Private Gladiator Limited Edition DVD Set Review

The Private Gladiator
Collector's Limited Edition
Private
Directed by Antonio Adamo
Starring: Barby, Diane, Dike, Dorothy Black, Lara, Mandy Bright, Petra Short, Pocahontas, Rita Faltoyano, Cindy, Tiffany, Tina, Tina T, Frank Gun, Alberto Rey, Nick Lang, Mike Foster, Claudio Villa, Choky Ice, Bob Terminator, Toni Ribas, Steve Holmes, David Perry, Dieter Von Stain, Tommaso Pampalini, Karl Ben
Running time: Disc one - feature: 2hrs
Disc two - extras:
Making Of 29mins
Behind The Scenes 34mins
Antonio Adamo Interview 12mins,
plus Trailers & Bloopers

It's hard not to simply review the hype, such is the weight of expectation that Private have placed behind this hugely ambitious three-part epic. It seems like the marketing effort, what with VHS and DVD releases plus a magazine and this collector's edition, not to mention press and web coverage, has almost exceeded the fastidious effort (and considerable expense) that Private are at pains to emphasise has gone into this movie. Which is, after all, the important part - a hardcore porn version of Ridley Scott's sword and sandals blockbuster.

The story…
Toni Ribas takes the title role of The Gladiator, as Maximus, victorious and respected Roman general who, leading his troops with David Perry, Nick Lang and Choky Ice cast among the ranks, wins the final battle to bring barbarian Germany under Roman control. Marcus Aurelius privately chooses Maximus as his successor in order to return Rome to its former state as a republic. But Maximus is betrayed by the scheming, spoiled Commodus (foppishly played by Frank Gun), son of Marcus Aurelius, who surreptitiously poisons his own father and declares himself Emperor, news that proves unpopular with the decadent senators of Rome, with the likes of Steve Holmes and Mike Foster well cast in these roles.

Further intrigue is provided by the potentially incestuous relationship between the temptress Domitilla (the ample charms of Rita Faltoyano are ideally suited to the role), Maximus' former lover, and Commodus, and the smouldering embers of Maximus and Domitilla's relationship. However, Maximus, now married, is tempted into one passionate encounter with Domitilla before Commodus has his rival arrested. Maximus overpowers his captors and escapes, only to find his new wife has already been murdered. Enslaved, Maximus is sold with his companion Siria (the capable Mandy Bright) into the gladiator school, but vows revenge.

Filmed on location and in superbly dressed and lit sets, and with the cast clad in authentic costumes, the drama is interspersed with reasonably well staged but rather stylised battle scenes - perhaps thankfully light on gore - and more importantly hardcore sex scenes which make explicit the decadent side of Roman life that Ridley Scott's movie could only hint at…and there's a lot of it, as the plot takes frequent and lengthy pauses for lots of beautifully filmed shagging…

The sex…
To while away some time on their journey to Germany, and doubtless suppress the dubious lust between them, Domitilla brings in a pair of barbarian girls to entertain Commodus and her - these roles are taken by Dorothy Black and Tina T. I recall buxom Dorothy in Superfuckers 5, and here she gets into an attractive all-girl clinch with Rita, who looks absolutely stunning. It's easy to see why she's so prominently cast in Gladiator, though barely a bead of perspiration is shed in a strictly sex for show affair. Meanwhile, the pretender to the throne is contenting himself with mounting the lusty Tina, with 69 leading to several good positions, including anal, and a facial come shot.

Lang, Perry and Choky find comfort after the battle in the soft pale bodies of dark haired Barby, blonde cutie Tiffany (you may know her as the tennis pro in Rocco's Initiations 4), Cindy and another Tina. The latter two merely entertain each other with some soft girl-girl play as the rest get down to the hard stuff. Barby and Tiffany look very good, sucking cock and getting fucked even if they stare at the camera way too much for my liking. Both girls are double penetrated by the Roman soldiers, who retain much of their uniforms for the sex, if that does anything for you (!) and facial come shots end a pleasantly strong scene that is, nonetheless, hardly the picture of debauchery that one might have imagined.

Giving in to considerable temptation, Maximus kisses Domitilla passionately and at last I think we'll see some sexual fireworks. However, though Ribas brings his substantial energy to the party, and Ms Faltoyano looks absolutely exquisite, there's a slow, deliberate, almost overplayed feel to the sex that potentially detracts from the passion that the story demands. That said, much of my concern slipped away as fast as the dress that reveals Rita's beautiful, bountiful body, and the sex is undeniably explicit, no more so than when she squats on his cock in some fairly rude anal action! Rita brings him off between those boobs that wobble so wonderfully during the sex.

Roman senators - Mike Foster, Steve Holmes and Claudio Villa - indulge in a little orgy with Dike, Lara and Pocahontas (AKA Judy in Exxxplosion, where she shares a scene with Dike). Again, other than the slave girls feeding the decadent men some grapes, it's not quite how I imagined a Roman orgy, but it's easy enough on the eye. From 69 between slender strawberry blonde Dike, to some nice oral by Pocahontas to a deep DP for the rather gorgeous Lara, with various sexy combinations in between, the sex is hard if not exactly uninhibited, with come on Pocahontas's face and a virtual sperm shower for Lara and Dike.

