Circle Of Deceit: 1 & 2 Box Set Review

Title: Circle of Deceit: 1 & 2 Box Set
Released by: Hustler Video
Reviewed by MD James

"Circle of Deceit" sounds like an intriguing story. Maybe something along the lines of "Wild Things", or perhaps even something a tad more serious like "Romancing the Stone". (Note: tongue firmly in cheek here.) It certainly has all of the key elements. You’ve got European locations, beautiful women, lies, betrayal, sex and a certain mystery to try to figure out.

And this reviewer hoped that having the box set of parts 1 and 2, there shouldn’t be anything left hidden by the time I finish with part 2. After all, even the box cover hinted that everything should come full circle.

And yet… there was something missing. I’ll let you try to figure it out as we go along.

Part 1: We start off with a young girl (Esmeralda) coming into a lawyer’s office to discuss the matter of her grandmother’s estate. We’re thankful that there are subtitles to this movie, because you really can’t hear what they’re saying! And I don’t mean because it’s in a different language, I mean the audio is so bad that you can’t hear them.

It seems that there wasn’t much of grandma’s estate after taxes and expenses. All that was left was an envelope, which was given to the young girl. She thanks the lawyer (Bob Terminator) and leaves. The lawyer’s two lovely assistants (Dana and Lucy Love) tell him that he has one more appointment to keep… and it is with them. It’s time for the lawyer to drop his briefs and give some two-on-one cross-examinations. The girls take turns sucking his cock, then the girl with the light brown hair gets fucked first, then the blond gets fucked both in the pussy and in the ass. They wrap up this little conference with a little suck-and-jerk session where the blond gets some of the pop shot but the rest goes off-camera.

Later we see the young girl talking with her husband (JPX) about the mysterious envelope. Inside the envelope are a letter and a ring. It’s a nice little red ring that almost glows when shown in the light. It fits the young girl’s hand perfectly. The husband says he’ll show it to a friend to see how much it would be worth.

Then the girl starts to read the letter. We don’t know what the letter says. Instead we get a flashback to Rotterdam in 1940. One girl (Vanessa) and three guys (Yacousa, Lauro Giotto, and Ricardo Bell) in what appears to be a basement or a bomb shelter. We don’t really know why they are there, but we do know what they did to pass the time away. Yeah, that’s right, it was a gangbang! She certainly tried to keep them all busy, and the three major holes get plugged one way or another. One guy blows his load around her ass, the other two around her face. And that does it for the flashback.

Back to the present, our young girl is so turned on from the letter that she has to make a play for her husband. They both get naked and pleasure each other before starting up some major-league fucking. And I mean MAJOR league fucking! Our young girl is quite vocal about what she wants, and she gets it both in the pussy and in the ass. They finish with a suck-and-jerk facial pop.

The next day, the husband shows up at his friend’s place (James Brossman) and shows off the ring. The two girls (Jennifer Dark and Angelica) that are there both love the ring and want it. The husband offers to sell the ring, and the friend pulls out a wad of cash and a chance to bang one of the two girls. (Oh, yeah, some husband!) Naturally he picks a girl that looks like his wife. So now we have a foursome, and they both do it from multiple positions, including anal. Both couples first start in separate areas of the room, but soon they’re both on the same couch so the brunette can get double penetrated. They finish with each guy giving their respective partner a facial. And again, our mystery ring is present.

Later, our mystery friend has a guest (Thomas Stone) who brings in two more beautiful women (Maria and Sabina). It seems this friend is more of a pimp than a jeweler. He gives the ring to the friend to see how much it is worth and the two girls take off their clothes. On command, they give a little girl-girl action before going to the guys. Yes, that’s right, it’s another two-on-two action scene. Some sucking, some fucking, some pussy, some ass, and we finish with some more facial shots.

And that does it Part 1. There’s just one credit given… to director Patrick Handsome. We don’t know who handled the cameras, who did the production work, who was the writer (there was a writer?), or where this whole thing was done. We just know that it was directed by Patrick Handsome.

Now have you noticed that I haven’t mentioned any character names here? That’s right, no names are given here! Well if you need a cast list, it’s available as part of the special features of the DVD, as well as an interview with the director.

Part 2: We start Part 2 with a quick recap of Part 1. Well, not really much of a recap as it was a replay of some of the title scenes of Part 1 along with some quick scenes of sucking and fucking.

So where did we leave off? Oh yeah, with pimp-daddy (Stone) having the ring. The ring is now different from the one seen in Part 1. (WTF guys??) He promptly shows it off to his blonde bed-companion (Kelly) while he calls another friend (Alex) about finding out a price of a "red pearl earring". (Gee, I thought it was A RING!) They agree to meet at their "usual place". Pimp-daddy wants to get the ring back from his female fuck-buddy, but she says no, she wants to wear it a little longer. So he sweet-talks her with some oral action before she pulls out a glass dildo and fucks herself with it. Then she sucks on his cock while still bringing herself to orgasm with the dildo. She puts the glass rod away and starts fucking the real thing, and she’s quite vocal about it. She also does a DP with him in her ass and the glass dildo in her pussy. And we finish with pimp-daddy blowing his load all over her mouth.

