Take One / Moving! Review

Distributor: Vinegar Syndrome Edition Details: Standard DVD Release Specs: Also known as: The Films of Wakefield Poole: Take One / Moving! Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 2

Vinegar Syndrome's Wakefield Poole double feature of Take One and Moving! offers the viewer two very different yet two very enjoyable gay hardcore films from Wakefield Poole. Moving! is a loop carrier that offers the viewer three gay loops that Poole made presented as one feature-length film. Take One is a truly unique film that defies any sort of categorization yet manages to capture the viewer's interest from start to finish.

There are two DVDs included in Vinegar Syndrome's release of Take One and Moving! The first disc contains Take One and the extras associated with Take One. The second disc contains Moving! and the extras that are associated with Moving!

The first disc also contains the extras that aren't associated with any specific film. Wakefield Poole's 1974 short film “Roger” that runs for 11 minutes and features Roger (who also appeared in films such as Heavy Equipment) in a solo scene. Wakefield Poole's 1974 short film “Freedom Day Parade” on the gay pride parade in San Francisco that runs for 12 minutes is also on the disc. There is also a 13-minute featurette “Wakefield Poole in San Francisco” produced and edited by CJ Rinehart on Poole's time in the Bay City.

You can jump to the review of Moving! or Take One or one can just keep reading to read all of them.

Wakefield Poole's Moving! was never originally intended to be a gay theatrical adult film. The three segments that make up Moving! were originally shot as silent loops to be sold on 8mm film for the home market. “House For Sale” starring Casey Donovan and Val Martin as Circle Products 41, “Rooms For Rent” starring Burt Edwards and Curt Gerard as Circle Products loop number unknown, and “Apartment for Rent” starring Peter Fisk and Tom Wright as Circle Products loop number unknown.

The three loops did so well that Wakefield Poole and Marvin Shulman decided to tie them all together into a loop carrier to be released to theaters. Unlike most loop carriers, Poole didn't make any new footage for Moving! to attempt to tie the loops together at all. Since loops were silent, there was never any sound recorded for any of the three loops originally. Music along with “ambient” noise — bird sounds and the like — have been added to the loops for Moving!

Thematically, and stylistically, two of the three scenes fit together really well. The two scenes, “House for Sale” and “Apartment for Rent,” bookend the film and showcase what Wakefield Poole was really good at doing with his films; stylistically shot sex scenes with a visual story presented to the viewer. These are really the only scenes that fit in with the theme of the title of the film as well. The odd scene out is the middle scene “Rooms For Rent,” which really doesn't fit in the film well at all. This isn't to say that “Rooms for Rent” is a bad scene, it just feels out of place.

“House for Sale” is a fantastical scene where a man (Casey Donovan) is checking out the grounds of an estate that is for sale. He has a fantasy encounter with another man (Val Martin) there. “Rooms For Rent” is a standard scene that features Burt Edwards and Curt Gerard going to a hotel to hookup. Finally, “Apartment for Rent,” which features an oft-cut fisting scene, is another fantastical scene where Tom Wright is looking at an apartment for rent when a painting (by the late Chuck Arnett) of a man (Peter Fisk) comes to life.

All three of the loops contained within Moving! are beautifully shot, which should come as no surprise to fans of Wakefield Poole's work; he always had a great eye for what the camera was going to capture. Both “House for Sale” and “Apartment for Rent” also showcase Wakefield Poole's visual storytelling techniques, which he is also great at. The two loops have extensive non-sexual opening material, which often isn't seen in loops — meaning these were likely 400' instead of 200' loops, that set up the sex scene. The third loop “Rooms for Rent” is more the standard loop design that was seen at the time — although due to the runtime it was also probably 400' instead of 200'.

Wakefield Poole is good at giving the viewer more than just sex to watch and Moving! is no different. He combines some interesting short stories with some nicely shot sex. Fans of Poole's work should enjoy Moving!

