Desmond Morris' The Human Sexes.

• Author: ROTHENBERG, ROBERT S.
• Position: Review

Desmond Morris' The Human Sexes

BMG Video / six casettes / 300 minutes / $89.98

Woody Allen once directed and starred in a movie provocatively titled "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (but Were Afraid to Ask)." He was only kidding, but zoologist Desmond Morris, in this five-hour video exploration of sexual mores and behavior, is serious--mostly.

Morris careens around the world with his camera crew, peering into the sex lives of various cultures, imparting much scientific and sociological information, but, at the same time, displaying almost a prurient, lip-smacking satisfaction with his task. With abundant flesh filling the screen to keep viewers' interest, he delves into the differences between the sexes and how they evolved; courtship and body language; mating rituals and marriage; monogamy and polygamy; the maternal instinct; and the long-running battle between the sexes, historically and in today's contentious, politically correct world.

The indefatigable Morris leads viewers in a dizzying sprint from...