Mr. Beaver Checks In #18

Hustler

Genre: Vignette, Foreign

Director: Frank Thring

Cast: Samantha, Darren James, Frank Thring, Alicia Rhodes, Steve Holmes, Cameron Cruz, Alissa, Dominica Leoni, Frank Gun, Diana, Zenza Raggi

Length: 83 minutes

Date of Production: 3/11/03 (box), "Jan. to Feb. 2003" (credits)

Extra's: 12 minute long Behind the Scenes feature (for volume 17 and 18), cast list, slide show, 9 minute long director's profile, trailers

Audio/Video Quality: The picture was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. This is one area where Hustler tends to fluctuate a lot. When they look good, they're real good and when they look bad, they suck. The problem tends to be with the lighting versus the grain. In this case, the picture was pretty good with minimal grain and artifacts (whew!) so you can see the action fairly clearly. There were a few problems with the camera angles that didn't show off the cast in their best light but most would tell me I'm being picky. The audio was a bit above average, which was easy since it was kept simple here.

Body of Review: The Mr. Beaver series is a lighthearted piece of fluff that stars Frank Thring as an old guy who travels around the world looking for hot babes. He reminds me a little of some of the old Benny Hill sketches in terms of being a harmless old pervert except that sometimes he gets to join in (usually giving some European gal oral). In Volume 15, I found a lot to like although the series is really kind of hit or miss with me of late. In Mr. Beaver Checks In #18, Frank takes us to South Africa where he, or a stunt double, started off the movie by him bungee jumping from a very tall bridge. Most fans like the fact that Frank doesn't use condoms in his films and tries to get fresh talent as often as possible. Here's a breakdown of the scenes by cast:

Scene One: Bungie Jump Sex: Samantha, an average looking redhead, Darren, and Frank, had a threesome on a couch in a motel room. Both of them splooged on her face at the end but the sex was strictly oral and straight only. The scene didn't have any real chemistry going on and was therefore tame.

Scene Two: Sex Shop Café Town: Alicia, the blonde on the left side of the front dvd cover, Steve, and Frank had a scene in his motel room. Luckily, Frank only participated by getting a hummer while she had actual sex with Steve, that included oral, straight and anal. In all, it was an average scene too.

Scene Three: Pottery Shop: Cameron, the hot blonde that was the second from the right on the front dvd cover, and Alissa, the older brunette on the far right side of said cover, had a lesbian scene with toys in a pottery shop. Lots of fake moaning and groaning made this a weak scene.

Scene Four: Living Room: Dominica, a cute brunette that was not on the front cover (not a good marketing ploy, leaving the better looking gals off the cover), and Frank Gun, had a scene on a couch. While it was a fairly basic scene that didn't have anal, I sort of liked it.

Scene Five: Dressing Room: Diana, the redhead squatting on the front dvd cover, and Zenza, had a scene in a dressing room. This scene also contained some anal action after a solid oral sex sequence. To be up front, I didn't like her looks either but her ability to perform in front of the camera was enough to sway my opinion a bit in her favor.

Summary: I liked this one enough to suggest it as a Rent It but it wasn't the strongest volume in the series. The technical aspects were decent enough but the cast wasn't as good as I'd hoped for and the action didn't display the chemistry I prefer either. It was a bit above average overall for what it had but there really should have been more sex scenes for the cost this one commands.