After watching 50 of Kendo's videos, perhaps 25% of his total output, I've concluded that his early success as a fetish director was also his high-water mark, later wasting his (and the viewer's) time with a succession of pretentious, empty "artistic" porn features. "Stiletto" from Private displays his style at its best.
Working with a very talented British cast (later he would employ Eastern European models, claiming explicitly that they were better) he fashions arresting imagery within the BDSM and latex/rubber mold of pornography. The extreme image cropping that became his latter-day trademark is at a minimum, and his use of the color red in the frame (for red dildos, roses and especially lipstick) is striking.
The five sex vignettes, done in pantomime with only brief pornspeak in English (no dialog at all) are quite varied and benefit immeasurably from the lighting of unsung genre genius Freddie Morse, who not only worked on Kendo's early crews but also collaborated extensively with the great Tanya Hyde, arguably the best fetish director of all time.
Opening scene showcases Estelle, with her remote gaze and aloof manner encapsulating Kendo's approach throughout his career - as she humps Ian Tate and Tony De Sergio in bondage/fetish gear. All three of them move like dancers -not actual ballet but simulating such movement in a XXX context.
Superstars Poppy Morgan and Franki are wonderful in a lesbian scene at a piano that also turns into a threesome when a latex hooded male appears and humps them with his big dick, his face not shown. Kendo in the DVD's BTS short subject is shown to be a hands-on director, cleaning and polishing the surface of the mask/hood on the stud's face to get it to look just right for the cameras.
Not really controversial but typical of Kenneth Docherty's sense of humor is a group-sex scene in which the guys are dressed up in loud jackets, straw hats and an imitation-blackface created by latex masks with cut outs for eyes and mouth (in the BTS one of them does a brief Al Jolson impression to rub it in). They hump Rio Mariah and Sahara Knite, injecting some mixed-combo action into the picture.
Lolly Badcock and Suzie Best (latter looking quite sophisticated rather than her usual little-girl/jail-bait styling) have a terrific lesbian scene with d.p.'s using a couple of red dildos. But the video's true showpiece is an abstract, well-framed tableaux in which DVD cover girl Keira Farrell is truly uninhibited, styled in corset for an hour-glass figure look and wearing ridiculously tall stiletto heel fetish shoes to hump two masked men wearing stylized prison outfits and fancy shoes. Climax is a money shot on her shoe, a fitting conclusion to an hour and a half of fetish-plus.
