Private Black Label 30: Scottish Loveknot, The: Collector's Edition Review
Private
Studio: Private
Category: Feature film , Foreign
Directed by: Gazzman
Starring: Ginger, Violet, Vanda, Mark Sloan, Michelle Louise, Jodie Moore, Jamie Woods, Steve Hooper, Tony De Sergio
Released on: 8/20/2003
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What's It About?: The premise behind The Scottish Loveknot is that an ancient Scottish chieftain, Robert, was a renowned lover who, along with his companion, the Lady of the Loch, gained mythical sexual powers by drinking out of a magical grail. However, the gods wanted to use the grail themselves, and they arranged for Robert to be ambushed in battle. As he died, Robert pledged to the Lady that they would be together once gain. The Lady made a similar pledge, and throughout the ages, she returns once every 100 years on the solstice hoping to find him again. The gods arrange a test with the most sexually skilled men of the day--those who pass the test get to make love to the Lady of the Loch on the solstice. John, Chris, and Rob are the three modern-day studs who are transported to a castle in Scotland after being recruited by mysterious women. One by one, each is tested by the gods, who warn them if they fail their test, their souls will be devoured. Obviously, since this is an adult feature, they are tempted by naked women often. Can they pass the tests and will the Lady of the Loch be reunited with her lover? That being the story, here are the sex scenes: 1. Jodie Moore and Steve Hooper - In the backyard of a manor house, the story's main couple makes love on a blanket. Jodie is an blonde Australian with big, enhanced boobs, and Steve is a clean-cut English chap with a big cock. The action starts slowly with some tender foreplay, but quickly gain speed, starting with a kneeling missionary. The "up-close-and-personal" angles are brief and intercut with a lot of less explicit establishing shots. Steve's large prick provides enough eye candy, especially in the anal positions, to keep us interested until the non-facial pop up Jodie's body. 2. Michelle Louise and Mark Sloan - After passing his test, Mark is rewarded by getting to fuck Michelle, an English lass with straight, blonde hair and natural tits. Shot at night, it's a rather beautifully lit scene. I don't like the scene that much because Michelle oh's and ah's throughout the entire affair. I'd recommend watching it with the volume turned way down. As with the first scene, this one also benefits from a well-hung guy and good anal. And this scene does end with an oral pop shot that's pretty good despite being presented in slow motion and interrupted by the "grimmacing guy face." 3. Alma, Vanda, and Toni De Sergio - Third up is the most handsome of the three male leads, and Toni's test is to withstand the oral pleasures from Alma and Vanda whilst tied to a stake in the Scottish highlands. Then he must watch the two girls eat each other out until the sun goes down. While the girls are not really into each other, I love watching them in the 69 position and then one riding the other's face. Finally Toni gets to collect his reward, first with a minute or two of PTOGM, followed by groin-tightening anal doggy, and finishing off with a shared, high volume cumshot. 4. Jamie Woods and Steve Hooper - This is probably the weakest scene of the movie. Set in a barn among haystacks, the coupling between Steve and curly blonde Jamie is fairly short and doesn't build up much heat. Even the anal is pretty boring since you can't clearly see the penetration, only his penis jammed into her buttcrack. The money shot is also disappointing--it has the volume but goes high over her head. 5. Jodie Moore and Mark Sloan - After a very leisurely bit of foreplay that features Jodie playing with her pussy and Mark getting his cock sucked like a straw, they fuck in a few vaginal positions before Mark drizzles his cum on the Scottish Loveknot necklace that Jodie's wearing. 6. Alma, Myli, and Vanda - In a rare "girls only" scene, these three ladies get together for some feminine fun. Most of the action is pretty tame and boring, but there are a few moments, such as when one of them nibbles on another's pussy lips and piercing, that piques my interest. I also like the finger and dildo probing, although the cameraman didn't capture the penetration very well (too obscured). Above all, what really ruined the scene for me was the constant, dubbed moaning. It's like hearing a flock of seagulls at dinnertime. :-( 7. Alma, Myli, Vanda, Steve Hooper, and Toni De Sergio - As customary with Private movies, and orgy ends the story. Although Jodie and Mark Sloan are naked, they don't participate (logical, since they already had a boy-girl scene together presumably in the same night). As Private orgies go, this one is pretty good: foreplay and anal/vaginal sex as individual couples, then coming together for a DP and the ending cumshots. Other than the dubbed moaning, there's nothing techincally wrong with this scene. What I liked: Solid production values: The American crew, along with first-time director Phil Gazzman, brought a lot of mainstream experience with them to Scotland, and it definitely shows. From the good set design and costuming to the excellent photography, this feature looks a lot more rich and less artificial than many of Private's previous efforts. I also like how they used practical and outdoor locations rather than filming on a soundstage or in a hotel -- it makes a world of difference! Good looking guys: For once, there's a male cast that's young, attractive, well-hung, and well-spoken! Any of them probably could be mainstream actors, especially Toni De Sergio. But thankfully, they decided to go the porn route instead, and they are one of the reasons why The Scottish Loveknot is an above average movie. What I didn't like: a.k.a: Good God!!! What a fucking pain in the ass it was to sort out the cast of this movie. Almost everyone had at least one alias, and with exception of Jodie, I've never seen any of the other girls before. This makes figuring out who is who very, very difficult. And I thought--incorrectly--that guys don't usually have multiple names. But two of the three actors introduced themselves in the behind-the-scenes as someone different from both IAFD's records and Private's credits. I spent the better part of an hour sorting it all out, and I still don't know if I got it right... Dubbing: While it's a stroke of luck that the lead performers are native-English speakers, the audio for the sex scenes is clearly dubbed. Part of this is out of necessity since a lot of cuts and creative effects (especially reduced frame rate) are used. However, the constant moaning and groaning, especially at inappropriate times, is a major problem with this and other Private productions. Where are the Scottish lassies?: If you're expecting Scottish performers in The Scottish Loveknot, which was filmed on location in Scotland, prepare to be disappointed. Although they managed to get English talent, they don't have the accent. Call it a fetish, but I'd love to hear Scot talk dirty during a sex scene! I suppose considering that there's not a porn industry to speak of in that part of the country, it's not surprising, but it is disappointing. For Jodie Moore's character, they had to digitally alter her voice so that it sounds like the reverberating voice of an immortal rather than the Aussie she is. DVD Extras: The Scottish Loveknot Collector's Edition is nicely packaged in a Digipak-style tri-fold, with a matching outer slipcase and small color booklet. For those who are wondering what the difference between this version and the standard version (with the white cover), I believe that the standard release is a single DVD version containing only trailers and the audio commentary. On the first disc (common to both the Collector's Edition and the standard edition), in addition to the typical language options, there are a handful of trailers for other Private releases, a multi-angle scene (the final orgy), and an audio commentary track with Gazzman and Toni De Sergio. The commentary is a fairly entertaining, thanks to Toni's relaxed and humorous commentary. For example, in a calm yet enthusiastic manner, he does the play-by-play for a pop shot: "As you can see, it's a 'squirty'...and it's gone right over her head." First-time adult director Gazzman doesn't offer a lot of insight, instead asking Toni a lot of questions that just underscore how much of a newbie he is in the adult business. The first disc also has the movie's teaser trailer as a hidden Easter egg. Disc 2: The "making of" featurette is a professional, nearly 13-minute long, narrated documentary that chronicles the production of the movie. The first thing that's noticeable is the use of a male narrator for piece, and his voice is much more pleasant to listen to than the female narrator who Private has used in the past. Also, the script for the featurette is obviously the product of a native English speaker and flows much better than other documentaries. It approaches the quality (including music) of mainstream making-of film documentaries. There's still a bunch of marketing and self-promoting bits, but overall it gives us a good overview of the production. To contrast, the behind-the-scenes video is mostly a bunch of free-flowing video interviews with the cast. It's pretty boring in my book, though you do get a good idea of the actors' personalities through these interviews. There's also some candid behind-the-scenes footage, including a funny clip where Jodie steps in a pile of crap and then threatens to kick her co-star when he makes fun of her for the mishap. The better BTS stuff is on "The Three Amigos" reel, which has 7-minutes worth of bloopers and off-screen antics of the three male leads, such as their best "Lord of the Dance" impression and a swordfight where one of the prop swords breaks into pieces. There's also a 4 minute blooper reel, which is not very funny and has only one short blooper during sex. Next, there's a softcore clip that runs a little over 2 minutes--I guess that's to show the potential for this to be shown on pay-per-view or premium cable channels. Following that, there's a 12-minute long alternative edit scene. Finally, a second Easter Egg completes the Collector's Edition: Jodie Moore drips candle wax on her breasts in a short behind the scenes clip. A/V Quality: Technically, this is a very good title. In addition to having a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the video is anamorphically enhanced for presentation on widescreen TVs and computers. The colors and brightness are spot on, and even the night scenes contain enough light to see what's going on without having the overall image washed out. It's a little disappointing to see such an overcast, gloomy place like Scotland as the backdrop--it's depressing and the video conveys that feeling rather well. From an audio standpoint, my biggest gripe is the dubbing of the sex sounds and the electronic altering of Jodie Moore's voice. My preference would have been to use the production audio as much as possible and to dub Jodie's voice with proper voice talent. The Last Word: The Scottish Loveknot is conspicuously absent from my list of best DVDs of 2003 -- while it's definitely a notable DVD package that's filled with extras and a movie with a lot of production value, it's just not memorable enough on the smut scale. It's a good example of how a DVD can be well-produced, but packaging alone doesn't earn a title top marks. I would compare Loveknot with Private's Gladiator series: good looking but having about the same level of heat as the average Private production. For that reason, I think that The Scottish Loveknot is a solid effort, but it's not going find its way into my permanent collection.
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The First Word:
One of Private's 2003 blockbuster movies, The Scottish Loveknot was
shot on location in Scotland, providing a grand scope for director Gazzman's
first adult feature. Fans of Jodie Moore and non-dubbed English language
dialogue are sure to take notice, as are DVD fans with this Collector's Edition
version.
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