Wakefield Poole Collection, The Review

Distributor: Mercury Releasing Edition Details: Standard DVD Release Specs: Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 2

The Wakefield Poole Collection is a collection that contains gay adult film director's first two films 1971's Boys in the Sand and 1972's Bijou along with his penultimate 1986 video movie Boys in the Sand 2. Bijou is, in this reviewer's opinion, the best film that Poole ever made and Boys in the Sand is well worth watching as well. Boys in the Sand 2, sadly, isn't a great movie but if the viewer considers it to be an extra on the release, they shouldn't be disappointed.

The Wakefield Poole Collection spans two DVDs. The first DVD contains Boys in the Sand and Boys in the Sand 2 along with some extras and the second DVD contains Bijou and more extras. Mercury Releasing has included a lot of extras on The Wakefield Poole Collection. The extras that specifically relate to one of the movies contained within the collection are discussed with the movie itself. The extras that are not specific to one of the movies are discussed here.

The first disc has Wakefield Poole's 1971 short film “Andy” on Andy Warhol's New York Whitney Museum exhibition. This short was originally the supporting film for Boys in the Sand during its theatrical run. “Water Movie” a 1971 short film that was shot at the same time as Boys in the Sand is included on the release. The short film runs for 3 minutes and is missing the final 40 seconds. It looks like damage to the master is the reason why the last 40 seconds are missing. There is a text piece on the restoration of the movies and factoids about the movies. There is also a photo gallery included on the disc.

This brings us to the second disc in the collection; there is 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. The 2002 feature The Godfathers of Porn which is a 97-minute conversation between Jerry Douglas and Wakefield Poole finishes out the disc.

You can jump to the review of Bijou, Boys in the Sand, or Boys in the Sand 2 or one can just keep reading to read all of them.

Bijou is the second feature-length film that adult film director Wakefield Poole made, his follow up to Boys in the Sand. Bijou is a far more technically accomplished film than Boys in the Sand was telling a single story this time instead of essentially being several loops that are connected by a single character. One can see what Poole did well in Boys in the Sand was continued here with aspects where he wasn't as good in Boys in the Sand vastly improved.

The story for the film is a construction worker (Bill Harrison) is on his way home when a man driving his car (Marvin Shulman) hits a woman (Cassandra Hart) crossing the street. Her purse flies in front of the construction worker and lands by his feet. He grabs the purse and takes it home. When going through the purse in his apartment, the construction worker finds an admission ticket for Bijou, with an address and time on it. He goes to the address on the ticket and is admitted into Bijou; he is directed to remove his clothes in a dark room by a series of signs at which point he starts his journey through the surreal world that is Bijou.

What makes Bijou the powerful film that it is, is that the story is up to the viewer to fully create. Poole gives the viewer the narrative path and includes aspects within the narrative path that can lead to different versions of the story depending on what the viewer chooses to focus on and how they interpret what they see. One aspect, for instance, is the sexuality of the construction worker. The first scene of the film shows him masturbating in the shower while thinking of pin-up pictures of girls that adorn the walls of his shabby bedroom. Is the construction worker straight, gay, or bisexual? If you read different reviews of the film, different reviewers have read this scene different ways. This is just one instance of where Poole leaves the story that you find within Bijou up to the viewer. This is truly a case of a film experience that depends entirely on what effort you choose to put into it.

Exactly what the Bijou in the film actually is has been left up to the viewer to decide as well. There are various different stories that can encompass what Bijou could be that Poole has included in the film. As to which is right, I guess that is up to what each viewer decides on. Poole manages to pull off Bijou with only one line of dialog within the entire film, which occurs 23 minutes into the film. The rest of the film is told entirely by the visuals on the screen and the expressions and actions of the cast. As far as the sex scenes go, as a straight male, the sex scenes are hard to rate.

Bijou is nicely shot with some great set work and effects. One aspect I really liked was the feeling that Bijou was huge whereas the construction worker's apartment was so small. In reality Bijou wasn't huge as that was all shot in Poole's apartment, however, he certainly made it appear huge to me. Poole picked what to shoot and how to shoot it, along as exactly what to show and what not to show, very well creating a very visual and nicely done final project.

Bijou is, in my opinion, the best film that Wakefield Poole made. Like many of his films, it relies on almost no dialog and strong visuals to tell the story. The finished product for Bijou looks great and each viewer can walk away with a different concept of portions of the story. Bijou is a film definitely not to miss.

Mercury Releasing has done a good job with their DVD release of Bijou. Bijou was shot on film and Mercury Releasing has used the 16mm negative for the master for this release. Bijou is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480i. The film contains artifacts and print damage. The colors in the film are decent. The entire film has a greenish hue to it and the film can be overly dark in dark scenes, which is problematic given the nature of the film. Bijou is watchable but since so much takes place in the dark the film is often murky.

Bijou is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. There is only one line of dialog in the film, which is clear. There is a low hiss throughout the audio presentation and the music that plays through the film sounds nice.

Mercury Releasing has included a few extras that pertain directly to Bijou on the release. There is a directory commentary track with Wakefield Poole and the theatrical trailer for Bijou.

The landmark film in straight adult cinema is widely considered to be 1972's Deep Throat. A year before Deep Throat was released the far less heard about these days landmark film in gay adult cinema Boys in the Sand was released in New York City. Shot on Fire Island Pines by Wakefield Poole, who had formerly worked on Broadway, Boys in the Sand doesn't have a story within it in the traditional sense of the term. In fact, Boys in the Sand doesn't even have a single line of dialog anywhere within the film.

