Top Secret (California Star) Review

Distributor: California Star Productions Edition Details: Standard Streaming Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Bondage, Golden Age Classic Run Time: 52 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1982 Director: Barbara Behr Written by: uncredited Cast: Vanessa del Rio, Chris Edwards, Michale Van Scott, Donna Lamancha, Nicole Scent (as Penny Cash) 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

Top Secret is a bondage feature film that was shot on film by prolific bondage director Barbara Behr. The film is tamer than some of the bondage features being shot at the time for adult theater chains such as the Avon theaters. As a result, the film is more accessible to a wider audience than the harder-edged bondage films from the time, however, the film loses some of the edge that the harder-edged bondage films have.

After an agent is lost, Juanita (Vanessa del Rio), a prostitute, is recruited by the police to infiltrate an organization and retrieve a file from R.D. (Michale Van Scott). Once in the organization, she is bound and tortured by R.D. and his henchman Nick (Chris Edwards).

The plot is rather disposable. Nothing is explained very well and doesn't make much sense either. The entire purpose for the plot is to set up the bondage scenes that are present in the movie in a “feature film” environment. As for the bondage scenes themselves, they come across as rather generic. Vanessa del Rio raises the heat in them beyond where they would otherwise be due to her sultry performance. Without her, this film would be a complete loss. She is essentially the only star to go under the bondage treatment in the film for some reason, which is a letdown.

Top Secret doesn't rate very high in the production aspects. The film isn't inventively shot or edited. The film relies usually on about two camera angles edited back and forth. The locations used in the film are lacking. They are the stereotypical low budget 70s looking rooms that were so heavily used by low-budget adult films in the 70s.

Top Secret is a low-quality bondage feature film from the early 80s that is improved by the main star Vanessa del Rio. Fans of del Rio will probably want to give the film a view, however, there are much better bondage feature films out there so others will probably want to give the film a pass.

The edition reviewed here of Top Secret is the VOD release from California Star available on HotMovies. Top Secret is also available as a DVD-MOD from California Star, which to the best of my knowledge uses the same master as the VOD release does.

California Star has done a poor job with their release of Top Secret. Top Secret was originally shot on film and is presented in the academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 250i. The master used for Top Secret appears to have been a VHS tape and was definitely a video master, not a film master. The image contains grain, artifacts, and glitches in the video. There is a bad across the bottom of the screen. The video is watchable but should be much better.

Top Secret is presented with an English monaural audio track. The audio for the film isn't bad. There is some hiss present but the dialog is clear and can be understood. The audio clearly wasn't cleaned up at all for the release but it is sufficient.

Top Secret falls into many of the pratfalls that plagued adult films. The film suffers from a thin plot that never entirely makes any sense. The film also capitalizes on its main actress for the bondage scenes completely ignoring the other female actresses in the film which will likely disappoint viewers. Vanessa del Rio does bring heat to her scenes elevating the heat higher than they deserve. California Star has done a poor job with their release utilizing a video master instead of a film master for Top Secret.

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