Cruel jailor (Karl Ben) refuses to permit Siria (Mandy Bright) to give Maximus a drink of water as he's chained in a dungeon, in prison cell - unless she agrees to give herself to the sadistic Roman. She concurs, rather too willingly, and Maximus is forced to watch as the buxom beauty, surely the most glamorous slave in history, surrenders her body. Exposed, her body is very lightly whipped, and Karl eats her before she sucks him deeply. The subsequent sex is not really enthralling, but it does see Mandy accept anal sex, a fairly rare occurrence. The tortured Maximus roars and begs her not to do it, but too late - she whacks Karl off over her face and sucks him clean.

After buying themselves some gladiators, two elegant and beautiful Roman ladies, played by the burgeoning star Petra, that ravishing short-haired brunette beauty, and Diane (a lovely young dark-haired Ukrainian, spotted in Beautiful Girls 5 and Toni Ribas Leg Love, suggesting he did some talent spotting as well as acting on the Gladiator set) indulge in some gentle girl-girl sex before the two burly gladiators (Alberto Rey and Bob Terminator) are beckoned in to the candle-lit chamber and get down to perform cunnilingus. The women return the oral before mounting the cocks in a rather synchronised meander through sex positions that breaks for a DP for Diana. Petra strokes Bob off onto her face, Diana does likewise with Bob before Alberto gives gorgeous Petra a second helping. It's a beautiful scene that totally lacks chemistry. At least it looks good, especially the doggy postion with Petra.

In conclusion…
Even though I really wanted to be open minded about Gladiator, I had initially prepared a cynical review listing all the faults and failings - and don't get me wrong, there are quite a few - of the Gladiator. But in truth, when taking the package as a whole and bearing in mind that this originates in an adult film industry renowned for selling the fans short, I can't help feeling pretty positive about this movie. This DVD set really adds value to the feature - with the excellent packaging and fascinating, entertaining behind the scenes shorts on the second DVD, this is quite a satisfying product.

It has to be said though, that the movie itself suffers from the flaws of a typical Antonio Adamo movie. There are lots of beautiful girls in immaculately created sex scenes, but equally there are too many instances of girls staring at the camera during sexual encounters that are too pristine and polite for what were, after all, very wild times. Also, as a one-off movie, it's not enough. Leaving the tale unfinished feels inadequate - it really needs the forthcoming parts. It also seems like the most spectacular moments are yet to come - some of the big set pieces are for the later episodes. I almost feel it churlish to point out that viewers shouldn't really expect the acting, storyline or action scenes to compare with the mainstream original, because they don't, but as an adult movie, this is a fine production in nearly all respects.

But perhaps the biggest flaw to my mind was to entirely overdub the dialogue with American-accented performers (on the English audio track), depriving the surprisingly talented cast - Toni Ribas, Rita Faltoyano, Mandy Bright and Frank Gun all have some measure of star quality - of properly adding their own charisma, beyond the purely physical level, to the roles. It may be a cultural difference on my part, but dubbed dialogue roots the film in the world of porn cliché. Barbara Brown, infamous and ubiquitous but strangely elusive Private "scriptwriter", has a lot to answer for! Interestingly, despite "her" credit on the disc, the original idea for Gladiator stems from none other than Private's head honcho Berth Milton Jr.

Even though it attempts to deliver the same kind of uninvolving excitement as a Hollywood action movie, and I certainly don't think it should stop porn fans from enjoying it, I'll leave it to others to speculate whether this movie will bring Private the kind of mainstream crossover success they seem so desperately to crave, or whether the results match the ambition - personally, I am not so sure. In the end, I did enjoy Gladiator as a highly watchable porn romp of particular quality both as a movie and a product.

DVD Comments
Merely as an object, the Gladiator set is considerably more desirable than the average adult DVD. Housing two discs, the beautifully produced wallet, with booklet insert (a modest selection of pictures with a large serving of hype) gives the fan something more for their money, though it's arguable that this should be something closer to the norm than an exception. Disc one has the movie (picture and sound quality are not in question), with accompanying language and subtitle options plus a few trailers (and some wallpaper pictures), while disc two features a wealth of extra material. Profiles of the cast and production notes are standard Private features, but there are two superb (even allowing for Private's propensity for hype) short movies shot on location - "making of" and "behind the scenes". The latter features some genuinely hilarious moments with Ribas and especially Perry acting like idiots. There's also an interview with Antonio Adamo and photos from all three parts of Gladiator. Bloopers reel, storyboard and set design sketches complete a comprehensive package that leaves you in no doubt of the scale and ambition of this project. The menus are really nicely done with 3D animation - it's also worth moving your mouse around over the graphics…