Examining the work of directing Stuart Canterbury has been rewarding: I discovered his excellent and forgotten BDSM classic "Cry Mercy" and now this impressive jungle picture for the oft-maligned VCA label.
During the early reels I kept noticing how convincing the location photography was, with requisite wildlife insert shots, in suggesting Africa, and was ready to hand out plaudits for great location hunting in California. But it turns out, as the end credit states, that this was shot entirely in Zululand in South Africa! Boy, they sure had budgets once upon a time.
That distance from Chatsworth (and overused Prague and Budapest sites for that matter) pays off in an interesting one-shot supporting cast of both Black and Caucasian talent hailing from the Republic of South Africa.
Tale, also written by Canterbury, concerns a large diamond (shown only fleetingly as a rather crummy prop) that everyone wants to steal. Michael J. Cox is the company man who is delivering it to headquarters on foot, while local actor Chase Stevens is the government official involved.
Two true superstars share the leading lady spotlight: top-billed Stacy Valentine, outfitted unglamorously in short shorts plus tee shirt, a gold-digger (actually diamond-digger) out to snatch the rock using her feminine wiles to outfox the heroes, and statuesque Stacy Steele, with the larger role as Cox's main squeeze back home.
Their sex scenes are top-notch, and Steele is given to walking around proudly in the nude, a very nice soft-core touch amidst the XXX content. Several Black actresses, also locals, provide sex scenes, and Canterbury tops it all off in the first reel with an authentic male dance troupe clad in native garb, to set the atmosphere.
Lighting is excellent, and the videography of one "Horace Bogdanovich" exemplary. It adds up to a quite minor feature, but made with craftsmanship and an attention to detail lost on 21st Century pornographers.
Not to waste the opportunity, Canterbury and much of the cast shot a companion feature titled "Victoria Falls" - a location briefly and majestically featured here as backdrop for a Michael J. Cox scene, that is used as the character name for Valentine in that one.
