One of the early adult films to deal with serious subject matter, WET RAINBOW rarely if ever receives the accolades accorded to the likes of Gerard Damiano's DEVIL IN MISS JONES or the Mitchell Brothers' RESURRECTION OF EVE. This is a shame as the movie's very much in the same league and even surpasses those hallowed contemporaries in certain respects. Rather frustratingly, it's also one of those adult films whose authorship remains disappointingly vague. Credited director is one "Duddy Kane". Once upon a long ago, I imagined this might be another of the late Sam Weston's many pseudonyms, a private claim no source has sought to confirm or deny in the meantime so I was probably barking up the wrong tree yet again. The reason for my initial suspicion was quite simply the very high standard of acting for such an early adult film, not just by Georgina Spelvin and Harry Reems, re-teamed from MISS JONES but in a far different and much more realistic context, but by little-seen Valerie Marron (who would support late lamented Tina Russell in an obscure Gerard Damiano flick called BOTTOMS UP) as well, essaying the wish-fulfillment title character of the free-loving hippie chick who disrupts their seemingly happy marriage.

Providing the kind of time capsule only '70s porn could ever be, the film's setting consists largely of a then unbelievably trendy Greenwich Village loft occupied by photographer/college professor Reems and his painter wife Spelvin into which Marron's intimate interloper arrives to disrupt their connubial harmony. Driven up the wall by the continuous cavorting her frisky roommate Mary Stuart (unforgettable star of Shaun Costello's seasonal offering THE PASSIONS OF CAROL) gets up to with boyfriend Alan Marlow (the game-playing husband from Radley Metzger's PRIVATE AFTERNOONS OF PAMELA MANN), she makes a play for her all too willing teacher Harry who subsequently refuses to act secretive about the affair with regards to his spouse. Georgina responds with a mix of understandable jealousy and the surfacing of her own long-suppressed attraction to women, culminating in a three-way relationship that may be predictable in set-up but not so in execution. Unlike similar free love fables, RAINBOW (as it was initially called, the "moist" adjective added for unneeded carnal emphasis) takes its story-line seriously, countering its initial bliss with some of the very real problems such an agreement might raise in the long term. The memorable, semi-open conclusion allows viewers to make up their own minds. When was the last time you saw an adult movie hey, I could extend this statement to most of current mainstream Hollywood, come to think of it that put its faith in the intelligence of its audience, refusing to spell out the obvious or in any way judge its characters ? Take heed, for this is that rarity : a smart sex film that appeals to the mind as much as the groin.

In another groundbreaking move, RAINBOW incorporates sex into story much better than most other early '70s skin flicks as an expression of love, need, anxiety or even resentment. Sex fuels the proceedings, makes or breaks relationships, and the intensity thereof should keep viewers glued to the screen. Marron has terrific encounters with both leads separately that naturally enough lead to their climactic threesome, an intricately choreographed sequence filled with passion and yearning, uniting the central characters even though one of them's already on the way out and, no, I'm not divulging which one ! Most memorable scene might be Reems' introducing Spelvin to rear entrance romance with its realistic evolution from pain to pleasure that could almost serve as a step by step instruction for couples watching at home. Ending on a trivia note, there's a haunting song that accompanies Harry and Georgina's lovemaking on two separate occasions, starting with the line "You hold me well". I have always wondered whether this was a (mellow Deep Purple style) ballad composed directly for the movie or rather some "borrowed" track. Any info clearing up this matter would be greatly appreciated.