The great Bruno Nicolai composed one of his best scores for the 1970 Jess Franco film, EUGENIE…THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO  PERVERSION.
A key cue from that memorable soundtrack is reused in the  erotic dance by Erika Blanc, performed for the edification of Antony Steffen (top image) in Emilio P. Miraglia’s softcore giallo THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT IF THE GRAVE (1971), an Italian exploitation title which played local Drive-Ins endlessly in the early 1970s. It worked equally well in both films. Nicolai’s multi layered, multi functional scores graced Euro Westerns, thrillers, Eurospy, Gothic horror, adventures, giallos, Eurocrime and many other genre items for decades. (C) Robert Monell 2015

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It’s the Halloween season and I’m going to watch as many related Jess Franco films as possible and post some thoughts on them here.

Tonight I’m revisiting one of the first of his films I saw on video, way back in 1986, A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD. I saw this surrealistic fever dream of longing and death via a much cut/altered/censored version, on WIZARD VIDEO. It was in an oversize box and the back was illustrated with stills from a different movie. I believe the stills were from THE INVISIBLE DEAD, a 1970 Eurocine effort directed by Pierre Chevalier and featuring Howard Vernon. Or were they stills from Jean Rollin’s abysmal ZOMBIE LAKE (1980), or another Franco release from WIZARD? The memory fades but even in that highly compromised presentation I was intrigued enough to collect numerous other alternate versions, each one more interesting than the previous, until the REDEMPTION Blu-ray gave it the treatmetn it deserved. It was close as possible to a “Director’s Cut” and lost all those tedious, ineptly staged (by Jean Rollin again) zombie attacks. It was a wonderful feeling to finally have it in hand. It also had the longer, zombie enhanced version, as a Special Feature, just in case one gets an attack of nostalgia, WIZARD VIDEO style. The Blu-ray wasn’t perfect but it’s the best yet presentation and includes an interesting, informative audio commentary by Tim Lucas, the English dubbed version, the superior French language track with English subtitles, an extra erotic scene with Alice Arno and Eurocine co., a 16m interview with the director on the making of the film, a documentary on the various alternate versions, and much more.

In any version my favorite part remains the mind bending final reel where the main character is led into the underwater realm of the dead by the “Queen of the Night” (Anne Libert), the entire cast, Jess Franco’s subnormal Basilio included, follow her into the land beyond life, between Heaven and Hell, a non-place where one spends eternity. Filmed inexpensively and quickly, with an experimental edge, using wide angle lenses, H.G. Lewis style splatter and Jungian symbolism, this is like no other Jess Franco film. It stands alone.

Basilio (Jess Franco) guides Christina (Christina Von Blanc) into the realm of the living dead, in this case the dysfunctional family from Hell. Filmed on oneiric, overgrown, architecturally stunning locations near Sintra, Portugal, this film is more like a short story by Poe, or Becquer (according to the director), or a macabre poem by Baudelaire, than typical horror product, but one infused with the personal poetry and bizarre iconography of Jess Franco. It could be described as Jacques Lacan meets Ted V. Mikels. A monograph could be composed on the use of water imagery. With a great, somber, lyrical score by Bruno Nicolai.

I would never have thought when renting the ancient WIZARD VIDEO 30 years ago that the film would ever get this deluxe treatment. And there are more Jess Franco films to come in 2016, remastered in HD. from Bret Wood and the folks at REDEMPTION. Happy Halloween!

(C) Robert Monell, 2015

On the same day and date Severin’s sister label Intervision Picture Corp will release the brand new feature length documentary THE TRAIL OF DRACULA – an in-depth look at the lord of the vampires’ origins, the creation of Bram Stoker?s novel, and his journey through popular entertainment of the 20th century. The DVD will also include audio interviews with several actors who have played the Count including Christopher Lee and Udo Kier and over 90 minutes of Dracula movie trailers.

These are the advance specs for Severin’s upcoming HD release of Jess Franco’s EL CONDE DRACULA. It looks like this will be released sometime in December. Another fully loaded package, including the welcome inclusion of Pere Portabella’s experimental documentary, CUADECUC, VAMPIR (1970)…

Uncut Feature in HD (Includes Controversial Previously Deleted Baby Scene) at Franco’s Approved Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
CUADECUC, VAMPIR (1970): Experimental ‘Making Of’ Feature By Pere Portabella
Audio Commentary with horror historian David Del Valle and Actress Maria Rohm
Beloved Count Interview with Director Jess Franco
An Interview With Actor Jack Taylor
‘Handsome Harker’ Interview With Actor Fred Williams
Christopher Lee Reads Dracula
’Stake Holders’ An Appreciation By Filmmaker Christophe Gans
German Trailer

My own first viewing of this title was via the NTA VIDEO (see above image gallery), so finally seeing it in HD promises to be a revelation.

