This week we went into the vault to find our original review of another classic from the golden age. We found this gem from 45 years ago that was a major adult hit and award winner with an incredible cast. So enjoy this classic and our review from back in the mid 1990’s.
Babylon Pink – Command Video – Director – Henri Pachard – Cast – Arcadia Lake, Vanessa Del Rio, Samantha Fox, Georgette Saunders, Georgina Spelvin, Bobby Astyr, Eric Edwards, David Morris, Dave Ruby, Richard Bolla.
Henri Pachard was one of the top directors in the golden age and created films that not only had some sizzling, steamy sex scenes, but solid story lines and plots that held your attention, made you think and could have the sense of getting into a person’s psyche. To top it all off, Pachard used the camera in an exquisite way to tell the story with the sex scenes always well captured, portrayed and never getting in the way of the story. Here he brings all of those elements together in a film that definitely deserves the word “classic”.
The film is an exploration into the fantasies of several different women. These women are as different as night and day, but they are all tied together through a business run by a mysterious Mrs. McGuinness. The film takes place in just one twenty four hour period of these women. It begins as another New York kind of day but you quickly see some are in a daydream mode. There is the housewife (Vanessa Del Rio) who fantasizes about doing the guy at the corner store (David Ruby), the businesswoman (Samantha Fox) who has thoughts of doing Vanessa’s husband (Bobby Astyr), the executive secretary (Merle Michaels) who has a secret thing for her roommate (Arcadia Lake). There is the upper class dinner party with guests (Georgina Spelvin, Richard Bolla, David Morris) all imagine getting it on with a sexy teen (Debbie Savage) who has her own ideas. Then add in the husband, the tennis pro, the ladies man, the uncle and you have quite mix that brings this story full circle.
As you watch the film begin to unfold you can see right off that the performers can act, deliver lines, show emotions, show character and having the kind of on screen presence that goes a long way in making this story very real. Having real acting chops was always a key element to Pachard’s films to bring out the true character of who his performers were portraying. In this film you get to see this brought out as the dream sequences of these women all come alive. There are a couple weird sex scenes that come into play, but these are dream sequences after all. Arcadia Lake, whose career was way too short, as the roommate is excellent in her scene, Samantha Fox shows off her talents extremely well as do the other ladies. However, it is the two scenes with Vanessa Del Rio that really put this film on the front burner. To say her scenes were steamy, hot and mesmerizing would be a gross understatement. Her performance literally burns up the celluloid and shows why this lady became a porn legend.
This great classic is available on DVD in a 2 disc set with a lot of extras. “Babylon Pink” is one classic that should be on your must see list and I very highly recommend it.
Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN
