Private Castings 1: Anal Virgins Review

CASTINGS X 1
(Private)
Directed by Pierre Woodman
Starring: Julia Channel, Blondie, Angela, Alona, Mame Yong, Agnes, and Inna, with Pierre Woodman and various studs

At long last Private have got Woodman's Casting X series on to the digital format. For those unfamiliar with the Castings style, director Pierre Woodman seeks out talent in Eastern Europe and further afield, where he conducts casting interviews in which he asks probing questions of his nervous wannabes and offers the reward of travel and money - if they'll get their kit off. Some of them go on to make movies for Private, with clips from some of their work included here, some merely do photo shoots for Private magazines - again, the action is captured on tape, and pictures are supplied too.

Just how genuine it all is I shall let you decide, but usually the girls appear somewhat reluctant and need varying degrees of persuasion to bare all for Woodman's probing lens. Crucially, the actual moment of conversion usually happens off camera, so it is left to the imagination as to what it is that finally convinces an 18-year old Russian girl, for example, to allow herself to be sodomized by Alain Deloin in various international locations, all for your viewing pleasure! Is it for the money, the travel, or are nefarious means involved?

Important Note: One thing I should point out is that most of the footage is of generally "amateur" quality and obviously, being from the early-to-mid-nineties it does look a touch dated - however, a major disappointment was the picture quality on the two excerpts from Private features used to illustrate Julia and Inna in action. See the DVD comments below for more.

Julia Channel
Exotic French beauty Julia reveals a charming nature as well as a superb figure when interviewed by Woodman. Even with little make up she looks absolutely fantastic. A point to note is that Julia has tried anal sex, but stopped because it was painful. She doesn't seem ready to do a hardcore film, but what do you know - a short peep at a location photo shoot in the desert is swiftly followed up with a brusquely edited version of a scene from Anal Clinic (directed by Steve "Ben Dover" Perry, and a clip that is also available on the United Colours of Private compilation) where she does the lot!
Interview: Paris, July 1992. Photo shoot: Private 117. Sex scene: Anal Clinic (July 1993).

Inna
This sequence really highlights the appeal of Woodman's Casting. Slim, tall and leggy Byelorussian redhead Inna looks almost frumpy, but still very young and pretty, in the interview. Pierre's stash of Private magazines shock her, she might have tried anal sex but only for her boyfriend, and she's so shy that she won't even take her knickers off. However, with a little Private magic, she is transformed into an insatiable glamorous sex kitten, taking on three guys in a very enjoyable "on set" look at a photo shoot.

Woodman further revels in the gloriously exploitative nature of her initiation into hardcore porn, with a great scene shot in beautiful green countryside. Alain Deloin, Mephisto and Vitaly spot Inna by the lakeside and take her for a walk in the hills, where the three ruthless studs shag her senseless and give her a sound buggering, as well as a DP, before showering her smiling face with spunk in trademark Private fashion.
Interview: Moscow, February 1993. Photo shoot: Pirate 28. Sex scene: Private Video Magazine 22 (January 1994).

Mame Yong
It's no surprise, I suppose, to find that a Thai girl is very relaxed about sex, but sexy little Mame is a very forward young lady indeed. She has no problems with Pierre's porn mags, happily strips for the camera, and after she has displayed a really nice body, she treats us to her funny, quirky character in a pair of "on set" photo shoots - there's some hardcore sex, but remember that the prime purpose of these scenes is to shoot still photos, so the action is more interesting than exciting and never really gets going. There's some fun stuff happening, nonetheless!
Interview: Bali, October 1993. Photo shoots: Private 122, Pirate 25

Alona
The roughness of the picture quality aside, this scene is well worth viewing. Alona is so heartbreakingly beautiful, but though she has a sexy little sparkle in her eye, it takes a couple of attempts - evidently filmed on separate days - to get her to take all her clothes off and show all of her small-busted form.

Initially Alona is totally against the idea of doing hardcore - but you guessed it, here she is taking part in a photo shoot. This is a really good clip, showing how things don't go smoothly. It's worth checking out the photos from the shoot, which are supplied among the DVD extras, and then comparing the polished, perfectly composed shots against this chaotic scene. Oh yes, young lovely Alona takes on three cocks, at least one of which snakes its way up her tight little bottom and naturally she ends up plastered in come, but smiling. Sexually, it seems like Alona hasn't got a clue, as Franck painfully finds out, and she treats the whole thing as a bit of a giggle. I must admit the way David and Franck are sniggering and taking the mickey as Akim (Alain) is trying to do his pop-shot is totally juvenile, but very funny.
Interview: Moscow, December 1993. Photo shoot: Private 123.

Agnes
19-year-old brunette Agnes is naturally pretty but not outstanding as she shyly strips. However, sprinkle a little Private stardust, and here she is looking really gorgeous taking on three guys - Alain and David Perry's really stupid headbands aren't enough to put her off! This location shoot is unfortunately mainly overdubbed with terrible music but does feature some amusing moments as well as some charming shots of Agnes' wonderful smile. Doused in three guys' spunk, of course.
Interview: Moscow, May 1993. Photo shoot: Pirate 22.

Blondie
Aside from Alona, pretty, pouty 18-year-old Blondie's initiation into Woodman's world is the pick of the bunch. Believe it if you wish, but evidently this young lady is a virgin and has only experimented with a girl friend (whether this means she is still a virgin is a moot point). She claims a man has never touched her pussy; she has never even seen a cock for real! It takes a good deal of questioning and some time elapses before Blondie - initially, again, totally against even taking off her clothes - finally shows us her superb, slender figure. However, she doesn't want to take her knickers off. Woodman says he will drop her.

Next thing you know, Woodman has his face buried between her silky open thighs - whoa! What happened there? The crucial moment is not shown, but what the hell? Pierre gives her the first fuck of her young life - supposedly. Be warned, this is captured with one camera on a tripod so the view is totally inadequate, but her toe-curling, arched-back response to the sex is quite delicious. And by the tine of the come-splattered climax, after some hard anal fucking too, she seems rather delighted. She went on to star in a couple of Woodman's mid-nineties movies, including Kruger Park.
Interview & initiation vignette: Moscow, October 1995

Angela
I presume that curly haired pretty brunette Angela goes down as one of the ones who got away. Even though she hints she might do it for lots of money, in the end Angela resolves not to do porno. Which is a shame, because she seems like a charming girl, and more to the point she is happy enough, and understandably so, to show off a terrific body and superb tits. But sadly, she goes no further.
Interview: Budapest, May 1993

Overall
Firstly, I must say that I will definitely be collecting more of these as they come out on DVD. It's hard to deny the unabashed exploitation that's going on here as Woodman procures these teenaged talents, but what the hell! Who could miss out on seeing these wonderful young ladies giving their all? The idea of seeing some of your favourites before they became porn stars is an appealing concept for sure, even if this is really something of a promotional vehicle for other Private products.

Yes, I know that today Woodman's casting formula is possibly getting a bit old, but I didn't get into it the first time around so to me this all makes for very interesting and revealing viewing. I am sure a lot of porn fans will enjoy the behind the scenes footage, although it is slightly annoying, though not necessarily surprising, that we never get to see the truth about why the girls make that jump from refusing to even drop their panties to taking on three men at once. Perhaps it's just as well. It's easy to have some dark thoughts about what methods are really used to persuade - especially when you read the accompanying blurb, which refers to "a psychological hand of steel" being require to convince the girls. I could imagine that some of the goings on might be, shall we say, unethical?

Please bear in mind that most of the footage here is of the rough and ready variety - do not expect Woodman's slick feature production values here! The translations are also inaccurate, going by the English subtitles alone, and littered with spelling mistakes, making it hard to judge the veracity of what the girls are claimed to be saying. That aside, Castings X 1 may not be premium stroke material all the way, but I thought it was great fun and quite exciting too.

DVD Comments
In terms of content, this is a first rate package, smartly presented with well-designed menus. A nice touch is that the casting chapters can be accessed individually from the girl's profile page in the extras menus, the profiles including the still shots from the photo shoots featured during the movie (something of an improvement on the usual photo galleries), as well as full Private filmographies. There's a text interview with Pierre Woodman, and cast and production information. The website demo has been dropped from Private's recent DVD-ROM-only selection, but there are wallpapers and a screensaver for your computer, plus a DVD catalogue. The movie is presented with French, German and Spanish audio options - English is available, along with several other languages as a subtitle option, though the dialogue is sometimes in English anyway.

But, and it's a big but (no pun intended) the picture quality on the excerpts from Private movies used on bit Julia and Inna's scenes is simply dreadful. I was ready for the interview footage to be fairly rough and ready (and be aware that it is little more than amateur, home video footage), but the picture quality on the Anal Clinic excerpt is much worse than the original - the colour is totally unstable and looks like it was copied from a SECAM VHS cassette! This is not what we expect from Private!