I recall seeing Antonio Adamo's "Roma" trilogy prominently displayed in local video stores when new, given a big send-off in the manner of the "Pirates" features. Catching up with the 3 films nearly a decade later they hold up well, though this extravagant format is no longer popular.
That's because the expense of mounting a real movie for XXX fans has become a waste of time and money, given current audience's changing preferences. They like to visit websites and sample downloads or streaming in vignette form, not a 5- hour plus opus like this one. And the efforts expended on acting, story, lavish sets and costumes are no longer appreciated.
So with his 21-day shooting schedule (product in recent years is typically cranked out in 2 to 4 days), big cast of top Euro talent, and a vast crew of craftsmen, Adamo certainly delivers a quality production. But is his style of shooting sex scenes au courant?
The answer is no. Adamo's approach to sex has often been copied but is dated. He has his actresses staring at the camera, as if to pierce through the lens and commune directly with the viewer. This is not first-person or P.O.V. camera-work, both of which have become popular, but rather a conscious breaking of the fourth wall in an otherwise normally shot scene. Unless you dig it, this near-fetish aspect of an Adamo hump scene can be grating.
Concentrating on Part 1 of the saga, Adamo sets the scene by having Brit Porn star Clarke Kent narrating the action as the "Newsreader", letting us know what's happening by reading from a long scroll. He also gets to engage in the XXX action in later segments.
Part 1 delivers 7 sex set-pieces, and while leaving out the action stagings of war and fighting it does develop the principal characters and their intrigue. George Uhl became an international porn star in his central role as Caesar, returning to Rome after being away for 8 years fighting the Gauls. Film opens with an orgy "as distraction" for the returning hero, with lovely Daria Glower and Renata Black servicing Caesar & pals.
Principal female character is Atia of the Julii, splendidly played by Lidia St. Martin, an actress who reminds me a lot of Irish-American character porn actress Magdalene St. Michaels. She is continually scheming in Caesar's interests, in this case against the powerful Pompeo, played by guest star Roberto Malone. Key plot developments begin with word of the death of Pompeo's wife Julia, who is Caesar's daughter. Atia wants to fix up Pompeo with her own daughter Octavia (gorgeous blond Jennifer Love), but even after sampling her favors, Pompeo opts instead for Cornelia, played by Adamo's favorite actress Julia Taylor (well-known for her role of Cleopatra back when AA was directing for the Private label, the pinnacle of his career).
Several seductions later and another orgy scene at a brothel (which reappears like clockwork in each of the three Roma films), Claudia Rossi as Nubia emerges as the real star of Part 1: taking on two key characters: Lucius (her husband) and Adriano (married to Angel Dark), with jealousy concerning the latter's infidelity setting up much of the intrigue for future episodes. Claudia became for a while the most successful of Adamo's discoveries here, shooting several classic British productions for Harmony Films and director Tanya Hyde that Evil Angel distributed stateside, as well as working for other Brit Porn labels like JoyBear and Bluebird.
A lot of work went into matte paintings, hair styles, wardrobe and other niceties, though the lack of physical action scenes and exteriors hampers "Roma"'s attempt at being a large-scale epic. It is appropriately intimate, and enjoyable on that level - reminding one of a time when filmmakers were more ambitious in their projects than any current practitioners are.
