Deep Throat (High Def Home Ent) Review

Distributor: High Def Home Entertainment Edition Details: Collector's Edition DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Comedy Also known as: The Sword Swallower Run Time: 63 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1972 Director: Gerard Damiano (as Jerry Gerard) Written by: Gerard Damiano (as Jerry Gerard) Cast: Harry Reems, Helen Wood (as Dolly Sharp), Bill Harrison, William Love, Carol Connors, Bob Phillips, Linda Lovelace, Ted Street, John Byron, John Birch (as Michael Powers), Gerard Damiano (as Al Gork), Ron Wortheim Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Widescreen, 1.78:1 (non-anamorphic) Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Deep Throat is the one adult film that everyone knows the name of, whether or not they have ever seen an adult film. Deep Throat has permeated every part of American culture, even being the pseudonym for Mark Felt, the informant of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein during Richard M. Nixon's 1972 Watergate Hotel scandal. Deep Throat was the adult film ushered in porno chic, making adult films acceptable for a brief period. Celebrities, including Jack Nicholson, Johnny Carson, and Frank Sinatra, went to see Deep Throat.

Is Deep Throat worth all the attention that it has received? In one word, no. When compared to other adult films made during the golden age of adult films and other films made by Gerard Damiano, the director of Deep Throat, Deep Throat comes up short, very short. Deep Throat is a lighthearted comedy, with some catchy music, that makes sex on the big screen seem, well, kind of innocent. Deep Throat manages to poke fun at some pop culture at the time while providing some true laughs. However, all Deep Throat ends up being is glossy fluff.

In Deep Throat, for readers who aren't familiar with the plot, Linda Lovelace (Linda Lovelace) goes to see Dr. Young (Harry Reems) because she doesn't hear bells when she has sex. Dr. Young discovers that Linda's vagina is missing her clitoris. Upon further investigation, Dr. Young discovers that Linda's clitoris is located deep in her throat, requiring her to give blowjobs to get off.

The main cast does a good job with their roles. Harry Reems is a natural at comedy, as he has shown many times over since Deep Throat, and does well delivering his material. Linda Lovelace looked like the girl next door, except she gave blowjobs. Carol Connors and Helen Wood do a good job in their supporting roles of Dr. Young's nurse and Helen, Linda's roommate, respectively. The rest of the cast just basically enters for their sex scene or moment on camera to then be forgotten. The sex scenes range from well done to somewhat bizarre but are well shot. In fact, the whole film is well shot, which definitely helps the film. Basically Deep Throat is a slice of life from a time period long past, which may seem dated and antiquated to younger viewers.

In a nutshell, Deep Throat really isn't worth all the attention that it has received over the years. This isn't to say that Deep Throat is a bad film because it isn't. Deep Throat is honestly a cute little piece of fluff that is fun to watch but bear in mind there are much better adult films out there.

The DVD release of Deep Throat from High Def Home Entertainment is, to say the least, frustrating. Deep Throat was shot on 35mm film and High Def Home Entertainment has used a high definition scan of the CRI as the master for this release. Deep Throat is presented in the non-anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 480i. There are the expected incidents of artifacts and print damage in the image along with grain. The colors in the film look absolutely beautiful. This release is the best that Deep Throat has ever looked in the United States, the frustrating issue is that the release is marred by being non-anamorphic.

Deep Throat is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. There wasn't any noticeable issues with the audio presentation of Deep Throat in this release. The film sounded nice and the dialog in the film is clear and easy to understand at all times.

High Def Home Entertainment has included a few extras on this release. Of most interest will likely be the Windows Media File version of Deep Throat presented in 720p in anamorphic widescreen. The short subject documentary “The Days of Deep Throat and Linda Lovelace” by director Paul Interlandi that runs for 15 minutes is presented on the disc. The short movie has Eric Edwards discussing the impact of Deep Throat and Linda Lovelace on the adult film industry. Finally, the original theatrical trailer is presented, in non-anamorphic widescreen, on the release as well.

Originally, when High Def Home Entertainment announced this release of Deep Throat there were supposed to be two discs. The DVD that is contained in the release and reviewed here, and an HD-DVD for the film. For an unknown reason, when the release actually came out, the HD-DVD was missing from the release.

Deep Throat is a historically significant film within the adult film industry due to the part the film played in kicking off the porno chic era. That aside, Deep Throat is nowhere near the best film to come out of the golden age of adult films nor was it anywhere near the best film to have been made by Gerard Damiano. Deep Throat is a cute comedy that will give the viewer some laughs and offers some nice looking sex scenes. Deep Throat is worth watching but don't expect anything groundbreaking here. High Def Home Entertainment has done a frustrating job with their DVD release of Deep Throat. The image and audio quality on the release are great but the film is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen.

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