Refinements in Love Review

Distributor: Impulse Pictures Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Classic, Feature Film Also known as: Love, Sweat and Tears Run Time: 88 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1971 Director: Carlos Tobalina Written by: Edward Bernard Sands (as Prof. Edward Bernard Sands) (consultant writer), Carlos Tobalina Cast: Liz Renay, Devon Mayer, Jim Mayer, Anita de Moulin, Ron Darby, Edward Bernard Sands (as Edwig Sands PhD), Geoffrey W. Patterson, Susan Bergdahl, James Fuller, Santiago Burvell, Bill St. Pierre, Danny Sanders, Paul Herbert, Roland Peters, Micky Hanes, Kathy Phidel, Vera Angel, Judi Lane, Rene Bond, John Hart, William Howard, Michael James, Jim, Ric Lutze, Brigitte Maier, James E. Myers, Carmen Olivera, Maria Pia, Fran Spector, Carlos Tobalina, Linda Vroom, Nora Wieternik Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Widescreen, 1.78:1 (anamorphic) Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Refinements in Love is a fake documentary about the early hardcore adult film industry that was made by Carlos Tobalina that is mostly an exercise of ego masturbation for Tobalina. In the film, our hostess (Liz Renay) talks about various aspects of the adult industry and presents fake experts along with false scientific facts about the positive aspects of the hardcore adult film industry.

Refinements in Love is more coherent than a lot of Tobalina's efforts are but he still manages to twist the film in weird an bizarre ways which don't always add to the film. The beginning credits don't show up until roughly 45 minutes into the film. Scenes are edited so that they will start at one point then continue at another. Stock footage is used even when it really doesn't fit within what is being told. Tobalina also works vignettes into the production as well.

Some of the fake segments are outright hilarious like when the vice cops bust the theater and arrest the employees and walk out with them and the film print, but apparently leave the patrons in the dark theater. I'm sure Tobalina didn't plan on some of these segments being as amusing as they came out.

Possibly one of the weirdest choices is to have a fake news report, on a television, within the fake documentary where the news reporter (Michael James) interviews Carlos Tobalina, who of course presents himself as the David O. Selznick of adult films. The interview cuts to sex scenes as it goes on, which are of course not on the television but take up the whole screen.

The sex scenes are a mixture of softcore and hardcore scenes. The sex scenes aren't shot too badly and despite a lack of cum shots aren't bad. Unfortunately everything else in the film goes on for far longer than it should and the film wears out its welcome quickly. The whole thing should have been edited down to about an hour.

As to whether this film is worth watching, that itself is a hard call. Some of the sex scenes are nicely done but the film is overly long and very self serving to Tobalina. Some viewers will manage to get enjoyment out of this project whereas others will find it to be an absolute waste of time.

Impulse Pictures has made some mistakes with their release of Refinements in Love. Refinements in Love starts out in the academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and then changes to the anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 after roughly a minute of the film. The academy aspect ratio appears to be correct for the film which means that the widescreen aspect ratio crops out portions of the image that were intended to be seen (which would explain some of the poor shots in the film). The print itself contains print damage, grain, and artifacts. The film's color is a mixed bag. In some places colors are vibrant and beautiful. In other places the color is almost completely washed out. And in yet other places the color has a red and purple tint to it. Overall, outside of the color issues and the cropping of the image, the film is in rather good shape and very watchable.

Refinements in Love is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. There is a noticeable hiss throughout the film. There are some occasional pops and there is a segment where there are some jumps due to some slight damage. Dialog is usually clear and usually easy to understand.

Impulse Pictures hasn't included any extras on this release.

Refinements in Love is a hard film to recommend or to suggest passing on. It is one of the early adult films that is made to appear like a documentary, despite all of the documentary footage being fake. It is one of the more coherent efforts from Carlos Tobalina, but it still suffers from his haphazard nature of putting together his films. While there are some amusing moments and some nice sex scenes, the film also runs too long for what it is trying to do. Impulse Pictures has done a good job with this release with a nice looking, albeit cropped picture, but it does have some issues with the color.

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