Johnny Wadd & His 13 Calibur Weapon Review

Distributor: Gourmet Video Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Classic, Feature Film Also known as: Johnny Wadd & His 13 Caliber Weapon, The Blonde in Black Lace Run Time: 56 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1971 Director: Bob Chinn (as Bob A. Lain) Written by: uncredited Cast: John Holmes (as John Duval), Charles Lish, Eve Orlon, Alain Patrick, Chlorine Stillwater, Susan Westcott, Nora Weiternik Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 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

Johnny Wadd & His 13 Calibur Weapon is the third film in the Johnny Wadd film series following Flesh of the Lotus. It was originally released under the title The Blonde in Black Lace but for some unexplained reason Gourmet Video has renamed it. In this entry, Susan Fourneau (Susan Westcott) hires private dick Johnny Wadd (John Holmes) to get evidence against her husband Claude Forneau (Alain Patrick) so she can divorce him.

Johnny Wadd & His 13 Calibur Weapon was shot in one day, but like Flesh of the Lotus is starting to resemble more of an attempt at a full plot than Johnny Wadd had. There is still the feeling while watching that the film is still mostly a series of connected sex scenes. A heavier use of exterior locations also starts to make the film feel more like an actual film. As with the previous entries in the series up to this point, over most of the sex scenes is music instead of dialog. The sex scenes are well done and while they will not appeal to those looking for the longer and more circus act sex scenes of today, they hold up well. The next film in the series is Tropic of Passion.

It is always a bad sign when the title of a film is misspelled on the cover, which tends to indicate that the releasing studio cares very little about the release. Such is the feeling one gets looking at Johnny Wadd & His 13 Calibur [sic] Weapon. The original title card for the film has been replaced with the correctly spelled title Johnny Wadd & His 13 Caliber Weapon. This release goes downhill from there. The color is horrible, it is over-saturated creating unnatural tones. The print that was used at some point appears to have been in some stage of deterioration as the picture becomes overly green in some places. The definition on the release is low, probably from this disc being mastered from a video tape. The picture is jumpy and there is dirt, blemishes, and scratches present. The text “video calibration” flashes on the screen at one point. The film is not entirely unwatchable but it is not an overly pleasant experience.

Gourmet Video has also put a bug on the lower right side with a black background, which is very distracting. The bug looks like it is covering up a Something Weird Video bug that was in the same location. The sound doesn't fare much better. The film is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track. The sound is muffled with a lot of background noise. The dialog is hard to hear and the music is overly loud. Gourmet Video didn't include any extras on this release.

Johnny Wadd & His 13 Calibur Weapon is an enjoyable entry in the Johnny Wadd series. Gourmet Video's presentation of the film in this release is horrible though. Unless you must have this title, I would wait and hope some company creates a better release.

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