Name: Marina
Genre: Drama
Duration: 1 h 5 min
Rating: 5.4
Cast: Athena Prezaki, Robert Collins, Barbara Mysen

Having just watched "Seemore Doules"' excellent porn film JENNIFER, I was slightly disappointed with its direct forerunner MARINA, featuring exactly the same cast. This 1969 black & white flick is wall-to-wall sex, a forerunner of the hardcore filler that now dominates the marketplace, only presented in softcore format.

Like the numerous Nick Millard porn films it closely resembles, MARINA is nearly ruined by a purple-prose, relentless voice-over narration track. Because it's shot MOS, the storyline has to be carried in this fashion, but unlike the sexy femme who narrated JENNIFER, here we have a British guy ranting for over an hour, expressing what amounts to gibberish.

He's a frustrated young dude, who nearly is beside himself when his dream girl Marina (buxom Athena Prezaki) comes to visit with her boy friend Al. Once they arrive it's virtually a non-stop sex-a-thon with simulated humping scenes that last over 10 minutes each, not the style of softcore but rather anticipating the amateur-night approach of latterday XXX.

After Marina rides Al in bed interminably, and antihero John voices over florid descriptions of what they're doing on his sister's bed no less, making clear his pent-up jealousy, Marina kindly visits his room for sloppy seconds. Dramatically this would seem a no-no, gratifying our humble narrator's innermost desires so early in the film, but "Doules" manages to start over with new frustrations.

When sister Julia (the Misty Mundae of the '60s, beautiful Lisa Vern) returns home the next day, Marina immediately seduces her, for a hot and heavy lesbian sex scene that is nearly identical to the full-color version of the two actresses getting it on in JENNIFER. Even the bedrooms, with their collage style wall photo decorations, look identical from film to film.

This coupling allows our narrator to express his incestuous feelings about sister Julia. The horrible writing even has him resorting to such crap as wanting to "swim in my Marina" and other similar drivel. 

What follows is an endless game of Spin the Bottle, featuring many of the extras from JENNIFER in prominent sex roles here. A black guy (he was later a prominent dancer at the JENNIFER party scene) offers tension as John is envious of the "stud", but as cast members kiss each other and disrobe, it degenerates predictably into an orgy.

At the orgy John gets his true wish, a mixed combo sandwich threesome with Marina in the middle, black dude on the bottom and John humping her from the rear. This 1969 softcore depiction of a double penetration scene was surprising to me, and indicative of how MARINA more closely resembles future XXX porn than the sort of stuff booked at adult theaters in its day. No penetration or money shots, but full frontal nudity, well-simulated fellatio, cunnilingus and 69 scenes.

Final reel is fairly nasty, seemingly a Freudian Slip exercise wherein the anonymous filmmaker "Doules" gets some resentment out of his system. Sister Julia goes to live with Al & Marina, driving John out of his mind as we see the trio down & dirty in troilism sex. He rushes over to their house, madly intent on making it an incestuous foursome. They won't let him in and, with what must be one of the most ludicrous turns in porn narration history, John appeals directly to the audience (sounds like some morning kiddie TV show of my youth) and pleas for us to shout and help him get them to open the door! He's left tormented outside on the grass as "END" card appears on the screen.

This nonsense is scored to a relentless series of strip joint musical tracks, including "Night Train" and "Harlem Nocturne", with even a romantic ballad "Moonglow" scored with a relentless 4/4 bump & grind beat. Documentary cameraman Savas Kalogeras documents the sex action with aplomb -no need for him to apologize or adopt a phony name just because this is porn.

The women of "Doules"'s troupe are attractive and a turn-on, augmented here by a buxom young plumper who adds some spice to Spin the Bottle. Given the emphasis on raw sex here I suspect that "Doules" adopted a different moniker in the '70s and made the transition to explicit porn filmmaking.

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.

Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)

An older, more experienced couple attempt to seduce a teenaged brother and sister.

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood's perfect pairs.

Hollywood Power Couples

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s perfect pairs.

See which big screen releases you can watch from the comfort of your couch.

Theatrical Releases Coming to Streaming

Get a closer look at these actors from their many TV and streaming series roles.

Streaming Stars, Then and Now

Athena Prezaki and Anthony Tutino in Marina (1969)

Marina

Photos5

Top Cast10

User reviews1

More like this

Related interests

Storyline

Did you know

Top picks

Details

Tech specs

Contribute to this page

More to explore

Recently viewed