This one comes from a period when Sarno was running out of steam, just before he took off for Sweden. The plot premise is intriguing, and many familiar faces from his repertory company contribute admirably, but the scenes are static and any visual interest is nonexistent. Nor does the slightly occult theme add to the atmosphere (as it would so richly to the director's best works such as Red Roses of Passion and Sex Cycle). The many couplings quickly become repetitive and passionless (possibly by design), rendering the characters lifeless. For completists only.
2 Reviews
Sarno, medium-rare
lor_7 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
No longer in print (reverting from Something Weird to original distributor Distribpix), SKIN DEEP IN LOVE is typical Joe Sarno melodrama. As a previous IMDb poster stated, it doesn't rank among his best work.
Judson Todd toplines as Mark, a magician, for whom women swoon when he performs at a local bar. Joe's psychology is unconvincing in this opus, subjugated to a need to present varied sexual couplings like clockwork. Todd's assistant Tanya (Carla Desmond) is given a contradictory character, possessive of her boss yet giving him up to other women willingly. Her acting is weak, made up for by Joe spotlighting her firm tits and pointy nipple cones. In 1966 that's what mattered to the fans after all.
Penny (Chris Koersen) is a young cutie paying only $75 a month in rent (yes, it's 1966), who has a nice, natural-sounding French accent -she's probably the most attractive girl in the cast (and unfortunately seems to have been a 1-shot actress). As Zina, Randy Jason is unattractive but has nice, big breasts -say no more.
SPOILERS ALERT:
Mrs. Sarno has a small role as one of the employees at the bar. Leading lady Nancy (reliable thesp Joanna Mills) is victimized by Tanya, who puts a spell on her resulting in four days and nights of non-stop lovemaking with her man Mark. At this point the script makes no sense at all -Tanya has to find an even more passionate woman to satisfy Mark.
Cherie Winters is an effective actress as Paulette, the older woman who owns the bar. She had a busy but brief soft porn career, evidently unable to adapt to the greater explicitness (and later XXX) as the '60s came to an end.
A gangster subplot involving Zina is interesting, but Sarno suddenly ends the film abruptly, as if he had run out of money or footage (to edit). Some loose ends are almost tied up way too fast, and "THE END" card appears abruptly. It's so unsatisfying that the video seems like an incomplete print, but there is no evidence the film ran longer than 75 minutes originally.
Joe's trademark percussion-only soundtrack during sex scenes is highly effective, as is a small combo jazz score by Burton Greene.
Judson Todd toplines as Mark, a magician, for whom women swoon when he performs at a local bar. Joe's psychology is unconvincing in this opus, subjugated to a need to present varied sexual couplings like clockwork. Todd's assistant Tanya (Carla Desmond) is given a contradictory character, possessive of her boss yet giving him up to other women willingly. Her acting is weak, made up for by Joe spotlighting her firm tits and pointy nipple cones. In 1966 that's what mattered to the fans after all.
Penny (Chris Koersen) is a young cutie paying only $75 a month in rent (yes, it's 1966), who has a nice, natural-sounding French accent -she's probably the most attractive girl in the cast (and unfortunately seems to have been a 1-shot actress). As Zina, Randy Jason is unattractive but has nice, big breasts -say no more.
SPOILERS ALERT:
Mrs. Sarno has a small role as one of the employees at the bar. Leading lady Nancy (reliable thesp Joanna Mills) is victimized by Tanya, who puts a spell on her resulting in four days and nights of non-stop lovemaking with her man Mark. At this point the script makes no sense at all -Tanya has to find an even more passionate woman to satisfy Mark.
Cherie Winters is an effective actress as Paulette, the older woman who owns the bar. She had a busy but brief soft porn career, evidently unable to adapt to the greater explicitness (and later XXX) as the '60s came to an end.
A gangster subplot involving Zina is interesting, but Sarno suddenly ends the film abruptly, as if he had run out of money or footage (to edit). Some loose ends are almost tied up way too fast, and "THE END" card appears abruptly. It's so unsatisfying that the video seems like an incomplete print, but there is no evidence the film ran longer than 75 minutes originally.
Joe's trademark percussion-only soundtrack during sex scenes is highly effective, as is a small combo jazz score by Burton Greene.
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