The mysterious porn label "daring!" began life headquartered in Spain, where this transitional feature was made. Company later decamped to Holland, while the majority of its productions were actually Brit Porn, with top directors and talent from Blighty (as well as Eastern Europe).
Posited as a show biz story limning the rise and travails of singer (and pianist) Bambola, it evolves into a thriller, all the while putting the emphasis (natch) on XXX footage. In a general sense it reminded me more of the Private label (also from Spain) releases of the time, which often injected action or suspense elements awkwardly into the porno mix.
Problem here, even more noticeable in the corresponding Private features, is casting folks unfamiliar with English and then dubbing them into English, hoping the articulation/lip movements will match well enough to satisfy an unsophisticated audience. So it's not "English- dubbed" in the usual sense of the term, but rather a terrible version of what George Lucas pioneered 40 years ago in the first of his "Star Wars" films - completely re-recording and post-syncing all dialog in post- production.
I wanted to root for Bambola, and become interested in her ordeal with Fame, as she became a target of a serial killer and lots of other plot developments. But veteran TV director turned pornographer Gian Carlo, a poor man's Antonio Adamo (AA made the best early daring! movies), has no feel for either genre here, and most scenes are unconvincing or even idiotic. The handling of the "Criminal Minds" material concerning the serial killer who kidnaps Bambola, and the resolution of the mystery are extremely poor - eventually there's only one suspect who could be guilty, not what an Edgar award seeking writer would deliver.
Bambola is certainly attractive, but her lip syncing a couple of original songs ("We Cry Out" and "Pray About It") is poor. In the supporting cast (featuring walk-throughs by name talent like Roberto Malone and Rob Diesel before he fell asleep in a tattoo parlor) the beautiful Angelica Heart shines -she was soon to get a plum role for daring! in Lisa Loves' classic "Exploring Fantasies".
