Terrific "coming of age" porn; almost too much of a good thing

Carlos Tobalina made so many porn films & videos that the wheat has gotten lost amidst the chaff, but THREE RIPENING CHERRIES holds up very well and deserves rediscovery. Boasting a terrific female cast, it is still stimulating decades later, revived by Alpha Blue Archives from a nice looking print.

Premise is three young sisters (Lynn LeMay, Brooke West and Misty Regan) fantasizing about sex, while their mom (oddly but effectively-cast loops star Kitty Shayne) wants them to hold out for true love. It's credited as being based on a Guy de Maupassant story, no less.

Opening reels spotlight Shayne exclusively, as she tells her offspring, plus visiting European gal Claudia (Rosa Lee), about her own sexual history, in order to have them benefit from her experience and avoid various pitfalls.

WIth pigtails Shayne portrays herself back in her teen years, humping in the backseat of a car, getting raped by an older man (not shown at all on screen -this being a non-violent sex movie), and ultimately achieving orgasms with her husband, their dad. Pop is a sailor who only is home intermittently, merely making mom's heart grow fonder.

I greatly enjoyed this reel or two of Shayne, one of my favorite film and magazine porn starlets. After she's finished proselytizing, the three daughters head to their bedroom and have an incestuous lesbian three-way sex scene, presented refreshingly in a no-guilt, matter-of-fact way by Tobalina.

At this point CHERRIES will definitely separate the men from the boys in the audience, as the trio's sex action continues for well over half an hour, intercutting their strictly-in-the-family licking & groping with fantasized footage of them servicing young Jon Martin or a couple of studs. Tobalina pours it on so unrelentingly at this point that I'm sure a popcorn break or perhaps a stroll to the men's room was mandatory during this endless sequence.

When they're finally done, the girls head out to put their dreams into practice, with strictly comical results. They try to pick up the two school studs from the fantasy, and are rebuffed, as the guys reveal to them that they're already a couple, gay variety.

Dreams of making it with a teacher also fizzle, as the phys. ed. prof who agrees to a motel assignation with Misty simply can't get it up. A grey-haired math teacher is only interested in s&m. Crestfallen, the girls conclude that mom was right, and they should hold out for true love rather than immediate & constant gratification.

Besides the great Shayne, Tobalina's casting makes CHERRIES a satisfying experience. Blonde star LeMay was one of the best of her generation, and at a very young age both Regan and West are truly beautiful and voluptuous here. They're all photographed flatteringly, not all that common in porn.

Perhaps Tobalina's best gimmick is a subtle but definite emphasis on softcore within the overall hardcore context. Instead of immediately jumping to the XXX tight closeups, most of the film unfolds from strictly softcore angles and vantage points, including a large amount of the Jon Martin footage. This may appear cryptic to today's all-sex (and no story) generation, but it proves to be very effective.

Three eager sisters don't want to listen to their mother and cousin's advice about having sex.

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Three Ripening Cherries

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