film is being shot, invites Sue to a swingers' party suggesting it will free her of her inhibitions. Dan comes along and cruises the room but does not expect Sue to take so quickly to new experiences ranging from an extramarital pairing with Jake to a another woman (Georgia Ilene Drugg, THE OTHER SIDE OF JULIE) to a bit of S&M. Excited by this revelation, Dan brings home another girl (Sonya Spizer, THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF CASANOVA) but Sue has other plans.

Linda Wong (THE JADE PUSSYCAT) is May Ling, the titular ORIENTAL BABYSITTER introduced to a whole world of sexual experiences while earning a little extra money. From being assaulted to drunk husbands, seduced by jealous wives, and learning that the shy, quiet ones like it rough, May Ling finds the "jobs" so fulfilling that she decides to continue babysitting on the side even as she comes of age and gets a full-time job.

Spinelli's films are rather sparse in their plotting and episodic in their use of sex scenes as forward momentum (ORIENTAL BABYSITTER more so in the case of these two), but they do offer reasonably attractive performers and settings photographed and scored (with library tracks) with a modicum of care. Although both have rather bland delivery, Wong is the better of the female leads (Morga tends to go cross-eyed before Spinelli's dissolves to past events). Both films are presented in 2K-mastered progressive, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfers from 35mm elements, and the results are of a high standard despite some rare damage (most noticeable at the changes to the final reels of both films). The enhanced definition is not always kind on blemishes of various kinds on the elements and the actors (cheap shot, I know). The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio on THE FIRST TIME starts out scratchy but is not particularly distracting, while ORIENTAL BABYSITTER sounds cleaner overall apart from some hiss. (Eric Cotenas)

BACK TO REVIEWS

HOME