Part of a string of the director's "round robin"-type films focusing more on a particular milieu or location than a linear plot, Henri Pachard's OCTOBER SILK, like many of his other offerings in this subgenre (BABYLON PINK, G-STRINGS, OUTLAW LADIES) lives and dies by the strength of its scenes and performances - without a strong narrative flow to anchor things, it basically becomes an actors' and cinematographer's showcase. Thankfully, SILK delivers amiably enough on these fronts, though this reviewer can't help but feel it would have still been stronger with a more cohesive plot.
The theme this time - if there is one - is a lingerie shop, and the ability its apparel has to bring its owners' sexual fantasies to life. After an opening encounter between Candida Royalle and unappealing John Boland that ends with a mysterious phone call, the film proper kicks off with NY vet Samantha Fox, already late for work, stopping to give a wake-up call to last night's pickup Jesse Adams. It's a pretty hot - if fleeting - scene, and actually made me wish Pachard had slowed down the pace a bit and lingered on things longer, as the performers have great chemistry. Known for throwing in a bit of kink, Pachard even has Adams ask for a prostate massage as he nears completion - definitely out of the ordinary for a film of this vintage!
Following are a variety of seemingly arbitrary scenes: Lisa DeLeeuw servicing hospital patient Dave Ruby, then coming home and strapping on some medical equipment before making pretty housemaid Arcadia Lake give her some TLC of her own (one wonders how a nurse can afford a full-time maid - maybe DeLeeuw's character just works her job for the medical fetish jollies?). The crux of the film seems to be schoolgirls Merle Michaels and Christie Ford, with Michaels excited to sneak into the lingerie shop and buy something for herself. All hot and bothered, she slips off to see one of her father's associates (Jake Teague), bringing her friend with her. The resultant scene, with Teague slowly enticing the girls from polite conversation to a full body massage and coitus - with excitable Michaels leading the way and more reserved Ford getting dragged along for the ride - is clearly meant as a centerpiece, though Teague's age remains a consistent a turn-off for me. Maybe some guys in the audience get off on his Dirty Old Man schtick, but to me it just feels icky.
Blissfully unaware of his daughter's midday dalliances, father Bobby Astyr spends the afternoon snogging secretary Christine DeShaffer, while back at the lingerie shop, owner Gloria Leonard, sporting the most unattractive perm-and-glasses combo imaginable, verbally dominates hunky-if-dim-witted staffer George Payne, even dabbing a bit of cocaine on his dick before getting down to business! Rather arbitrary climax, as we're barely familiar with the characters aside from fleeting glimpses of them setting up the appointment, finds Royale materializing again at the home of Eric Edwards and wife, where she sets about curing his impotence with the benefit of one dynamite three-woman tag-team (obviously a plausible development). Strange denouement finds Michaels and Ford back at Ford's place, where they catch Ford's hunky big brother Warren (Brian Palmer) peeping in on them after already being scolded by his sister earlier. Newly emboldened by her encounter with Teague, Michaels insists it's time for the two to welcome him into the ways of manhood, and just as a spicy little scene threatens to break out, the film ends. What a tease!
Even more so than, say, BABYLON PINK (which, admittedly, Pachard co-directed with Command owner and producer Cecil Howard), there's little unifying structure to SILK beyond pretty women dressing up and getting their kicks. Like the rest of Pachard's LA RONDE riffs, there's enough strength here in the performances (acting is credible all around) and artistry (pro DP Larry Revene, as usual, elevates the picture with his skillful camerawork) to carry the film, but there's a sense when it's over that something's missing, like the movie thinks it's saying more than it is and somehow forgot to connect the dots along the way. It's still pretty good porn - indeed, this is probably about as classy and artistic as all-sex gets - but despite the protestations of some more enthusiastic reviewers on this site, I really wouldn't say it represents great art.
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