Vinegar Syndrome has done an excellent job with their DVD release of Moving! Moving! was shot on film and Vinegar Syndrome has used a 2K scan of the 16mm camera negative for their release. Moving! is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480p. There are grain, print damage, and artifacts present during the presentation, all to be expected. The colors in the film look nice.

Moving! is presented with an English 2.0 monaural audio track. Since Moving! was made originally as loops, which are silent, there isn't any true sound for the film. However, when the loops were turned into a loop carrier, music and ambient noise was added to the film. This track has a low hiss but sounds good.

Vinegar Syndrome has included several extras on the release for Moving! There is a two-minute video director introduction to the film with Wakefield Poole and a feature-length commentary track with Poole as well. Also, ported over from the previous Gorilla Factory Productions release, is the four-minute featurette “More on Moving!” “More on Moving!” was edited and produced by CJ Rinehart in 2011 and covers the creation of Moving!

Take One is a unique gay adult film from Wakefield Poole that truly defies any sort of categorization. The tagline for the film describes Take One as a “docufantasy” and Wakefield Poole himself describes the film as a loose take-off of James Kirkwood, Jr., and Nicholas Dante's 1975 play The Chorus Line.

Take One is a wholly remarkable film that is in part a documentary on the filming of Take One and is also in part a series of male sex fantasies. Take One seems to be self-aware of itself while also not being self-aware of itself at the same time. There isn't any real structure to the film — yet never does Take One seem to be haphazardly assembled. Take One doesn't even follow a linear timeline — yet at the end, the film seems to completely make sense.

There are essentially three different parts that combine to make the whole of Take One. The order they are presented here isn't their order in the film as all three parts are interlaced with each other throughout Take One. The first part of the film is the sex scene vignettes. It is in this part that the male actors in the film describe their sexual fantasies, which is accompanied by their fantasy coming to life on the screen. The fantasies are well shot and look beautiful on the screen.

The second part of the film is the making of the film, which is where Take One seems to be aware of itself. This part doesn't just consist of footage of shooting the film but also the crew discussing how the film is going to be put together. What makes Take One wholly remarkable is that this footage manages to lead naturally into the fantasy scenes almost as if this footage itself is as much a fiction as the rest of the film.

The final part of the film is Wakefield Poole's love story for Cliff Newman's Nob Hill Theatre on Bush Street in San Francisco, California. The Nob Hill Theatre was one of the, if not the, premier gay adult film theaters in the U.S. The Nob Hill Theatre itself feels like a character in the film and is an indispensable part of Take One.

Honestly, the film sounds odd and this reviewer didn't know how to feel going into the film. That all changed quickly as the film drew this reviewer in and captivated his interest from start to finish. Give Take One a chance and you will be well rewarded.

Vinegar Syndrome has done an excellent job with their DVD release of Take One. Take One was shot on film and Vinegar Syndrome has used a 2K scan of the director's cut of the film from the best known surviving film elements. Take One is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480p. Take One looks nice on this release with nice vibrant color and a beautiful image. There are artifacts, print damage, and grain present in the image.

Take One is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. The audio contains pops and crackles but overall sounds very nice and the dialog is clear and easy to understand at all times during the film.

Vinegar Syndrome has included several extras for Take One. There is a three-minute video director's introduction to the film with Wakefield Poole along with a feature-length commentary track with Wakefield Poole. There are also three deleted scenes on the disc. The “hardcore part of Philip and Bill's scene” that runs for four minutes, “Frank and Dutch's orgy scene” that runs for eight minutes, and “more of Sal's dance and video interview” that runs for four minutes.

Vinegar Syndrome's double feature of Wakefield Poole's gay hardcore films Take One and Moving! is well worth picking up for fans of the genre. The two films are very different, Take One is a genre-defying adult film and Moving! is a loop carrier. Vinegar Syndrome has done an excellent job with their DVD release with excellent audio and video quality.

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