Sarno churned out so many of these B&W sexploiters in the 60s; some are great considering their obvious budgetary and other limitations, while others mostly demonstrate those limitations. This is one of the latter. Rather than thinking "Wow, and to think they shot it in just three days!" (or whatever), you think "Well...they probably only had three days to shoot it."
The action is almost entirely confined to three drab rooms, and too much of the content is talky and stilted. Nor is it a particularly interesting plot idea: A rich playboy who needs new women to pay for sex all the time (he doesn't seem to want actual prostitutes) is attracted to a "nice" girl who reluctantly betrays her husband in exchange for the rich guy giving him a big career break. Meanwhile, a motorcycle-riding (well, it's more like a scooter), moderately "Wild" One appoints himself the rich man's procurer; the actor who plays this role gives the liveliest performance.
As he sometimes does, Sarno surprises by giving some characters a little more depth than you expect--in fact the two least sympathetic ones (rich guy and his sour, cynical secretary) turn out to be vulnerable and apologetic. But what should be an explosive ending is compromised by being poorly explained (SPOILERS: is the secretary mad because "Dixie" is her lesbian lover? the rich man's daughter? what?). I did like it that the biker guy got the last laugh.
Some will be amused by the"club" sequences and their two go-go dancers (one of whom is laughably bad). Plus, of course, there are topless women. But "Love Merchant" was all too clearly written and shot in too much haste to escape being just another low-end time-filler. If you like this sort of thing, it's worth a look, but hardly memorable.
The action is almost entirely confined to three drab rooms, and too much of the content is talky and stilted. Nor is it a particularly interesting plot idea: A rich playboy who needs new women to pay for sex all the time (he doesn't seem to want actual prostitutes) is attracted to a "nice" girl who reluctantly betrays her husband in exchange for the rich guy giving him a big career break. Meanwhile, a motorcycle-riding (well, it's more like a scooter), moderately "Wild" One appoints himself the rich man's procurer; the actor who plays this role gives the liveliest performance.
As he sometimes does, Sarno surprises by giving some characters a little more depth than you expect--in fact the two least sympathetic ones (rich guy and his sour, cynical secretary) turn out to be vulnerable and apologetic. But what should be an explosive ending is compromised by being poorly explained (SPOILERS: is the secretary mad because "Dixie" is her lesbian lover? the rich man's daughter? what?). I did like it that the biker guy got the last laugh.
Some will be amused by the"club" sequences and their two go-go dancers (one of whom is laughably bad). Plus, of course, there are topless women. But "Love Merchant" was all too clearly written and shot in too much haste to escape being just another low-end time-filler. If you like this sort of thing, it's worth a look, but hardly memorable.