Kama Sutra--The Sensual Art of Lovemaking: Positions of the Perfumed Garden; One Hundred and One Love Positions

"The vagina and the penis can sustain injury if either is excessively distorted or bent." Granted, this warning statement from One Hundred and One Love Positions, one of two new titles offering a visual catalog of positions for heterosexual intercourse, is not quite the same generic "caution" statement found on, say, a back exercise program, but it does represent the high point--in an entertainment sense--of this otherwise tedious program. Opening, somewhat promisingly, with the claim that the video will demonstrate postures that bring greater pleasure to the male, the female, or offer the deepest penetration, the program quickly segues into a numbered series of non-narrated mini-sequences backed with elevator music in which an Apollonian hunk with Fabio-like tresses and a buxom brunette babe work themselves into a number of positions that one is far more likely to perform with a wheelbarrow than with one's significant other. Although the partners are fully nude, the program features no explicit images of penetration; more to the point, there is also very little in the way of actual instruction (beyond the unadorned visuals) and the professed 101 positions is more overstated than a Florida ballot count (many of the positions are so numbingly similar, it would require Holmesian powers of deduction to determine which body part has been shifted the proverbial silly millimeter to the left or right). Not recommended. Aud: P.Kama Sutra--The Sensual Art of Lovemaking: Positions of the Perfumed Garden, partially based on the 16th century Tunisian scholar Sheikh Nefzaoui's book The Perfumed Garden (mistakenly referred to here as a 15th century manuscript), is more of a guide to 39 sexual positions than an outright adaptation of Nefzaoui's precursor to The Joy of Sex (which features such colorfully named chapters as "Of Things That Take Away the Bad Smell from the Armpits and the Sexual Parts of Women" and the pre-Viagra "Prescriptions for Increasing the Dimensions of Small Members and Making Them Splendid"). Combining commentary from sex therapists with fully nude demonstrations from couples (without any images of penetration), the program is divided into seven sections featuring positions related to man-on-top, woman-on-top, side by side, kneeling/lying, sitting, rear entry, and G-spot stimulation. Sporting names ranging from the rather cryptic ("The One Who Stops at Home," "The Singing Monkey") to the rather blunt ("The Pounding on the Spot"), the focus here is admittedly more playful than--as one commentator puts it--"the goal-oriented, quick and dirty Western approach." Better yet, in contrast to One Hundred and One Love Positions, this program offers genuine instruction, including tips for various positions that are more suitable for those with weight or back problems or people suffering from arthritis. Available separately, or bundled together in a boxed set with Kama Sutra--The Sensual Art of Lovemaking: Positions of the Tao (VHS: $29.95, DVD: $39.95), this is recommended, overall. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)