Annamaria Clementi in “Ishyri Dosi... Sex” [1978 Greece]

OK, this year's Oscars are upon us, and under the best foreign language film of the year, my personal favourite is the Greek nomination, "Dog Tooth" aka "Kynodontas" - a unique film in the way it explores fundamental issues relating to human identity, perception, and nature. To be fair I haven't seen the Danish and Algerian entry, so my choice may be biased, but the aforementioned film is definitely Oscar-worthy. There are a couple of blog-related scenes in that film too, which I will post when I get around to it.

Meanwhile to cheer for the Greeks, I've decided to review a film that was already in my posting-queue, which was there for an Italian actress who stars in it. Ilias Mylonakos' 1978 crime-thriller, “Ishyri Dosi... Sex” [International Title: Operation Orient] is a typical 1970's sexploitation flick using Playboy centrefolds and B-grade male actors of the time - let's just say you don't watch these films looking for virtuosity. Having said that, the film is technically sound, with decent editing, sound and cinematography. Those days, they 'cared' about what they were making - even if it was trash, the people in the studio and lab made it with professional integrity.

As far as I'm aware (and I've exhausted my search after 2 years), this film was never released on DVD, and the only copies you're likely to come across are VHS-transfers in full-screen. Some people sell them on a DVD, so make sure before committing to buy anything. There are however some awesome scenes that would have looked incredible - if only it were digitally remastered from the originals.

Alas, my review is also based on the same source! And I couldn't even enhance them significantly, simply because I'd spoil what little definition there is left. But this is certainly worth watching - films like these simply don't get made today - at least not the way they did back in the 70's.




Clip 1: Annamaria Clementi
As a babe, in my book - she's 'up there' among the finest - nothing more, nothing less. She plays the love interest of the protagonist-gangster, taking care of him when his wife is not around. She was the only reason I sat through the film, and the time was ALL worth it..! I don't need to describe the scenes as it is dubbed in English, so you'd know what's going on anyway








Clip 2: Annamaria Clementi & Rosaria della Femmina
Rosaria della Femmina plays the gangster's wife. The scene starts with her spending a sleepless night alone, and she wanders around the house, wondering what he's doing with his mistress, the very dishy Annamria Clementi, who gets liberally groped here, and even if you can see from her attitude that she's more of a 'you can only see - but not touch' kinda girl, it doesn't stop the guy from giving it a sincere try..!





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