Private Presents: DVD Sampler Review

The First Word: For those who remember the old VHS preview tapes, this is the modern equivalent.   

What's It About?: This is a promotional DVD containing 27 trailers and 3 full scenes from Private movies, designed to give potential customers a feel of what Private is all about.

The Trailers:  The 27 trailers on this sampler are: Tatiana Trilogy, Operation Sex Siege, The Uranus Experiment Trilogy, Fatal Orchid, XXX #3, Cumshot De Luxe, Xtreme Desires, Tania Russof: The Story, XXX #4, Millennium, Indecency, Twisted Dreams, The Matador #1, Sex Shot, XXX #5, Sex Sliders, African Dream, Matador #2, Double Confusion, Fugitive, Superfuckers #1, Devil in the Flesh, XXX #6, Hawaiian Ecstacy, Tanya Hyde's London Calling, Beauties in Paradise, and The Pyramid Trilogy.  

Scene #1 - Tatiana (22 minutes):  Private has a penchant for the period drama in their lavish productions, and Tatiana is one such costume pageant.  It's set in the 19th Century in Ukraine (but dubbed into many languages; for the English version, we get some English narration and a dubbed French dialogue track).  This scene features a cute petite girl named Svetlana (played by Rita), dressed as a peasant milkmaid.  She takes on a group of five men in a gangbang, sucking and fucking all of them (vaginally, anally, and double penetration).  One by one she takes their cum in her mouth and on her face with a smile.

Scene #2 - The Uranus Experiment #2 (10 minutes):  The second scene comes from one of Private's projects of the late 1990s, a science fiction adult epic with a very juvenile (or porno) title. It's main claim to fame is "the world's first zero gravity cumshot," filmed in the same manner that many of Hollywood's weightless scenes are shot.  While it's a good curiosity, the gimmick is just that, especially when it's clear that the rest of the scene is filmed in gravity.  In this particular scene, it's a 3-couple affair set on the space shuttle.  The most recognizable girl in this scene is the lovely blonde bombshell Silvia Saint.   By Private standards, this is a really tame scene, with not much visible hardcore (due to the dim, moody lighting and close bodied positions).  It's also fairly short, with only about six minutes of sex before the "zero G" facials.  While I won't spoil the effect if you haven't seen it, all I can say is that it's nothing to write home about.

Scene #3 - Xtreme Desires (15 minutes):  This scene, entitled "Chaos" from Xtreme Desires, represents Private's fetish line, Pirate.  Pirate focuses heavily on extremely hard sex (such as gapes, DPs, rimming, and so on) combined with a lot of fetishism, with heavy emphasis on light bondage, leather/PVC, uniforms, etc.  "Chaos" is similar, with the theme being sex swings.  Monique Covet, Sirrocca, and Laura Angel are suspending in swings inside a large cage as they are fucked in every hole by several guys.  The action is nasty and is edited to a frantic pace with quick cuts between angles.  Combined with the pounding musical track, it's has the feel of a hardcore rave.

What I liked: It's cheap: In fact, some retailers were giving it away with any purchase when it came out.  Don't even think about paying more than $10 for this DVD since it's really nothing more than a studio promotion.  If you haven't been exposed to Private, this is probably the least expensive way to get a feel for their work.

What I didn't like: Short Trailers: Mostly gone are the theatrical trailers that many studios used to produce about their upcoming releases.  Instead of the several minute long peek of movie with lingering shots of the action, we now get what a really teaser trailers, which flash almost freeze frame images in a blinding blur.  Private also digests their multi-volume epic productions (such as the Pyramid Trilogy) into a single trailer.  These micro-trailers don't really give you a good feel for the movies -- it's like getting a sample of a new product at the grocery store:  you still don't know whether you like it with only a taste.

Dubbing: It's not an issue for the second and third scenes since there is no dialogue, but the first scene has enough talking to illustrate my frustration with many of Private's older works.  It was a common practice to dub (re-record) the dialogue and the sex noises due to the variety of languages the cast spoke and to facilitate alternate language tracks.  Unfortunately, this gives the movie a very "Kung Fu" feel to it, and it's annoying to hear disembodied moaning or mistimed grunts. 

DVD Extras: Since this is intended to be a low-cost promotional DVD, there are no "extras" per se.  In normal circumstances, the trailers and full-length bonus scenes would easily qualify as extras if included with a feature movie.  But there's nothing else here except for some subtitles and alternative language tracks for many European languages.  Not that special for American viewers unless you happen to be studying one of those languages.

A/V Quality: Pretty good.  Private is well-known for their excellent transfers.  No noticeable flaws in either video or audio (except for the dubbing, which is a Private creative decision not a mastering problem).

The Last Word: If it wasn't for the fact that I know that the following volumes of Private DVD Sampler contain significantly more trailers (for example, there are over 50 more included on volume two as compared to this one), I would easily recommend this sampler if you were looking for a cheap way to get exposure to this excellent European studio.  Better yet, I would recommend Private: Millennium as a better bang for the buck since it contains 3+ hours of scenes.  But for what it was intended, a low cost promotional reel of trailers and bonus scenes, it hits the mark.  And the 45+ minute running time for the full-length scenes is not a slouch either.  Recommended if you can get it for almost nothing.

- Saki (saki@my.adultdvdtalk.com)