Meanwhile, the "expert" has a little evening appointment all his own. A lovely brunette (Lucy) has a couple of huge candlesticks to sell… but unfortunately for her, they’re not antiques. Still, she’s looking for a thousand dollars for them both… and she’ll throw in a fuck. Well who’s going to say no to that? That’s an offer he can’t refuse, so they have a little foreplay and a little oral action before she bends over the desk and lets him fuck her doggie-style in the ass. That’s right, it’s all-anal for this girl! And he fucks her in multiple positions before she finally sucks him off to completion all over her mouth.

The next day we have the pimp-daddy meeting the "expert" in a local pub, with a blond cutie (Vivienne) keenly looking at what the two guys are doing with the ring. The "expert" says that this ring is way too expensive for him to price and hands it back. Pimp-daddy puts the ring into his jacket pocket, but while the waitress brings them their cappuccinos, the blond cutie reaches over, steals the ring, and quickly walks out before the two guys leave. They don’t even get to finish their drinks!

Meanwhile two pub patrons (JPX and Ginger) and the bartender (Sandy) decide to get it on. Does the guy look familiar? Sure he does! He’s the husband of the young girl who inherited the ring from her dead grandmother in Part 1! I guess he’s still got a wandering dick, because he’s once again getting some action from yet another brunette beauty. First there’s a little girl-girl action, then they both start sucking the guy’s cock. Both girls get their share of dick as they are bent over the table. Then they both jerk-and-suck the guy off between them.

Later that evening, the blonde thief comes home and her boyfriend sees the ring and calls her a whore. Does he look familiar? That’s right, he’s the lawyer from Part 1! He forces her to suck his cock, then they do a quick 69 before he takes her doggie-style, first in the pussy, then in the ass. They stay anal for a couple of positions, then she sucks him off to a facial pop. He then promptly takes the ring off her finger.

Then we see the philandering attorney with two other girls (Lucy and Yessyca) as one of them shows off the ring. You may recognize one of the girls as being the one desperate to get rid of two cheap candlesticks for a thousand dollars and anal sex. They’re not alone, though. They have another couple (May and Ricardo Bell) watching them. And that girl wants the ring too! So the ring gets put aside so the five of them could start sucking and fucking. Every girl gets something in their pussy and in their ass. One girl even gets double-penetrated. And then, while the other two girls suck-jerk the guys to completion, the third girl who has been eyeing the ring takes it and puts is on her finger.

And that pretty much does it. Once again, there’s only a quick credit to director Patrick Handsome.

Now, has anyone guessed what’s missing from all of this? Besides character names, that is. Well, with all of these beautiful women, and the European locations, and all of this wanton sex going on, the one thing missing from these two feature-length videos is… THE STORY!

Why is this called "Circle of Deceit"? What deceit? Whose deceit? Who are these people? What are their names? Why do they want this ring so badly? What’s the significance of the ring to the gangbang from 1940? What were the four of them hiding from? What did the letter say? What was the young woman’s reaction when she found out her grandmother’s ring was already sold? Sure we see the husband in Part 2, but we don’t know why he’s depressed. These are all little things that make up the story that got lost amidst all of that emphasis on sex.

In terms of additional features, both Parts 1 and 2 have a multi-level scene selection, and a static cast list of the players for each scene. But then they get repetitive. They have the same interview footage from the director, the same photo gallery, the same behind-the-scenes footage of the photoshoot, the same trailers of other Hustler videos, the same phone sex promos, and the same promos for the Hustler store. You would think that these guys would at least put a little variety in these things.

As mentioned earlier, the audio is really bad, which explains the use of subtitles. The actors are using either chipped English or any one of the European languages, and you can’t really tell because their voices are really soft and they are easily drowned out by background noises. Of course when it comes to the sex scenes, you can hear the most vocal of participants.

This is why post-production work is so important, because the key faults of both videos could have been easily fixed with some audio dubbing or even some quick narration. And of course post-production could have given a more descriptive credit list for the people who helped make these feature-length videos and right now are not recognized for their work. If they just put a little more work into post-production, then this could have easily become a four or even five-star video. As it is, the ONLY redeeming quality here is the fact that they had some really hot sex scenes.

All in all, I would really suggest you getting this box set only if you can get it under $20. If the folks at Hustler had spent a little more time in the post-production department, they would have ended up with a much better set worthy of paying twice that much. But, as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.