Tania Russof (the story) Review

Reviewed by Rieekan  on  3/17/2002

* DIRECTOR: Pierre Woodman.
* DURATION: »175mins.
* STARRING: Tania Russof.

Simply put, this is one great DVD. Most of my recent reviews have had a hard time getting a 2½ out of me, but this one has my full endorsement. The Tania Russof Story is an overview of the illustrious career of Tania Russof, Private’s First Lady, director Pierre Woodman’s wife and all-round hottie. While it perhaps doesn’t flow as naturally and honestly as one might have hoped (it is very scripted and self-promotional in places), we do get a good glimpse into the (porn-related) life and times of Tania.

Where to begin? I suppose Tania herself is the best place to start. While I haven’t seen much of her work and am not the biggest Private fan, I do think she’s very beautiful, although her looks can vary. Her appearance (and performance) in Tatiana was disappointing, for example. But I really dig the contrast of her blue-grey eyes and her black hair. She now (presenting the DVD) has short blonde hair and looks very tasty. Surely you’ve got one more film in you Tania?

Anywho, the format is basically Tania talking about how she met Pierre and became Private’s leading lady, interspersed with her photo-shoots and major sex scenes. I’m not going to review the scenes individually, suffice to say there is a lot of action and it’s pretty good. I counted 9 regular M/F scenes, 5 scenes with 2+ guys and 2 scenes with 2+ girls. It varies in quality but this is an excellent sampler of Tania’s work, with stand-out scenes from The Pyramid, Pyramid 2, Pyramid 3 and Tatiana 2.

There’s also a lot of modelling by Tania, her appearances at conventions, and just generally being cute and charming in a variety of locations. It’s interesting to hear her talk about herself and though it seemed scripted, there were also a few parts in which she conveyed real honesty and insecurity. Her first scene, a casting call with Pierre, showed her nervousness and she didn’t seem too pleased, but I guess she got over her jitters.

Finally, the format of the DVD is top-notch and really sets the standard. There’s a big range of extras including trailers, production reports and pictures from other films, notes on Tania, more previews and also a good selection of languages and subtitles. This is done at no expense to A/V quality and take another look at that duration – 175 minutes! I’m used to the regular 85 minute DVD, which makes you wonder if it really is any better than VHS.

The menu was easy to use and the DVD came in a sturdy, wider box-case. What I also really liked was that it’s a DVD full of Tania, Tania talking and Tania having sex. I know when I’m looking for a particular star’s DVD, I want her in most if not all the scenes (and you don’t often get that). I found this particularly good in Tania’s case because she had a tendency of only appearing in one scene in each of her features, which was extremely inconvenient.

To wrap things up, this is an excellently-presented DVD, well worth the price of admission. If you’re a big fan of Tania, this will be a perfect 5 for you, and if you’re not a fan you will be after watching this DVD. What more can I say? Check out this DVD if you can!

Rieekan (rieekan333@yahoo.co.uk)