Visions Of Clair Review

Distributor: Cal Vista Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film Run Time: 72 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1977 Director: Zachary Strong (as Zachary Youngblood) Written by: uncredited Cast: Annette Haven, Bonnie Holiday, John Rolling, Susan Bates, Jay Gamble, Richard Pleasance, Lee Utterbach (as Enrico Alioto), Bruto Stranzo, Jack Wilson (as Joaquin Delicado), Roger Rosenbaum, Sharon Thorpe, Michael Morrison, Mary Feingold, David Colson, Elizabeth Krogh, Veronica Taylor (as Rebecca Collingsworth), Molly Seagrim, Zachary Strong Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 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

Director Zachary Strong, using his Zachary Youngblood pseudonym here, was clearly trying to attempt to do something with Visions of Clair. Unfortunately, Visions of Clair ended up being an odd, completely disjointed film that never actually manages to make any sense. It appears that Strong was attempting to either create a psychological drama or psychological horror adult film; especially with the music that was chosen which often resembles that of a horror film over the standard adult film music.

What is discernible for the plot has Claire (Annette Haven) (Yes, the title for the film and the character in the film are spelled two different ways.) and Daphne (Bonnie Holiday) who are a couple. Claire commissions Ron (John Rolling) to paint a painting of her. For the painting, Ron loans her a 6th century BCE necklace that we are supposed to infer is of Egyptian design. Four years later, after the accidental death of Ron, Claire has commissioned Roahne (Susan Bates) to paint a painting of her and has purchased the same necklace from an art dealer (Richard Pleasance).

The keyword in the above description is discernible as most of the plot is not comprehensible in the least. The film switches between time periods like mad, leaving the viewer often unsure of what period the film is taking place in at that moment. While attention is played to items like the necklace they are never explained. Nor is there any real effort to try to explain anything. With the work that went into the film, some viewers may be fooled into thinking that Visions of Clair is deep and must be read into. However, events such as the death of Ron, which Daphne has to ask Claire all the details about despite apparently being there, are so lazily presented to the viewer that it is impossible to believe that the film works deeply on another level.

The sex scenes are a mess. Most of the sex scenes are presented in montages, often during inexplicable moments during the film that make no real sense. Much of the footage that is presented in the montages seems to be recycled from sex scene to sex scene. Participants are often questionable since the montages are heavy on close up shots of anonymous bodies. There are a few sex scenes that aren't presented in this manner. One, however, has superimposed images over it ruining the scene. The other sex scene works, despite a heavy dose of gynecological close-ups in the scene. I have nothing against an artily designed sex scene and often enjoy those that have some originality to them but not when the art aspects are to the detriment of the scene.

Visions of Clair utilizes some good locations and sets with exterior and appropriate non-house locations that give the film a feel that some work went into making it. The cinematography, sadly, often borders on the uninspired. And anyone with knowledge of the ancient world will know that necklace doesn't resemble anything Egyptian from the 6^th century BCE. However, the technical details on display here are better than what is often seen in a film by Strong.

Since Strong was trying to do something different with Visions of Clair I would love to be able to say that the film is worth watching. However, Visions of Clair is too much of a mess to be worth watching by any viewer. Most of the sex scenes are a jumbled mess of flesh and little else and the plot is incomprehensible. All together that adds up to an easy pass.

Cal Vista has done a decent job with their release of Visions of Clair. Visions of Clair was shot on film and is presented on the release in the academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480i. The master used for the release appears to be a videotape, which is actually in decent shape. It is unfortunate that Cal Vista didn't use a film print or negative for the release, however, at least they appear to have used a master videotape and not a beat up VHS tape. The image contains grain, artifacts, jumps, and print damage. There is also one glitch in the video. The colors are okay but are not great. For instance, blacks sometimes come across as a dark blue. There is also a VCX copyright bug that appears a couple of times in the center of the bottom of the screen in white.

For some odd reason, Cal Vista has released Visions of Clair with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 monaural audio track. As to why Cal Vista didn't use the standard one or two-channel monaural I am not sure. The audio contains hiss and pops throughout the entire film. The dialog spoken is clear and can be heard at all times.

Cal Vista has included a few extras on this release. There are four bonus sex scenes from other Cal Vista releases. There is the scene with Dorothy LeMay and Richard Pacheco from Vista Valley P.T.A., the scene with Bethanna and Peter Andrews from Sweet Throat, the scene with Annette Haven and Herschel Savage from Tower of Power, and the scene with Brigitte Lahaie and Guy Royer from Two at Once. Cal Vista has also included a photo gallery on the release.

Zachary Strong attempted to do something new and original with Visions of Clair. However, the end result is sadly an incoherent mess. The story goes all over the place and doesn't ever make sense of itself and the majority of the sex scenes are shot and edited in a way that makes them completely inaccessible. Visions of Clair is an easy film to skip. Cal Vista has done an acceptable job with their release with a watchable picture and listenable audio but not much more.

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