All the Sins of Sodom / Vibrations Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

All the Sins of Sodom / Vibrations Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 22, 2017

Joe Sarno's "All the Sins of Sodom" (1968) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Media/Something Weird Video/Film Movement Classics. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers; archival interview with Joe Sarno; and archival audio commentary with actress Peggy Steffans Sarno. The release also arrives with a 14-page illustrated booklet featuring critic Tim Lucas' essay "Sarno After Inga: A New Lease on Lust". In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

In the studio

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you wish to convince someone that the work of Joe Sarno is worth exploring but you are not making much progress, consider bringing up All the Sins of Sodom. It is a bit rough around the edges but it is unusually well-lensed for a small-budget production and with its retro vibe it actually feels quite elegant. I think that you can easily compare it to John Cassavetes’ directorial debut, Shadows, as what he does with jazz music Sarno essentially replicates with sex and with the same freedom of movement but in a different setting, and possibly William Klein’s Who Are You Polly Maggoo?, which explores the fashion industry and the goals of the people in it that apparently know how to discover beauty. The latter is the trickier of the two films because it is quite sarcastic, but plenty of its characters are actually very similar to those from Sarno’s film.

Practically the entire film takes place inside a large New York apartment where fashion photographer Henning (Dan Machuen) is working hard with various models to deliver the perfect erotic pictures for a local agency. This is also the place where Henning lives so one part of it is designed as a studio, while the other functions as his regular home. (Just for reference, this place looks nothing like the one that David Hemmings’ character uses in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up. It is much cheaper and does not have any sort of a trendy personality). Henning is officially single, but he is in an open relationship with one of his models, Leslie (Maria Lease), and she frequently chooses to remain after the two stop working. They make passionate love, but after the fireworks are gone the two never engage in a meaningful conversation.

The balance in the relationship is disrupted when Henning invites a young girl named Joyce (Sue Akers) to move in and stay with him for as long as she likes. Joyce is very beautiful but not a model, just a drifter who moves from one place to another and tries to make the most of the opportunities that life presents her with. Initially Joyce remains respectful of Henning and his work with the models, but when he invites her to help him get Leslie in the right mood for one of his crucial shoots the girl quickly reveals that she is an irresistible seducer.

As far as low-budget sexploitation films from the 1960s and 1970s are concerned, All the Sins of Sodom probably ranks amongst the very best. From start to finish it delivers exactly the right kind of pure atmosphere, knowing precisely how far to go in order to arouse, and precisely where to stop so that it does not evolve into a tasteless drive-in adult feature. (To be perfectly clear, anyone expecting any explicit footage will be hugely disappointed because there is none).

The actors are clearly non-professionals but the fact that during the erotic scenes they do not appear supremely confident in front of the camera is actually one of the film’s greatest strengths, The slight uncertainty and perhaps even awkwardness during the foreplay, for instance, add a great deal of authenticity.

The lighting and framing of the modeling scenes are fantastic. The simplicity makes the interactions between the photographer and the models remarkably stylish. Wonderful film.

*This release also includes Sarno’s Vibrations, which has been reviewed separately here. Also, there is a different release of All the Sins of Sodom on the market from U.S. label Vinegar Syndrome, which apparently offers a different technical presentation of the film.

All the Sins of Sodom / Vibrations Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Joe Sarno's All the Sins of Sodom arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Media/Something Weird Video/Film Movement Classics.

The release is sourced from a brand new restored master and I have to say that this is probably the very best that the film has ever looked on home video. On the other hand, I have to say that the 35mm elements that were accessed have not aged particularly well. I don't mean to imply that there are some serious anomalies that will prevent you from enjoying the film, but there are a few missing frames -- there are at least two obvious examples -- a couple of times there are minor drops in density that suggest some source of source deterioration. The film also looks very fresh and vibrant, but minor scratches, specks, and even a few rather large blemishes remain. The film's overall grading is also a tad too aggressive for my taste. It appears that the blacks were elevated a bit to perhaps rebalance a few areas where tonal balance was uneven, but this has introduced some visible black crush that could have been avoided (see screencaptures #1, 12, and 17). Also, there are no traces of problematic degraining corrections, but ideally this film and Vibrations should have been placed on separate discs and encoded better so that grain exposure is even better. Image stability is very good. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

All the Sins of Sodom / Vibrations Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English Dolby Digital 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

I would have preferred to have a lossless track, but the truth is that the entire film has a very basic sound design and the dialog is recorded in a way that more than likely cannot be optimized any more than it is here. In fact, there are a couple of scene where it appears that the balance between the dialog and background noises struggles to remain solid because of inherited limitations. It is hard to tell for certain with this type of a low-budget production, but this is how I interpret the unevenness. Other than this, the dialog remains very clean and it is exceptionally easy to follow.

All the Sins of Sodom / Vibrations Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - a collection of trailers for other restored films from the Joe Sarno Retrospect series.

• Interview with Joe Sarno - in this archival interview, the late director recalls how the idea for All the Sins of Sodom came to exist and explains in great detail how the film was lit and lensed at Morris Kaplan's studio in New York City. Outstanding interview. In English, not subtitled. (9 min).

• Audio Commentary - this audio commentary initially appeared on Retro Seduction Cinema's DVD release of All the Sins of Sodom. In it Peggy Steffans Sarno, who plays Henning's agent, discusses in great detail how the film's production history as well as director Joe Sarno's working methods.

• Booklet - 14-page illustrated booklet featuring critic Tim Lucas' essay "Sarno After Inga: A New Lease on Lust".

All the Sins of Sodom / Vibrations Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If John Cassavetes was shooting sexploitation films during the late 1960s and early 1970s, I have to speculate that they probably would have looked a lot like Joe Sarno's All the Sins of Sodom. In fact, I think that there are some very interesting similarities between Cassavetes' directorial debut, Shadows, and this film, as they are both shot with the same sense of freedom and despite the fact that they are a bit rough around the edges look equally stylish. All the Sins of Sodom has been recently restored and I think that it looks very nice, but I would have preferred to have it placed on a separate disc. (This release also includes Joe Sarno's Vibrations, which will be reviewed separately). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.