Watching Lina Romay as “Candy Coster” is like entering another Jess Franco conundrum, especially in this film. Lina Romay is credited as Candy Coster, playing “Candy” who is acting out a script based on a non-existent memoir by Candy Coster, INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF AN EXHIBITIONIST, adapted by one “D. Khunne Jr.” one of the numerous beards of Jess Franco, whose name doesn’t appear in the credits. The director is also credited as Candy Coster.

Lina Romay was a talented director, editor and competent assistant to Jess Franco, as well as being his most frequent lead actress and the leading lady in his life until her too-early death in 2012.

Looking at the very best of Jess Franco’s films made for producer Erwin C. Dietrich’s Elite Film co. in Zurich, I would count the visually delirious DAS FRAUENHAUS aka BLUE RITA as one of the most original in terms of the “look” alone, along with my own favorite, DORIANA GRAY (1976). Of course, JACK THE RIPPER and LOVE LETTERS OF A PORTUGUESE NUN (both also 1976) are also superior to the welter of WIP and Women in Peril Franco entries made mostly in 1976-1977.

Franco made at least 15 films in a two year period for the producer, including two which only surfaced in the last few years (WEISSE HAUT UND SCHWARZE SCHENKEL, long thought a Dietrich-directed hardcore from 1976, will be covered here in the future). BLUE RITA could be called a Women In Peril subgenre item but it’s porno-comic book aesthetic, seemingly painted by Andy Warhol in his Campbell Soup can phase or photographed by Richard Avedon, qualifies it as a more personal remake of the failed Adult Comic Book THE GIRL FROM RIO/SUMURU 2, a 1968 shot in Rio Eurospy adventure (without a real Eurospy!) written and produced by the clever Harry Alan Towers.

Shot in erotic sci-fi interiors including see-through plastic furniture, ubiquitous mannequins, secret torture cages wherein drugged diplomats and spies are sexually stimulated, blackmailed and controlled through a tease and denial regimen which include a green slimy fluid which is poured over their chained, naked bodies during sado-erotic interrogation. This all occurs within the walls of the Blue Rita club, located in a once upscale area of Paris. A men’s club where women perform exotic dances to lure the customers into the clandestine brothel located in the upper floors. It’s all very much like NAKED SUPER WITCHES OF THE RIO AMORE aka CAPTIVE WOMEN (1980), complete with the “love drug” from that and other Jess Franco adventures.

The phosphorescent colored smoke, tropical color gel lighting, weird control panels complete with red, green and yellow lights, stainless steel doorways leading to canary yellow love chambers, are all part of the dream-fantasy. There is no reality here whatsoever. It’s James Bond’s worst nightmare, or maybe his most closest guarded fantasy. Rita (Marine Flety) has a violet hairdo, a mean streak and is sexually frustrated to the point where she has to be given regular vaginal injections. The always welcome Pamela Stanford (“Standford” in the German credits; there’s also a reported hard French version titled BLUE RITA instead of DAS FRAUENHAUS. Anyone have any information on that alternate?) appears as the club hench-woman Gina, who is introduced wearing a gas mask and ruthless runs down a sex worker.

It’s all very other dimensional, West German soft-core graphic novel lightweight but that’s OK. It’s Uncle Jess making another European Trash Cinema erotic comic book filled with nonsense adventures acted out by seductive, dangerous women where the males of  the species are dummies, dupes and sex objects.

DP Ruedi Kuttel gives it all a day glow sheen and at times it seems to want to open up into full 3 D delirium. Big brute Eric Falk appears as Iron Curtain spymaster Janosch Lasssard who becomes the focus of the intrigue when an Interpol double agent is introduced. Catherine Coutet appears as The Princess, who has a third eye painted on her forehead and seems a kind of spiritual red herring.  Franco regular Olivier Mathot is a victim of the sex trap and Henri Guegan is yet another Inspector Tanner, the universal representation of Law and Order in the world of Jess Franco.  LORNA, THE EXORCIST’s Guy Delmore also is a welcome presence as Bergen, another typical Franco henchman.

