Tropic Of Passion (VCX) Review

Distributor: VCX Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film Run Time: 78 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1972 Director: Bob Chinn (as Bob A. Lain) Written by: uncredited Cast: John Holmes (as John Duval), Chlorine Stillwater (as Cassandra), Patti Snyder, Sandi Carey, Sandy Dempsey (as Tiffany Stewart), Alex Elliot (as Ira), Zelma, Bob Chinn Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Tropic of Passion is the fourth outing in the Johnny Wadd, the private dick of adult films, series following The Blonde in Black Lace (which has been released on DVD under the name Johnny Wadd & His 13 Calibur Weapon). In this outing, Johnny Wadd (John Holmes) is brought to Waikiki by Ruth Miller (Patti Snyder). Miller has to keep a clean image if she wants to get her inheritance and someone has filmed one of her sexual trysts and is blackmailing her. Miller hires Wadd to get back the sex footage.

Tropic of Passion was shot on location in Waikiki, which adds a nice depth of different scenery to the film. Chinn shot in this entry in Hawaii to get away from the vice busts that were going on. Despite being filmed in Hawaii, which reportedly ran director Bob Chinn over budget at a cost of around $3,000 to make, Tropic of Passion is not one of the best entries in the Johnny Wadd series. The story works well for the film, but the sex scenes are lackluster. It isn't that they are horrible, but Chinn has filmed far better ones in other films. The sex scenes are mostly music with very little dialog or actual sounds from the scene. To make back his cost, Chinn sold the outtakes to producer Manuel Conde and gave him permission to make a softcore Johnny Wadd film. The result was The Danish Connection. The next hardcore film in the series was Liquid Lips.

VCX has done an incredibly poor job with this release. The film is presented in the full screen aspect ratio. The picture quality is poor but watchable. There is grain and dirt present throughout the presentation. The major issue with the video quality is not the grain and dirt but the color. The colors are washed out throughout the film. The film is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural soundtrack, which is in relatively poor shape as well. The sound is low and muffled with a lot of background static. VCX didn't include any extras on this release.

Tropic of Passion, the fourth film in the Johnny Wadd series, was filmed in Waikiki, Hawaii. The locales are good and the story is decent, but the sex scenes seem lacking. VCX's presentation of the film on this release is poor.

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