Nina Hartley's Making Love To Women Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  2/13/2005

The Little Details

Running Time: 140 min.

Production Date: 11 / 6 / 1999

Director: Nina Hartley

Cast: Nina Hartley, Tina Tyler, and Ian Daniels in major roles and Ava Vincent (listed here as Jewel Valmont) and Chris Cannon in the background

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: Nina’s educational movies have been kind of hit or miss for me. They normally include some decent information, so I have a bit of hope here.

Initial Reaction: It’s one of Nina’s best educational movies.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody who with a female lover or who plans on having a female lover sometime

Who Should Avoid It: Gay men (and with the job Nina does here, I’m not sure even they should avoid it!)

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects are pretty good for the age of the feature and the DVD. The audio is pretty clear and well balanced, although it does have a few soft spots. The video is also pretty good. It’s not much better than I’d expect from a VHS tape, but it’s nicely lit and very even looking throughout the entire feature.

Music: There’s some decent fuck music going throughout the action that works pretty well. It fits the scenes and is balanced pretty well with the audio.

Menus: The menus are pretty basic. The main menu just has a still of Nina. The chapter menu lets you choose a scene based on a small clip of each scene and a title for the scene.

Borderline False Advertising: Jewel Valmont (now better known as Ava Vincent) and Chris Cannon are both listed on the cover, but never really take part in the movie. Their role is limited to a scene that plays in the background. Technically they are in the movie, but if I picked it up for either of them I’d be really pissed off. Thankfully this style of advertising doesn’t happen often with Adam & Eve, but it does here.

The Feature

Blonde Nina Hartley is easily one of the most recognized and respected women in the adult industry. In addition to being one heck of a performer, Nina is, or at least was, a licensed RN. Long ago she decided to combine her medical and practical knowledge to help people with their love lives. Here she concentrates on ways to please a female lover.

Nina starts out with a lecture while Tina Tyler lies on the bed behind her looking fantastic in a green nightgown and Chris and Ava get in on in the background. After talking about some psychological and cultural issues of sex, Nina talks about some of the differences between men and women. She introduces Tina before moving through a few sex tips on what to do and what not to do. Nina blends physical and psychological aspects as she gives the sex tips with Tina nicely supporting her and adding other details. They work through kissing, hugging, and nipple play before moving down under. She covers both foreplay and penetration, and even brings out the pussy puppet so that Tina can clearly show some of what Nina is doing to her.

The instructional portion is very well done. Nina comes off as friendly and informative, and is able to cover some fairly basic things (and no, it’s not so basic that experienced lovers should skip past it or feel bored) without ever appearing condescending. Tina is great as her helper, and nicely adds to the information with tips as well as some fantastic body language. It all lasts nearly an hour, but never drags. The instructional and educational part of the movie is very well done, and well worth watching.

Scene 1 - Nina Hartley and Tina Tyler

Tina starts things out wearing a greyish pantsuit with a black velvet bra and panties brushing Nina’s hair, with Nina wearing a nice black and white dress, while they talk in anticipation of going out when Nina comes to visit. They talk about sex and the misconceptions about sex with porn stars in the real world before deciding that they might find better sex staying in. Tina starts things out massaging Nina’s legs before moving up to play with her pussy through her black panties. She loses her coat before going inside Nina’s dress to work on her pretty little nipples. She moves down to slowly tease and please Nina’s pussy with her tongue and fingers, and goes far beyond the ‘lick and stick’ that you normally see in lesbian scenes. Tina strips down and gives Nina a lap dance before letting Nina work on her pussy a little. They quickly move on to sixty-nine so that they can both give and receive before Nina rides Tina’s tongue. They move on with a bit of strap-on action and Tina riding Nina cowgirl style. Finally, they finish things with a kiss.

This is an excellent scene. The chemistry between Nina and Tina is fantastic, and they come off just like the two old friends that they are. It moves along slowly but with a purpose, and never feels either rushed or held back. Unlike so many of the sex scenes in Nina Hartley’s educational features, it also works in a few of the techniques that Nina mentions in the instructional portion. This is a great scene, and one of the best I’ve seen from Nina’s educational movies.

Scene 2 - Nina Hartley and Ian Daniels

When Ian picks Nina up to take her out, she lets him know before they leave that she guarantees that they’re each going to have an orgasm before the end of the night and that they’re only going out so they can negotiate terms. After they get back, Nina slips into something a little more comfortable and takes her time kissing Ian in front of a fireplace filled with candles and surrounded by flowers. They mix in plenty of kissing as Ian takes his time worshiping Nina’s body with his mouth and hands. Nina rewards him with a passionate blowjob as well as teasing his cock with her pussy lips. Ian slides his cock between her cheeks with the help of a little lube and kisses the back of Nina’s neck and her ears before they slide a condom on him so that he can slide his cock inside her from behind. They move on with a bit of missionary work, and take a nice little break to enjoy a few sips of wine. They also take a break from fucking so that Nina can give Ian a back massage with a bit of oil and so Ian can kiss and rub a feather up and down Nina’s body as she takes a turn on her stomach. He even takes a little more time pleasuring Nina’s pussy with his tongue and lets her suck his cock again before sliding another condom back on and riding him cowgirl style. They finish things up in missionary before Ian pops all over Nina’s stomach. Afterwards, they lay together with Ian talking dirty in Nina’s ear and caressing her nipples while she rubs her pussy to completely finish herself off.

This is a great scene. Once again it takes it time while not feeling like it’s being held back or softened up. The entire scene feels like it’s all about passion and pleasure, and it never feels like it favors Nina over Ian. It’s a nearly perfect scene for couples, and although the scene went on for a heck of a long time, it never got boring. This is a fantastic sex scene.

Nina Hartley’s Making Love to Women is an excellent movie. She covers things from the psychological as well as the physical aspect, and never makes things heady or condescending. It all comes off as very natural, and Tina Tyler does a fantastic job helping her work through it all. It never gets very advanced or complicated, but that’s just fine here. The sex scenes are handled just as well. Nina has fantastic chemistry with both Tina and Ian, and manages to work in some of what she talked about in the lectures. The closest I can come to for a complaint is that Chris and Ava just stayed in the background and seemed kind of wasted. Nina Hartley’s Making Love to Women is a fantastic educational feature that deserves to be checked out by everybody who’s interested in becoming a better lover.

The Extra Stuff

A bio for Nina. That’s it.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, educational, lesbian, and toys

Raincoat Factor: High

Condom Usage: 100%

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Nina Hartley’s educational DVDs can be found online for between about $8 and $25 with several stores offering them for around $15. At that price this one’s well worth checking out. The instructional portion is excellent and the sex is very well done. The technical aspects are a bit weak until one considers the age of the feature and DVD, but sadly there isn’t much of anything for extras. This is a great movie on a lackluster overall DVD.

Note to Adam & Eve: Thanks for giving Nina so much support with releases like this over the years.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

Other reviews by Astroknight