You may remember a while back when we went looking for an Andrew Blake film to review (Unleashed) and uncovered our box of old porn VHS tapes that we were keeping to embarrass our kids when they clean out the house after we die? Well, Mr Blake wasn't the only film in that box. Along with a bunch of absolute stinkers, we uncovered a few other long-forgotten favourites. Some we remembered so fondly that rather than watch the old, dust-encrusted VHS copy, we went out and bought shiny new DVDs. One of our bright, shiny, new DVDs was American Garter, starring the legendary Seka in a comeback performance years after her official retirement.
American Garter is set in 1961 and tells the story of the American Garter & Foundation Company of New York - a well-respected manufacturer of lingerie and foundation garments for the discerning woman. Times are tough at American Garter. The founder of the company has just passed control to his son who is more interested in his secretary than the business, their new European designer is... eccentric, their old designer is thinking of leaving and taking her new invention with her and they have their major fashion parade coming up in only a few days time.
The film opens with the new boss 'Kid' Ironstone (Steve Drake, last seen by us in the appalling Sex Busters), son of the founder, Mr Ironstone, ignoring the business in favour of banging his secretary Anne (Tiffany Million) who really wants to be a catwalk model and gives him what he wants in the hope that he will put her in their next show. The Kid of course would rather keep her close by for easy access. Tiffany is fully shaved which is very non-1961 but they actually make a point of working that into the story (she did it to be kinky and excite him.. remember back when shaved bushes were kinky?). The rest of the cast, I am pleased to say, were authentically bushed.
I have to say here that work was obviously more fun back in 1961 as people are fucking everywhere. We have a three way in the accounts department between Ona Zee, Mike Horner (who had a little trouble staying hard for some reason) and Tim Lake. We have lesbians in the ladies room (Seka and Sierra). A very lucky janitor (Joey Verducci). An extremely odd European lingerie designer (Tony Tedeschi, like Mike Horner, in lots of stuff we've reviewed) with two models (Melanie Moore and Nicole London) and a strange lingerie-testing trapeze arrangement. A full-on orgy backstage during the fashion parade and finally the chief designer Vera Yvonne (Seka) and her friend (Selena Steele) fucking some lingerie buyers in order to sell their new invention and start their own company.
And what was their amazing new invention? Pantyhose of course. As modeled by aspiring catwalk model Anne (whom they presumably poached from Kid Ironstone) and a huge success. On a purely personal note, Mrs Dave considers pantyhose to be an abomination (yes she's a stockings and suspenders girl... yum) and on a purely pedantic note, pantyhose were actually patented in 1954 (thanks Wikipedia) but we'll let them get away with that.
They have done 1961 absolutely perfectly. The clothes, sets and even hairstyles (hair and pubic) are spot on for the early 60s. In other reviews I have seen of this film, people don't seem to like the 60s hair. They find it strange/ridiculous/hideous. It is indeed all of those things but if you are going to set a film in 1961 and have it look convincing then silly hair is part of the deal. The lingerie also comes in for some criticism but again - spot on for 1961. All big step-in suspenders and foundation garments. They didn't have Victoria's Secret back then. The thong wasn't around (not outside of strip clubs anyway). For my money, the old-style lingerie looked fantastic and a tad more stylish than the modern stuff but that's just me. In any case, it's absolutely spot on for 1961 and really adds to the feel of the film.
The sex was good. Not spectacular but good and fitted well with the story. There was no anal and this was before the days of the obligatory facial (only one in the whole film). They even wove the money shot into the story - "pull out, don't get me pregnant". 1961 was of course before the pill which was licensed in the US in 1960 but not available in all states until 1965. It was only available to married women who already had children right up until 1972.
It was also nice to see some older performers in this one. Both Seka and Ona weren't in the first flushes of youth in this film but still looked great. Given that Mrs Dave and I aren't exactly spring chickens (not old boilers either, thank you very much) it is nice to see some folks our age performing. Seka was 39 when she made this and Ona was 43. We do wonder at what age it becomes creepy to be watching 19 and 20 year olds having sex. We suspect that once our daughter reaches that age it may be time to switch to oldies porn.
Anyway, if you like porn with a recognisable story, nice varied sex scenes that don't go on for ages (9 scenes in a 1:20 run time) and where the performers look like they were having fun, this might be worth a look. If you want a 3 hour long gynecological fuck fest, try something else.
Since we bought this, it has gone out of print, but you may still find it on Video on Demand in a few places.
