Young Lady Chatterley

I went out and bought this movie on DVD and was very very pleased to my senses to see that this copy is the original, uncut, unedited, copy that used to come on Cinemax and Showtime Late Night. It contains 2 movie trailers, a scrapbook of photos from the movie, and a Biography on Harlee McBride. The print still looks fresh but it still needs some more work for future releases. There a few scratches in the film that could use a digital erasing and the sound could use a Dolby Digital 5.1 upgrade. But untill then go out and buy this copy because it is still hot and sexy after 24 years.

Seventies soft-core was so much better than that which comes out now. YLC had good photography, good locations, mostly acceptable acting, and decent direction. Interesting was the casting, such as the Flashback Gardener, who was not exactly a buff stud. Also, Harlee McBride was cute, rather than beautiful, something that was actually rather refreshing. An actress playing this role now would have sported about ten pounds of silicone where McBride was proud to show her natural self. Her character seemed excessively slutty to me, but OK, she's a Chatterley, and OK it was the seventies, and OK that is sort of the whole point of the show. Most of the sex scenes were fairly hot. some minor characters and plot points were a bit ridiculous, but that goes with the genre. Grade: B

This first entry into the Chatterly "franchise" (??) is entertaining enough. Mildly amusing in spots, with attractive people wandering around and having lots of soft-porn sex. It seems curiously old-fashioned compared to much late-night cable fare, but it's just light-hearted enough to be enjoyable.

Harlee McBride is wonderful as the curious, lusty Cynthia Chatterley. In this movie she is reminiscent of a more pure version of Marilyn Chambers in Insatiable. The 2 movies have a similiar plot although set in different eras. While there is plenty of erotica it is much classier than what you will see in much of today's porn with actresses such as Jenny Jameson. This is a great piece of work that you can enjoy with your sig other and you will want to watch the whole flick and will be left with a burning passion when it's over.

Unlike Lady Chatterley's Lover, Young Lady Chatterley doesn't pretend to be a high-class literary adaptation. Barring the short scenes taken from the book (when Cynthia is reading the found diary of the original Lady) the whole film is just an excuse to show the tom-boyish but attractive Harlee McBride in various soft-core sex scenes.

The funny thing is, the movie is pretty good. Unlike most of the cliched junk churned out for the made-for-video market, YLC had to survive as a theatrical release (being the dawn of the VCR age, it wasn't a given that a movie would be released on home video, but a rarity.) So, YLC- like Emmanuelle before it- has a quality rarely seen in the late-nite cable soft-core porn market. The cinematography is good, if a bit aged, and the actors and actresses actually *act*; it may not be as good as a normal Hollywood production, but it's definitely better than most in the "erotica" genre.

An interesting thing about YLC is the fact that the scenes from Lady Chatterley's Lover are brand new; they aren't from the Sylvia Kristel movie, but were shot specifically for YLC, with a new actor and actress. (I honestly would have preferred to see a LCL with these people; I find Sylvia Kristel and Nicholas Clay to make one unappealing couple.)

Unfortunately, for today's market, I'm afraid that YLC is "too lame"- it's very tame by modern standards and could probably be released with an "R". A shame, because this movie has more class and a better cast than most anything now.