Brother/Sister

Currently available from 2 DVD companies, "Brother/Sister" is a rare porn film that gets the incest theme right. Bad news is that the same exact print used for DVD transfer both times is heavily cut, removing virtually all the XXX content and rendering the sex scenes (which, after all, are the film's raison d'etre) cut to shreds.

What remains is good storytelling and acting as Susan Westcott (a wonderful star from porn's early days, direct ancestor to near lookalike Sharon Kane) as Linda is reunited with her brother Tom (played by an unknown but talented actor I've only seen once or twice before) after their father's death -the two having been separated since early childhood when their parents broke up.

Tom's back in Southern California from Oregon, to live with mom and sis, and step-dad Pete (great Aussie-born porn character actor Pete Dawson). Mom in a terrible piled-up wig is portrayed here (looks like Pete's real-life wife Jan Davis) as a shrew, but Pete on the other hand is overly solicitous to Tom, wanting desperately to be his friend.

Also on hand in the household (for one sex scene) is au pair Ingrid, an ethereal blonde youngster who can't act whatsoever. She's here strictly for the sex, and suffers from the heavy cuts as she makes love to her boyfriend Howard, who has no characterization whatsoever and is written out of the script immediately after humping.

Pete has a roll in the sack with his wife, and when everybody goes away for a weekend, leaving the siblings alone, there is a wonderful '60s style S.O.L.I. segment of them romping outside in fields and on a swing. It culminates in The Big Scene, as after she says to bro: "I love you, brother", but response is "We shouldn't - it's not right" leads very quickly to explicit incest. Extant print has her giving his erect cock a hand job and erect cocks appear frequently thereafter, but the explicit penetration has been (crudely, with soundtrack and visuals jumping around distractingly) removed via many a splice.

A later scene of Linda at a drive-in with an ex-boyfriend, watching an action movie that stumped me, although its hero has the same name as this film's director, shows b.f. f*cking her with tight closeups where his balls are in the way of showing the actual penetration. Ultimately the 49-minute DVD print is soft- core by the slimmest of editing margins.

Another very fine scene is ruined by the editing, as the day after humping his sister, Tom runs away and hires a pair of very convincing looking prostitutes for a threesome. This scene reeks of hardcore content without showing any more than, you guessed it, another hand-job for his erect dick. One hooker looks like pixie Tricia Opal and the other has huge, completely natural breasts (Christy Canyon-size) with alluring dark nipples.

Film's ending is outstanding, as plot developments (sis becomes pregnant) lead to a rather modern, sophisticated "at the crossroads" open ending. I also liked the strong flashback structure which adds resonance to the story much in the manner of the best soft-core incest film, Georges Lautner's classic "Road to Salina".

With video companies, notably VInegar Syndrome lately, scurrying to reissue utter crap that qualifies as "sex films" just because original materials are located, it might make sense to reverse the process and actively seek out materials for Quality films like "Brother/Sister" and then issue those. I've noticed even the fans and buffs are getting their priorities screwed up no end, admiring beautiful condition prints of utter garbage (H.G. Lewis a prime example), when in fact they would be better off (as I have always done as a film buff from two generations earlier) seeking out greatness in content, and putting up with inferior print quality in the process. Or to put it more baldly in terms even they can understand: who cares if a Michael Bay dud is in pristine 70 millimeter IMAX - it still stinks.