China Girl (TVX) Review

Distributor: TVX Home Video Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Action Run Time: 89 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1974 Director: John D. Goodell (as Paolo Uccello) Written by: Edwin Brown (as Edwin Scott Brown) Cast: Pamela Young (as Pamela Yen), Annette Haven, James Hong (as James Young), Tom Douglass, Louis Ganapoler (as Lou Ganapoler), Bob Carr, Bruce Sung, Steve LaBounty, Barry Vane (as Barry Fry), Frank Pauchert, Edwin Gilman, Michael Forster, Ken Moshesh, Nathan McGee, Susie Song Li, Summer Brown, Bonnie Holiday (as Bonnie Chin), Susan Bates (as Roahne Alexander), Sharon Thorpe, Donna Chrisaphina, Janet Ross, Tammy Van Upp, Todd Jones, Tyler Baylis, Lee Williams Release Specs: Audio: English MPEG 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

China Girl is a fun espionage-themed adult film to have come from the mid-70s. The plot has the United States developing engromaticrybonucleic acid, a formula that will lead to permanent memory. The evil crime syndicate DRAGON, lead by Y.C. Chan (James Hong) sets out to steal the formula and sell it to Mr. Smythe (Lou Ganapoler). DRAGON kidnaps Dr. Olinsky (Barry Vane) and Dr. Teresa Hardgrave (Annette Haven), who worked on the project. DRAGON operative Madame Wu (Pamela Yen) sexually tortures them to get the formula, leaving it up to CIA operative David Chase (Tom Douglass) to save them.

Viewers who like their adult films to have a decent plot and more substance than just sex scene after sex scene should love China Girl. The film combines nicely done lengthy non-sexual portions with five sex scenes, that fit in with the plot. While made on the cheap side, with some rather hokey looking stunt work, director John D. Goodell (with possibly his son Gregory Goodell) manages to shoot in some good locations and use some very effective sets. His use of actors and actresses who can actually act, including James Hong who would later star in such films as Blade Runner and Tango & Cash, helps the film out immensely.

The sex scenes look nice and despite not being long in length are slow and seducing to the audience creating visually pleasing sex scenes. The sexual cast looks nice and performs well for the sex scenes. The scenes do cut away to plotted portions, helping keep the feel of a film with a plot but this may bother some viewers who prefer straight sex without the interruption of a plot. There is more non-sexual footage than sexual footage in the film which may turn away viewers looking for sex scenes with minimal plot interrupting them.

All in all, this is a great film from the 1970s that is definitely worth checking out if you get the opportunity.

The release from TVX Home Video is borderline pathetic. China Girl is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The master for this transfer is clearly a poor quality VHS tape. The transfer contains tracing issues, glitches in the video, artifacts, and print damage. The picture is murky and dark with details completely lost in dark colors. Black is represented as a dark blue in the transfer and the picture is soft. This film deserves a far better transfer than this mess.

China Girl is presented with an English MPEG 2.0 monaural track. The volume on the track is low and the dialog can be hard to hear properly in some places.

TVX Home Video hasn't included any extras on this release at all.

China Girl is a great feature film to have come from the 1970s featuring a fun plot, nice sex scenes, and good acting. Fans of plotted feature films should find a lot to like here. Sadly this release from TVX Home Video is sad and will disappoint fans of the film.

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