MOOD PICTURES

Guilty Wives

Hungary is an ancient, vibrant land that evokes many associations. If you're a history buff, you might think about the wars between Christian Europe and the Turks, the Habsburg Empire on the blue Danube, or the fall of the iron curtain in 1989, when the Hungarians were the first to open their borders. If you're into architecture and the arts, you will think of Budapest, the beautiful metropolis with its national gallery and opera house. If you're a gourmet, Hungarian salami, paprika and goose-liver will undoubtedly come to mind.

Or, if you enjoy spanking and CP movies, you will think of "Mood Pictures". Run by two Hungarians named Pedro and Pablo, this young company burst onto the scene in early 2004, and quickly turned out a series of rather spectacular caning videos. When I first discovered their website and saw the previews of their work, it immediately became clear to me that I was looking at a new major player. "Finally" I thought, "we have some competition for Rigid East!" About time, too. Indeed, like their fellow Eastern Europeans from the Czech Republic, Mood Pictures offer a combination of excellent production values, beautiful girls and jaw-dropping severity that few spanking video producers ever achieve. And what's even more remarkable, they started on this high standard with their very first outing, and have been getting better ever since. A case could be made that this is the most flawless introduction on the CP movie scene in recent years (or ever, for that matter).

One caveat, though: these "Mood Pictures" are definitely not for the faint of heart. They are not disturbing or excessively brutal like some Russian productions - the ample behind-the-scenes footage is testimony that these Hungarian girls might not enjoy themselves during the actual punishment, but the overall athmosphere is happy and festive, and all participants seem to be having quite a good time. Also, these are not stale and boring drills, like some of the other "hard" videos out there - on the contrary, Mood Pictures offer a fair share of story, scene setup and eroticism aplenty to go along with the beatings. Nonetheless, we are talking about some very, very vicious canings at the centre of attention here. Those who prefer their spanking action nice and mild will probably find this a turn-off. Those who want to see real welts, real tears and real screams, with some astoundingly pretty girls on the receiving end - well, you could hardly make a better choice.

The newest (as of October 2004) CP production out of Hungary is no exception. In "Guilty Wives", Pedro and Pablo take the viewer to Soviet Russia - "Syberia, a few decades ago", as the opening credits inform us, while ominous, distorted noises hum in the background. Thinking back to "Stalin" from Rigid East, it now seems a common past-time among Eastern European producers to poke fun at their former socialist "mentors" (and who can blame them?). The action opens in a prison cell (a cage with some bunks in it, essentially), where two delinquent girls await their cruel fate. Nora (played by Eva Padlocki) has dark eyes, black hair, made into a ponytail, and pretty, sharp features. The other one, Natasha (Betty Sweet), is blonde and delicate, with short hair and a very beautiful, statuesque face. Those Hungarians sure are blessed with a favorable gene pool (now that Europe is finally growing together, as it should, we will hopefully be able to spread those genes all over the continent - but I'm getting off-topic here...). Natasha has some piercings and tattoos, which I usually find unattractive - but on this girl, the markings look good somehow, rather erotic actually. All in all, it is readily apparent already that this is going to be an entertaining spanking video. By the way, both girls wear casual, rather sexy clothing, which breaks somewhat with the "Syberian prison" theme - but it looks nice, so what the hell.

Lest I forget, all the following dialogue is obviously in Hungarian (although subtitles are provided). And it's a good thing, too, as the Magyar dialect is quite a melodic, interesting one, actually (another practical benefit is that viewers across the globe can hone their language skills here, most prominently with the complete numbers from "1" to "50" in Hungarian - but I'm getting ahead of things).

Nora asks Natasha if she's scared, too. "No, I'm innocent" replies the pretty blonde. "I haven't cheated on my husband." So now we know what the two delinquents are in trouble for. Nora retorts that the judge they are about to face finds all women guilty, regardless of what they have or haven't done. And that he sentences everyone to (you guessed it!) fifty strokes of the cane. This is fortunate from an audience point of view - granted, it's not what you call "humanitarian values", but where would these movies be without some good old-fashioned, arbitrary punishment? So we go with the flow: a female guard enters (played by Debbie Ulan Ator, what a great fake name that is!). And yes, she does wear a uniform, prison theme and all. The guard explains that the trial will start soon, and that no forbidden items must be carried in the courtroom. Therefore, first Nora and then Natasha are ordered to strip naked for inspection. It is a quick scene, the clothes just come off and on again, but the interlude does a neat job of showing off the girls' bodies and building tension for what must inevitably follow. Both women are slender and well-tanned, but Natasha has an especially cute ass: shapely and firm at the same time, model material. Without a doubt, glorious events lie ahead.

Next scene, the courtroom. Behind a podium of sorts sits the judge (Maximilian Lomp, who already swung the cane in two previous Mood installments, "Ancien Regime" and "Rival Girls"). Next to him an assistant, and his wife, as we will learn in due time (played by Pokémon, from "Love Story"). To cut a long story short, dark-haired Nora pleads guilty and goes on her knees (literally) to ask for mercy. This being an unknown word in the Soviet dictionary, none is given, the sentence for cheating her husband pronounced at 50 hard strokes of the cane. Natasha, on the other hand, professes her innocence and claims that a lawyer will soon appear with proof. She repeatedly contradicts the court, protesting that the proceedings are illegal. Needless to say, the judge will have none of it. He refuses to wait for the arrival of this mysterious lawyer, and declares that Natasha will receive 50 strokes as well.

