Private Passions

My review was written in April 1985 after watching the film on Prism video cassette.

"Private Passions" is a miscalculated entry in the ongoing glut of "the first time" teenage sex picture. Filmed in Kitzbuhel, Austria in 1983 under the title "Clair", pic offers countryside scenery and little else.

Thin story as cousin Mark (Gavin Brannan) from Canada visiting Toni (David Siegel) for the summer. Between visits to the local disco and tennis courts. Mark falls in love with Toni's beautiful stepsister Clair (Susanne Ashley) but is ultimately too timid to have sex with her.

There is no surprise in the final reel when Mark cries on the shoulder of Clair's mom (Sybil Danning) and she sympathetically introduces him to the European version of tea & sympathy.

Film's only drawing card is B-picture star Danning, t fans are bound to be angry by her avoidance of nudity even during the finale's older woman-younger boy sex scene. Also disconcerting is that nearly all the women in the pic handle direct sound English dialog (even the supporting players) while the two young male leads are postsynched.

Lacking comedy hijinks, romantic film has little to offer contemporary audiences.