Name: The Young, Erotic Fanny Hill
Genre: Drama
Duration: 1 h 20 min
Rating: 6.4
Cast: Laura Cannon, Tallie Cochrane, Ginny Hamil

Not lost but surviving only in poor condition, this unusual Joe Sarno film is a key title in his oeuvre, hopefully to be found and restored someday. Even in its splicey, truncated form it is an eye-opener.

Sarno investigates the transience of relationships quite vividly, using a format of femme roommates in a Manhattan apartment as an excellent starting point. Made at the end of the hippie era, it recalls (in time capsule form) a different time when life styles and attitudes were themselves in transition.

Previous IMDb reviewer misleadingly links this film to Sarno's masterwork MISTY. Other than both bearing the stylistic stamps and tropes common to dozens of lesbian films made by Joe, they address different themes entirely, in radically different milieus.

The three gals, Lenore, Joan and Ann are impacted by young Lenore's old flame Fanny Hill, an exotic, short-haired beastie incarnated by Tallie Wright (quite familiar from her many roles co-starring opposite hubby Patrick Wright). Though overplaying, Wright is memorable literally mesmerizing the other women, representing one of Sarno's mystical anti-heroines/villainesses.

Very brief scenes carry the action forward dynamically, even though it is limited to a couple of rooms in their tiny pad (replete with a "Con Edison" sign on the wall) or brief flashback scenes on the beach at Rockport, Massachusetts (only vaguely similar to the classic L.I. setting for MISTY).

External force entering the women's world is in the form of Sarno regular Alex Mann, he of the brooding method acting porn performances. He plays Ann's boy friend, who talks the girls into posing for porn photos for him, in order to pay their rent (job prospects then, as now, are scarce in the Big Apple). He brings along his cute cousin Chris, and later an old enemy of Lenore's, Ms. Ronnie Archer, shows up in need of a place to stay, and enters the menage.

Final reel has folks splitting, notably Ann running off with Ronnie, and poor Lenore even spurned by Fanny. There's a wistful, sad tone that reveals a strong emotional attachment by Sarno to this material, beneath the strictly-porn facade. Full-frontal nudity and some strongly simulated sex scenes (avoiding showing any penetration) deliver the Hard X goods.

Other than some really sloppy editing in the later reels (shots placed out of order or reprised long after a scene has completed, a failing endemic to his '80s XXX videos as well), I was very impressed with YOUNG EROTIC FANNY HILL and would love to see it revived intact some day. There's a companion film with overlapping cast, HORN-A-PLENTY, that should be issued on DVD by Video-X-Pix as part of its massive revival campaign dedicated to the Distribpix catalog, which is set to commence this fall.

Besides Wright's small but telling assignment, Ginny Hamil as Lenore looks much younger than her co-stars and is very moving in the central role, doubling as narrator. Sexy roommate Joan, an artist's model posing for Lenore the art student, is played by Laura Cannon -a central figure in porn in 1970/71 during the transtion from softcore to hardcore. She also starred in Armand Weston's first feature HOT HOUSE, shot during the same time frame when he cut his teeth impressively as cinematographer on this Sarno film.

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

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Fanny Hill visits city friends who are nude models. They engage in sexual activities to make ends meet. The film portrays their experiences without judgment or explicit details.

Tallie Cochrane and Laura Cannon in The Young, Erotic Fanny Hill (1971)

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The Young, Erotic Fanny Hill

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