A freelance journalist bumbles his way through a series of comedic misadventures on his way to penning a report on call girls in this hardcore French / German co-production from the peak of Europes pornographic golden age. Alternately known as Enqutes and Call Girls De Luxe, 1979s Paris Telefon 666 may not be the best the era has to offer, but with a great cast, slick production values, and a healthy dollop of weird at its disposal, its certainly no slouch. Previously available in various tape and DVD editions, Paris Telefon 666 has been granted a proper home video revival courtesy of Swiss distributor Mascotte Film AG (under their Tabu Film label), who have given the film an unexpected Blu-ray debut as part of their new Golden Classic line.
Mascotte / Tabu have done as well as one might reasonably expect by Paris Telefon 666 for its Blu-ray premiere, although there are some notable limitations. First and foremost among them are the audio options: 666 is limited to German only, as contractually stipulated by the films rights holder Alpha France.
Compared to past editions the new blu-ray is a visual revelation. Paris Telefon 666 is presented at proper film speed in full 1080p at the theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and, a few niggling complaints aside, it looks pretty fantastic. Color and contrast are both at robust levels, and finer detail can really pop when given the opportunity (cloth textures, exterior shots, close-ups). Grain is a constant, subtle presence, and is very well served by the features hearty Mpeg-4 AVC encode (29.4 Mbps average bitrate with peaks to 40.0 Mbps) I noticed no encoding-related defects in my viewing. If there are issues to be had with the transfer it is with the state of the elements scanned as opposed to the technical merits of the scan itself, and even here I have few complaints. The image is largely unrestored, leaving notable damage in places in the form of scratches, dirt, speckling and the like, and those sensitive to such things should take note. There is also some footage lost to splices every so often (see the center frame below), though I dont believe this amounts to much more than a few frames here and there. In this regard it is unfortunate that a better 35mm source was not available for scanning (if one even exists at this point), but Mascotte / Tabu have done well by what they had to work with. It may be something of a warts and all presentation, but it plays much better than that phrasing might suggest.
CAST:
Desire Cousteau
Brigitte Lahaie plays Brigitte
Cathy Stewart
France Lomay plays Carole
Karine Gambier plays Ellie
Monique Carrre
Morgane plays Marianne
Samantha [2]
Richard Lemieuvre plays Richard
Pjotr Stanislas plays the chauffeur of Monique Carrre
Dominique Aveline, non-sex
Alban Ceray
Dominique Irissou
John Oury
Tony Morena, non-sex
PLOT:
The plot here is pretty straight forward stuff journalist Richard (Richard Allan, Hot Action) looks to his favorite call girl Brigitte (Brigitte Lahaie, Fascination) for help when inspiration runs dry for his latest assignment, a juicy in-depth account of Brigittes very profession. Fortunately for him Brigitte not only runs her own call-girl service (the Paris Telefon 666 of the title) but is perfectly willing to lend Richard the details of her girls appointments as well! All does not go to plan, however. The young go-getter finds his efforts undermined by combination of circumstance and his own stupidity again and again (a watch dog here, a horny American tourist there, and unforeseen scooter catastrophes to boot), and the scandalous details he craves remain frustratingly elusive
Though not for the audience, of course. Paris Telefon 666 is more than happy to fill in the blanks in Richards reporting, detailing the bawdy exploits of Brigittes call girls with all the enthusiasm youd expect from a porn production of its vintage. That several among said call girls rank among the more notable pornographic performers of their time certainly amps up the appeal. Desiree Cousteau (Pretty Peaches) takes Allan for an off the clock shag when he visits the call girl home office, Catherine Greiner (Les Petites colires) recalls a seedy dinner engagement with a fruitful conclusion (everyone loves bananas), Morgane (Les Nymphomanes) pulls a double shift with both a rich lesbian (Monique Carrre, French Finishing School) and her randy chauffeur (Piotr Stanislas, Caligula and Messalina), and Karine Gambier (Come Play With Me 2) is contracted by an aristocrat as a device of sexual tutelage for his son. The standout scene is reserved for Lahaie herself, however, who relates her unlikely relations with a dead-eyed mime / automaton (John Oury, Bizarre Marilyn) during the films stylish confessional climax. Its a bizarre turn of events to say the least, and while its sexiness is debatable (Ourys convincingly mechanical performance is too creepy by miles) its not something one is ever likely to forget.
ACTION:
First we see Brigitte and Richard having sex, interrupted by the phone call which gives Richard his assignment. Then Brigitte goes to visit her girls - Karine Gambier (Ellie), Morgane (Marianne) and France Lomay (Carole).
Morgane is picked up in a limo and driven to meet a rich female client (Monique Carrre). Richard follows on his small motorbike and is frustrated to discover the grounds of the mansion are guarded by a Doberman. He has to hide in the limo, but has to get out when Morgan comes out and the chauffeur (Pjotr Stanislas) demands the perks of the job in the back seat. Richard places a tape recorder by the car and hides in the garage, but the car runs over the machine when it is driven away.
Next Richard investigates a massage parlour where females get extra services from male masseurs. He traps masseur Dominique Aveline in the lift and takes his place. The two female clients are Cathy Stewart and a blonde (Samantha) and as well as having sex with them, he listens to their raunchy reminisences. The blonde tells of a b/g session with Alban Ceray and Cathy Stewart tells of being a bottomless waitress, giving head to a customer, Dominique Irissou. Then Dominique Aveline escapes from the lift and catches Richard.
While Brigitte is playing a board game with the blonde from the massage parlour, France Lomay visits client John Oury at his hotel. Richard pretends to be a waiter in order to eavesdrop, but is grabbed by a female guest and dragged into her room. Therefore France Lomay has to go all the way with her client. Morgane and Karine are dragged away from their phone sex line performance as Karine has been hired to initiate the son of a rich man (Tony Morena). She shows little reluctance and the son shows little inexperience, but Richard makes a mess of dropping a microphone down the chimney and Tony Morena shoots him off the roof with a shotgun.
Richard calls to visit Brigitte but finds Desiree Cousteau. Brigitte then catches them in flagrante and storms off. Richard then pretends to be a priest and hears Brigittes steamy confessions - b/g with a man in a clown mask.
Finally, typing all this up for his report, from a playback on the tape recorder, it bursts into flames.
In summary: hardcore, straight sex, oral, doggy, cowgirl, oral, cumshots, bjs, hjs