Boys in the Sand is essentially three loops titled “Bayside,” “Poolside,” and “Inside.” The three segments are connected by one central character, an unnamed blonde male (Casey Donovan). The unnamed blonde male is in all three of the segments which gives the three segments a feeling of continuity with each other. Where Boys in the Sand very much differs from the loops that it resembles and what made Boys in the Sand the landmark film it was for gay adult cinema is the look of the film.

Poole has created a visually beautiful film. Filled with artistic shots and portions that don't contain sex but pad out the segment to give it a story feel to it. While there is no dialog within the film, each segment does contain its own small story. The stories are obviously primitive in nature since they are shown only through visuals. Poole has also written the credits, and the names of each segment, in the sand.

Boys in the Sand isn't the best film that Poole made over his career and the film can be slow at times when Poole gets too heavily into the visuals that he is showing however in a field of films where so many of the director's don't care about their finished product, it is nice to see the work and care that Poole put into making Boys in the Sand. As far as the sex scenes go, being a straight male, they are hard to rate.

Mercury Releasing has done a good job with their DVD release of Boys in the Sand. Boys in the Sand was shot on film and Mercury Releasing has used the 16mm negative for this release. Boys in the Sand is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480i. The image contains artifacts, print damage, digital artifacts, and there is a bluish hue present. The film can be overly dark in dark scenes.

Boys in the Sand is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. There isn't any dialog within the film to hear but the music sounds nice. There is a very low hiss present throughout the whole film.

Mercury Releasing has included several extras for Boys in the Sand. There is a feature-length commentary track with Wakefield Poole and the theatrical trailer for Boys in the Sand. The original first scene for the film shot in 1969 with Peter Fisk and Dino is presented in full and runs for 16 minutes.

Boys in the Sand 2 is the penultimate movie to be made by Wakefield Poole and is one of this reviewers least favorite movies from him. Boys in the Sand 2 is Poole's return to Fire Island, NY, the location that Poole used for his first feature-length film Boys in the Sand in 1971. Boys in the Sand 2 was shot in 1984 but wasn't released, due to legal issues, until 1986 making Boys in the Sand 2 the second to last movie that Poole directed but the last movie released that Poole ever made. The big issue with Boys in the Sand 2 is that it feels very heavily like Boys in the Sand redux but is never as good as the original. While revisiting some of the themes and scenarios from the first film isn't necessarily a bad concept the issue it creates is that one is going to compare it to the original — and, unfortunately, Boys in the Sand 2 just doesn't stack up against Boys in the Sand.

Boys in the Sand 2 is a vignette style all sex gay adult movie that is composed of four sex scenes. Wakefield Poole is usually good at visual storytelling techniques, however, he seems to be off in Boys in the Sand 2. There are apparently linkages between the sex scenes, however, they weren't evident in what exactly was being told without listening to the commentary track. Wakefield Poole's love for the fantastical, which he often does well, is very present in this movie as well, however, half of the scenarios Poole lifted right out of his superior earlier work Boys in the Sand.

The first scene is an all sex scene with Casey Donovan and Victor Houston taking place in the woods of Fire Island, this scene is original to Boys in the Sand 2 as is the threesome fourth scene with Pat Allen, Dave Connors, and Tony Williams. The two sex scenes sandwiched between them are what fans of Boys in the Sand will find very familiar. The second scene with Casey Donovan and Pat Allen will remind viewers of the first scene from Boys in the Sand where a fantasy man (Pat Allen) comes out of the ocean to seduce Casey Donovan. The third scene will also remind viewers of Boys in the Sand, specifically the second scene in Boys in the Sand, when Pat Allen goes out to the pool at night when a fantasy man (Paul Irish) arises out of the pool.

Poole utilizes some nice Fire Island locales for the movie and has some nice footage of the island taken from an airplane to open the movie. The movie itself is nicely shot as well, as one would expect from a movie from Wakefield Poole. However, with everything taken into account, the movie feels more like a standard adult movie than Poole's movies usually do.

Honestly, as far as this reviewer is concerned, if one is going to revisit a concept, the new movie should be significantly different from the original, especially when the original was done right the first time. Boys in the Sand 2 borrows way too much from Boys in the Sand and never manages to measure up to the original.

Mercury Releasing has done an acceptable job with their DVD release of Boys in the Sand 2. Boys in the Sand 2 was shot on video and Mercury used the U-matic edit master for this release. Boys in the Sand 2 is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480i. Since a U-matic tape was used for the master the resolution is likely actually 330i. The video looks okay. There is combing evident in the image. The colors in the movie are decent and there are some glitches in the video. Honestly, this reviewer has seen better video sourced transfers and many far worse video sourced transfers.

Boys in the Sand 2 is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio track. There are a lot of problems with the audio presentation in Boys in the Sand 2. The left channel is only music and sound effects that were added to the movie whereas the right channel is only the live captured audio while shooting the movie. This audio design gives the movie an unbalanced feel. Then comes the issue with the dialog. Some of the dialog was never properly captured or is too low on the audio track — this reviewer isn't sure which — causing it to be impossible to discern. In other portions of audio, the dialog is very hard to hear. The audio definitely needed more work.

The only extra that Mercury Releasing has included on the release that is specific to Boys in the Sand 2 is a feature-length commentary track with Wakefield Poole.

The Wakefield Poole Collection collects three of Poole's gay adult movies along with several of Poole's short films into one volume. The set contains Poole's feature-length movies Boys in the Sand, Bijou, and Boys in the Sand 2 along with his short films “Andy,” “Water Movie,” “Roger,” and “Freedom Day Parade.” The collection offers a nice view of Poole's work with his best film, Bijou, included on the release and his landmark first film, Boys in the Sand. Mercury Releasing has done a good job with their release of the movies on this release with generally good audio and video.

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