Roses for Zingara Review

Distributor: Vinegar Syndrome Edition Details: Standard Streaming Movie Specs: Genres: Classic, Short Film, Drama Run Time: 34 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1970 Director: Preston Holmes Written by: uncredited Cast: Natalie Nell, John Joseph, Barry Lane Release Specs: Audio: English Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: Streaming Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): N/A Number of discs: N/A

Roses for Zingara is an intriguing hardcore short film from apparently one-and-done director Preston Holmes. At a time when most adult films were either feature-length running around an hour or just loops, Holmes has made the decision to make a short subject film instead. What makes Roses for Zingara so intriguing is that Holmes tried to do a lot in the short runtime of the film yet shows inexperience in dealing with the format, which would indicate that Holmes likely had higher ambitions and was getting his feet wet in the adult industry — but also demonstrates that he was inexperienced in that industry as well.

The story for Roses for Zingara is that Zingara (Natalie Nell) is a prostitute and her mute friend Joey collects johns for her off the streets of San Francisco. It turns out that Joey has feelings for Zingara and sets out to win her affections. The film has some poor acting and some rather awkward sounding dialog.

Preston Holmes has managed to fit two sex scenes into the short film along with the plot and uses more locations than one often sees in a feature-length adult film made around the same time, although only one location is used for any hardcore footage so it is possible that the other locations weren't informed that the footage was going to end up in an adult film. Holmes makes good use of the various locations used in the film to further the story. Oddly, neither of the two sex scenes culminates with a cum shot.

It is likely that Roses for Zingara premiered at Lowell Pickett and Arlene Elster's Sutter Cinema's First International Erotic Film Festival — which due to attendance had to be moved to the Presidio Theatre and also ended up being the only International Erotic Film Festival put on by Sutter Cinema. While the festival was one that accepted entries and awarded prize money, Roses for Zingara was produced by Pickett's own Leo Productions and has frequent Leo Productions crew member Mark Hofherr (using the name Mark Hoffler).

It is likely that Preston Holmes was a film student from San Francisco State University, that Leo Productions was known to use for directors for their films, which would explain the major issue that Roses For Zingara has. If one is trying to do more than just make an all-sex film loop, adult short subject films are hard. Short subject films are hard for any genre but the adult genre especially since with the plot and character development there has to be time for the sex scenes as well.

Holmes was ambitious with Roses For Zingara and tried to do a lot, however, the short subject has an out of nowhere ending that the short subject never manages to earn. The character development and the plot never get the short subject to where it needed to get to for the ending that it has. There are some other production issues, none that hurt the film like the undeserved ending though. The film has some focusing issues and the shadow of the camera operator is visible at one point. The film does have some very unique shots during the sex scenes though, including one of which this reviewer isn't sure he has ever seen before.

Roses for Zingara is essentially a drama but it has its comedic moments — none of which seem out of place. The film has two sex scenes in it neither of which appears to have a cum shot at the ending. There is some horrible acting in the film and some rather awkward dialog. Despite all the flaws that Roses for Zingara has, the short subject does make an interesting watch. Preston Holmes was trying to do something original with the film and that warrants at least a viewing.

The edition of Roses for Zingara that was screened is the streaming-only edition available on Exploitation.TV from Vinegar Syndrome. Vinegar Syndrome has done a good job with their streaming-only edition of Roses for Zingara. Roses for Zingara was shot on film and it looks like Vinegar Syndrome has utilized a film print for this release. Roses for Zingara is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The image has print damage and artifacts present. The colors in the film vary, for outside shots the film appears to have a pink hue and the colors look washed out but for inside shots the colors in the film look good.

Roses for Zingara is presented with an English monaural audio track. The audio has cracks and pops present, however, overall the audio sounds good. The dialog in the film is clear and easy to understand at all times.

Vinegar Syndrome hasn't included any extras for Roses for Zingara.

Hopefully, at some point, Vinegar Syndrome will release a DVD of their Leo Productions short adult films from the First International Erotic Film Festival since they seem to have several. It seems unlikely that they would ever be able to put back together the festival itself since Leo Productions was not able to secure distribution rights for any of the entries they didn't produce. However, even a release of all of the Leo Productions shorts would be nice, even though the short films are flawed, since the different directors were all trying to actually do something with their short films. Roses for Zingara is a flawed but interesting short film from director Preston Holmes that is a tale of unrequited love. Vinegar Syndrome has done a nice job with their streaming-only edition of Roses for Zingara on Exploitation.TV with good audio and video quality.

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