Again, the sequence is well-paced, drawing out the buildup yet staying concise enough not to delay things inappropriately - after all, it is the execution of the sentence which we are looking forward to in a spanking video, not the pronounciation. Still, there is just enough acting and dialogue here to set the right, pleasantly brooding "punishment athmosphere". Finding this balance, between not trying hard enough and trying too hard, is what distinguishes an excellent CP movie like "Guilty Wives" from the merely good ones. There is even a quick, humorous "flashback scene" from the viewpoint of the judge, involving his own, cheating wife, the courtroom assistant. As for Nora and Natasha, they look positively nervous throughout the trial, which is probably a genuine expression in light of the very real chastisement they are about to receive. The judge announces that he will carry out the punishment himself, and without further ado, we move on to the main course.

An SM-furniture "stockade" is moved to the centre of the courtroom, and poor Nora is the first to go over it. She takes off all clothing, then the guard ties her hands and feet to the device, forcing the dark-haired girl to stand in an exposed, bent-forward position. After she is informed that every stroke must be counted aloud, the action begins. What follows is a hard, real caning like we have come to expect it from Mood Pictures. The first few strokes aren't so bad yet, as if the judge still needed to relax his arm a little. But after that short warm-up, he turns up the velocity quite a bit, and no mercy is given anymore. Nora doesn't enjoy it one bit. First she is sobbing, then crying, then howling uncontrollably. With a caning of this severity, there is no need for acting, and indeed there is little doubt that the girl's tears and cries are as real as the growing number of welts on her backside.

Since we're dealing with 50 strokes here, it all takes a while, and the judge uses the time to educate his victim about the Soviet way of life. "You'll remember this verdict forever." "Your husband will be grateful to the court." "You will become an outstanding worker." And so forth. The girl, on her part, can barely respond more than the obligatory "Yes, your honour." Why, she's in so much anguish that even keeping count of the strokes seems quite a challenge under the circumstances! But the judge's remarks are a welcome addition to the quality of the chastisement, and fortunately Mood Pictures manage not to repeat the mistake of some other companies - who overdo it, and end up with more talk and pathetic lecturing than actual caning. Again, the balance here is just right, and the result is another positive in this production.

So the focus stays on the action, and with this sort of severity, how could it not? It's fairly obvious that the actress didn't find it easy to get through the whole ordeal. But to her credit, despite much howling and pleading, she came through. When it's finally over, her ass is covered in angry red stripes from top to bottom, and it's safe to say that the girl wasn't sitting very comfortably for about a week afterwards. Another job well done for Mood Pictures. Now it's time for her blonde companion, who had been watching the first caning with increasing discomfort.

The judge tells Natasha that he is very angry with her. Since she did not only cheat on her husband like the other convict, but also contradicted the court, she will get a very hard punishment. And it shows - after the blonde strips and is tied to the stockade, she is caned even more viciously than the previous girl. Only two dozen strokes, and her ass looks about as well-marked as Nora's did after the whole 50. The judge eases up a bit from then on, all the while admonishing his convict on morality in workers' paradise. But the caning is still hard by any other standard, and he fires off some extremely nasty strokes towards the end again.

The second caning is even better than the first one - actually, it's quite simply one of the best sessions I've ever seen captured in a CP video. Betty Sweet, with her slim, athletic figure, must have one of the most shapely, beautiful butts to ever grace a spanking film. In combination with the high production values and the no-holds-barred severity, it makes for a truly unforgettable scene. As one lively red stripe appears after another, she gasps and quivers and flexes those ass muscles, and it's obvious that our lady is truly impressed. She, too, cries and winces passionately from beginning to end, but never wavers. After all 50 strokes, Betty is deeply bruised, and sitting down soon surely wasn't an option for her, either. In all, it doesn't get any better than this. Not to take anything away from Eva Padlocki, who also did a fine scene and took a beating that most other companies only dream about. Compliments to both girls, then, and to the producers.

The action is recorded by two cameras throughout, one behind the girl being caned, the other one on the side. There is a good variety of shots, mixing wide angles, facial reactions, and closeups of the tortured backsides. The impact of the cane strokes, and the welts developing quickly like red lines on a piece of film, are a joy to behold. Rounding out the DVD are trailers of two other Mood Pictures productions ("Martial Law" and "Rival Girls"), a five-minute behind-the-scenes section, and a hilarious "alternate cheating scene" that has to be seen to be believed.

I daresay that, with "Guilty Wives", Mood Pictures have overtaken Rigid East as the premier producer of caning videos, at least in my book. True, the masters from the Czech Republic still have an edge in sets, costumes, storywriting and everything "art", and they deserve all the praise they get for trying to take CP videos into new, unexplored directions. But when it comes to the core of things, to the actual scenes of chastisement, Mood Pictures are now setting the standard for combining outstanding female beauty with equally impressive severity. For the rest of the world, it will be a tough act to follow.