Laura's Toys (1975) from Tuna
Laura's Toys is a skin-flick made by industry legend Joe Sarno in the days when he was afraid of US censorship laws and worked in Germany and Sweden. This one was shot on a Swedish island and, typical of Sarno's films, the performers had real sex on camera, but the film was shot and edited to look like a soft-core. It was Sarno's belief that people actually having sex are more convincing than people simulating sex. I can't argue with that. He also believed that this took a great deal of pressure off the performers, and with the help of good casting, often resulted in real on-camera orgasms. That was the case here. Porn superstar Eric Edwards, who was a trained actor, played the male lead against Mary Mendum as his wife, and Cathja Graff as his assistant. Cathja was one of Sarno's discoveries. Edwards and Graff developed a real thing for each other, and their sex was frequent and hot both on and off camera. Edwards never felt the same with Mendum, although he worked with her frequently.

The plot:

The three characters are doing archeology research on a remote island. Edwards is the expert. Cathja is his student assistant, and it is Mendum's job to be bored to death and distract Edwards from working. Things get more interesting when Mendum's school chums, including Anita Ericsson, arrive. It seems Mendum and Ericsson were lovers from age 11 until quite recently. Mendum visits Ericsson, and Edwards and Graff finally do it. Mendum sees them, and at first plots revenge.

The nudity is nearly constant, but not that explicit, especially during the sex, when Sarno prefers to focus on the women's faces.  Sarno believes that suggesting sex and showing real emotion is sexier than genital close-ups, and I agree completely. Even though the entire plot of the film concerns sex, it never becomes boring or repetitive, and is believable, given a 70s frame of reference. All three of the leads can actually act and, as Peggy Sarno pointed out in the special features, Graff announces her orgasms with veins that bulge out of her forehead.

 

DVD INFO

  • There is a feature length commentary with Eric Edwards, whom I couldn't help but like, and he describes being young, hung and horny in Sweden in the 70s.

  • Excellent transfer

 

NUDITY REPORT

All body parts from Eric Edwards, Mary Mendum, Anita Ericsson, Cathja Graff, and an unknown. No penetration.

The Critics Vote ...

  • No major reviews on file

The People Vote ...

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

Our own guideline:

  • A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre.
  • B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. In order to rate at least a B-, a film should be both a critical and commercial success. Exceptions: (1) We will occasionally rate a film B- with good popular acceptance and bad reviews, if we believe the critics have severely underrated a film. (2) We may also assign a B- or better to a well-reviewed film which did not do well at the box office if we feel that the fault lay in the marketing of the film, and that the film might have been a hit if people had known about it. (Like, for example, The Waterdance.)
  • C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by people who enjoy this kind of movie. If this is your kind of movie, a C+ and an A are indistinguishable to you.
  • C means it is competent, but uninspired genre fare. People who like this kind of movie will think it satisfactory. Others probably will not.
  • C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie, but genre addicts find it watchable. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film, but films with this rating should be approached with caution by mainstream audiences, who may find them incompetent or repulsive or both. If this is NOT your kind of movie, a C- and an E are indistinguishable to you.
  • D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-. Films rated below C- generally have both bad reviews and poor popular acceptance.
  • E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre.
  • F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

 

Based on this description, this film is a C+. The genre is soft core, and this is definitely one of the better ones.

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