This Guest Blog by Michael Hinerman looks at fascinating parallels between the careers of two famous, and controversial, Spanish filmmakers:

Prolific Spanish film director Jess Franco is usually derided as a hack, while his Surrealist compatriot Luis Bunuel is lauded as a master. But there are interesting parallels between the two men and their work. Both men collaborated with the extraordinary screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, and both were condemned by the Catholic Church as “the most dangerous filmmakers in the world”. More strikingly, both Bunuel and Franco were among the first filmmakers to explore the themes and adapt the works of the Divine Marquis, Donatien Alphonse François, the Marquis de Sade; Bunuel in his scandalous L’AGE d’OR (1930), and Franco beginning with JUSTINE and EUGENIE (both 1969), and continuing through numerous productions throughout his long career.

Robert Kuhn (Khunne?), a customer at an upscale strip club in Zurich watches a dancer closely one night. She comes over to his table and invites him to her apartment. After making love, the dancer suddenly jumps out of the upper story window. She is hospitalized and the customer is jailed. His wife (Pilar Coll) visits him, tells him it is over between them, but promises to help him.

The wife then visits the club where she meets the owner, Lena (Kali Hansa), who also performs there and was the lover of the hospitalized performer. She invites the wife to her apartment, they make love and she tells the story behind the attempted suicide of her lover.  That dancer and some footage also appears in The Slaves (1976).

A severe, budget imposed minimalism was imposed by producer Erwin C. Dietrich on this quickly made softcore, which was also made into a hardcore variant, as was sometimes the case with Franco’s Dietrich productions, most notably DAS BILDNIS DER DORIANA GRAY, also made in 1976.This is nowhere near the quality of that film. One gets the impression that the hardcore inserts, which inflate this films runtime by about 5 minutes, from 74/75 to 75/80m, were offered to various venues, depending on the law and clientele.

Basically a remake of the  much more personal LE JOURNAL INTIME D’UNE NYMPHOMANE (1972), this film represents yet another phase of the director’s career, between the early 1970s burst of personal creativity and looking toward the 1980s Spanish restoration, including the verdant Golden Films Internacional period.

There’s no real acting here, but Kali Hansi tries her best to create a credible character, mostly succeeding. The budget limits the action to club, apartment, jailhouse interiors which all look like one constantly redressed set. Cheap. But the smoke and mirrors onstage performances, opening with the display of flesh and the gaze of the customer, refreshes memories of the director’s primary theme of the dynamic between performance and watching.

A series of rapidly composed, ingeniously placed cubist compositions within a minimalist framework.

This film was thought to be a lost Erwin C Dietrich film (OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO and other references) but was rediscovered and remastered in HD in 2014 by the producer and released as part of his JESS FRANCO GOLDEN GOYA COLLECTION. The package includes the soft and hard versions, along with interviews with Eric Falk and Franco.

This is definitely a Jess Franco film, if a decidedly minor effort in the workaday world of the Dietrich porn operation.

(C) Robert Monell, 2015

Having just finished taking in Severin Film’s new HD presentation of Jess Franco’s EL CONDE DRACULA (1969), along with Pere Portabella’s highly original, experimental documentary about the making of the film, also making its North American HD premiere, I would immediately rank this as one of the must-have Blu-ray releases of the year. Much like Severin’s equally impressive Barbara Steele set, it seems specifically designed for fans, scholars and horror film collectors all at the same time. It allows us to see Jess Franco’s COUNT DRACULA as never before, with layer after layer of detail, color and definition, which have been missing from all previous releases, finally available.  It calls for an in depth reevaluation of the film itself while satisfying numerous questions about Christopher Lee’s interpretations of the character, the nature of Jess Franco’s input into the production and the placement of this version in horror film history.

Whatever one thinks of the film itself, it looks and sounds magnificent here. Remastered in 1080p full HD, these two features represent a crucial turning point in horror film history and are now together to be watched, evaluated, compared and revisited.

Equally important is the HD restoration of Pere Portabella’s CUADECUC-VAMPIR, an experimental masterwork in its own right. This 1971 B&W film was shot during the production of EL CONDE DRACULA in late 1969. It shows Jess Franco, Christopher Lee, Soledad Miranda, Maria Rohm and the impressive supporting cast at work and as never seen in any other video presentation. It may be the best ever making of…documentary, and it’s certainly the most original.

Portabella, who co-produced the banned-in-Spain VIRIDIANA (1961), was the same kind of artistic outlaw as Bunuel and Jess Franco, but his approach is at the opposite end of the representational spectrum from Franco’s staging of Harry Alan Towers commercial production.  Portabella’s startling, abstract soundtrack provides an atmospheric counterpoint to what is seen, deconstructs the generic elements and provides an allegorical narrative about making a commercial art work in Francisco Franco’s Spain. Both films, when seen together in HD, allow a fascinating new perspective on EL CONDE DRACULA,  Jess Franco’s career and European genre cinema of that period.

