Retro Porn Review - Oriental Blue

Following his first movie, the significantly weird and absurd Vixens of Kung Fu, director Bill Milling continued his deep obsession with Asian exploitation — albeit with a much more grounded and well-made effort — with the cult classic Oriental Blue.

Unlike his first film, this one doesn’t have any magical creatures, annoying overdubbing or cringe-inspiring acting. Oriental Blue follows the fierce Madame Blue (Peonies Jong), a ruthless woman who runs a (mostly) white slavery prostitution ring from the heart of Chinatown.

Madame Blue uses men to kidnap girls she has a craving for and make them her slaves. She then pimps them out to rich international clients with very specific requests, which Madame Blue is happy to meet and deliver.

Of course, her interest in the girls is not a purely business-driven thing. Madame Blue’s insatiable sexual appetite has her sampling the merchandise very frequently; often during threesomes with clients or with the guys who brought them the women.

But while she is used to getting whatever she wants at all times, there is one smooth recruiter who turns her down repeatedly, claiming his “cock was not for sale.” Brock (Jamie Gillis) insists his deal with her is to deliver girls and nothing more, which obviously irks the spoiled and powerful Madame.

Although all women resist at first, Madame Blue’s secret to keeping them is her potent “love juice.” This doesn’t mean she squirts on the girls, but simply gives them a secret ancient Chinese potion that gets their libido flowing like never before. After a while, the sex slaves are more strung out on love juice than any customer in any nearby opium den could ever be.

The movie is well shot and most sex scenes are very good. While there’s enough of a plot to hold the viewer’s interest, it’s also heavily charged on sex time and not so much “action” otherwise (in a good way.) Gillis brought his usual charming self into a great role, and Peonies’ lead performance was surprisingly solid.

There seemed to be a conscious effort trying to get as many different kinds of girls as they could, so it’s a very nice cast of ethnically varied women, and I’m sure I’m far from the only one to appreciate it.

The music is almost eclectic to a fault, but while it lacks the brilliance of other soundtracks of the era, it fits alright within the film.

The ending is a bit of a head-scratcher. Unpredictable, sure, but it also gives you the impression that the real ending got lost somewhere in the editing room. It could have used a much better climax, but looking at the big picture: it still has a good premise. It was well shot, and it features decent acting and passionate sex. And really, that’s all you can ask for from vintage porn.

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