Pure Bliss

Younger fans wondering about the superstar of a decade or two ago Temptress can see how her stage name fits in Bud Lee's "Pure Bliss", a Raven Touchstone-scripted minor classic. It is a perfect example of the consistent quality of Adam & Eve Productions' releases at the turn of the century, a standard that was unfortunately abandoned several years later as the label (and industry) turned away from Couples Romance.

Temptress is cast as Annalisa Bliss, a story writer who narrates the film from her journal entries. A publisher played elegantly by Joel Lawrence digs her work, but wants her to write erotic stories instead, aimed at a private buyer with the possibility of them eventually being published as a carrot to get her to sign up.

Raven's simple structure has Temptress's life, with rather limited hubby Devin Wolf, shown in some scenes, interspersed with live-action depictions of the erotic short stories she writes. What makes the feature exceptional is the potency of Touchstone's writing for Annalisa's voice-over, and the wonderful vocal delivery by Temptress - among the best and sexiest narrations I've ever heard. She also manages to impart a wistful sense of longing that is crucial to the film's themes.

Lee interprets this material, filmed with an overlapping crew around the time of his great Asia Carrera movie "Wildflower" (also starring Wolf), simply but deftly, with imaginative camera angles, unusual editing (in which scenes often start immediately after previous sequences (fantasy back to reality) without a break or transition), and a dreamy mood of eroticism that is endemic to Adam & Eve's house style back then. Why this secret of creating true Erotic Cinema was lost or abandoned is likely due to the entire industry (and its negligent critics/tastemongers) shifting away from a "soft" couples-friendly approach to embrace the gonzo revolution that continues to dominate Adult Entertainment to this day.

In support, Cheyenne Silver provides an ethereal beauty similar to that of Temptress in her appearances as the heroine of T's stories, while Anna Malle is her scene-stealing best as the wife of fellow writer Jon Dough, with whom Temptress has an affair. Touchstone resolves this infidelity and triangle with satisfying novelty, resulting in an unusual ending.

As I currently survey all (or nearly all) of Adam & Eve's vintage releases, I hope to encourage interest in rediscovering these enduring classics of Adult Cinema, any one of which is hands-down more entertaining and, yes, arousing, than any of the thousands of new releases of recent years.