Written by: Michael Den Boer on June 7th, 2007
Theatrical Release Dates: USA, 1971
Director: Carlos Tobalina
Cast: Rene Bond, Ron Darby, Anita de Moulin, Susan Harbor, Ric Lutze, Rose Monroe, Liz Renay, George Bernard Sands
DVD released: May 29th, 2007
Approximate running time: 88 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78.1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono English
Subtitles: N/A
DVD Release: Impulse Pictures
Region Coding: Region 0 NTSC
Retail Price: $29.95
“The day they outlaw sex, only outlaws will have sex.”
Refinements of Love, is pseudo sex documentary that tries to masquerade itself as a educational film on sex and now an exploitive film on sex. Refinements of Love, was directed by Carlos Tobalina who was no stranger to the hardcore film industry. Tobalina would direct about three dozen films over the course of his eighteen year career.
The film features a interview with its director Carlos Tobalina who discusses the importance of sex films. The pacing of the film just right with each moment ending on the right beat. Big props to director Carlos Tobalina for the footage he shot and how he made it all come together in the film. Even though the film is staged the look and feel of the content somehow retains a documentary feel to it.
The sex scenes in Refinements of Love are mostly on the tame side with a few scenes that do feature actual hardcore sex. These hardcore and other scenes are your standard one on one sex scenes with no down and dirty sex going on here. Ultimately Refinements of Love is not your typical sex film which makes it difficult to recommend to fans of classic era sexploitation cinema. At best it is an interesting novelty that takes us back to a time when sex was ore of a novelty and not as easily accepted as it now is by the masses.
The DVD:
Refinements in Love, is presented in an anamorphic widescreen that preserves the films original aspect ratio. Colors look faded and details lack sharpness. There is some noticeable print damage that crops up from time to time still nothing that ever becomes intrusive. Overall even thought the transfer shows it age and has a few flaws it is still more the watch-able.
This release comes with one audio option the films original English language which is presented in a Dolby Digital mono. The dialog most of which is narration is easy to follow and understand as it never sounds too muffled or distorted. There is some minor background noise on the soundtrack which varies in degree the severity of the hissing.
This release comes with no extra content.
Impulse Pictures rescues another rarely seen sexploitation film Refinements in Love from obscurity by giving it its debut on DVD.