A high spirited, entertaining, informative commentary by film historian David Del Valle and Maria Rohm has some new reveals about the shoot and other Jess Franco productions of the era. Interviews with Jack Taylor, Fred Williams (Jonathan Harker), Jess Franco and  much more make this a fully loaded package. I’ll be doing a much more detailed breakdown of EL CONDE DRACULA and this impressive presentation in the near future.

*This appears to have been restored in HD from original French elements and some brief material cut from other versions (the distraught mother looking her baby at the castle, which is missing from the previous DARK SKY DVD) has been restored, making this 98m presentation the most complete version possible.  The opening and closing credits are in French and Italian, with Augusto Finocchi credited as screenwriter. Strangely, co-writer and co-producer Harry Alan Towers is not credited at all on this print.

(C) Robert Monell, 2015

Vote on the best Jess Franco DVD/Bluray @ http://www.robertmonell.blogspot.com 

3 Jess Franco Films in HD! The other films are CELESTINE and PLAISIR A TROIS. None are English friendly. Hoping for a future English friendly HD release of PLAISIR…

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Shot by Raoul Artigot, Jess Franco’s 1972 melding of historical melodrama, bloody torture scenes, extended erotic displays of nuns-in-heat, and witchcraft is an ambitious project constructed on a shoestring budget with all the merits and deficits of products created during the busy director’s early 1970s period. Obviously made to cash in on the success of Ken Russell’s 1971 THE DEVILS, a lavishly budgeted film in contrast featuring such international stars as Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, LES DEMONS nonetheless makes a unique visual impression and looks forward to such major films as LORNA, THE EXORCIST (1974).

On the surface it’s a kind of remake of his 1970 Christopher Lee vehicle THE BLOODY JUDGE. But this is a more fantastical telling of the story of witch-burning Judge Jeffries. LES DEMONS doesn’t even pretend to seriously deal with the historical/political reality which existed in England during the 17th Century, which was the background of the Inquisition. Christopher Lee and Producer-co-writer Harry Alan Towers did make efforts toward authenticity in the 1970 film but Franco’s main concern here is in erotic-horrific displays of flesh and blood… and architecture.

Franco himself was writing the script this time “based on a novel by David Khunne” and that makes all the difference. Shot in Portugal, an anti-clerical/anti-General Francisco Franco can be read into the proceedings. Franco was obviously fascinated with the local period architecture and from the very first shots compulsively zooms into and out of images of stone crosses and the elaborate facades. What wonders what his DP was thinking. Religion and the breathtaking architecture are the ironic backdrops for the horrors which follow. In a world where religious certitude is aligned with political power anyone can be condemned as a witch or traitor at a moment’s notice. And religion is the other side of the mirror of superstition. The architecture is frozen rapture. This is visually expressed in these opening images and throughout. But what is behind these facades?

Franco’s insistent and aggressive use of the telezoom is often noted and criticized, but here it is used as a kind of aesthetic tool as well as an investigatory device. We are forced to look closely at these pretentious structures and displays of nudity to really see the ugly reality beneath. Sex is used as a power tool here, both by Jeffries and his cohort, Lady de Winter (Karin Field). Satan himself, or a well appointed demon, as uses sex to seduce and conquer Marguerite (Britt Nichols) as the camera zooms past the rape of the girl into the elaborate crucifix hanging on the wall. His appearance is similar to the way the supernatural entry of Lorna (Pamela Stanford) into Lina Romay’s bedroom is handled in LORNA, THE EXORCIST. Franco’s sex demons seem to float in through the walls of rooms and vanish just as quickly.

Meanwhile, Lord Jeffries sits at his desk, photographed with an extreme wide angle lens, calmly issuing more death/torture decrees. The film opens and closes with the torture of an old woman and then Marguerite, her daughter, in a dimly candlelit chamber which resembles a medieval church. Jeffries is positioned as the high priest of hypocrisy, pain and death. He takes time out to humiliate Marguerite’s sister (Anne Libert) with the ease of a sociopath.

Once again, Franco stages scenes of torture with an avid audience embedded in the mise-en-scene, as when Lady de Winter and Renfield (Alberto Dalbes) enjoy the torture of an innocent woman from an anteroom separated by iron bars from the main torture chamber. One thinks of the opening sado-erotic shows in NECRONOMICON (1967) and EXORCISM (1974), to name a few. The audience watching the film is immediately implicated along with the audience within the diegesis of the action. What are we watching? And why are we watching? The film ends with another witch created by the very power structures designed to repress and punish witchcraft. A vicious cycle which would have been appreciated by the Marquis De Sade.

One of approximately 10 films shot in the same year, including the “classic monster” trilogy of DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN, LA FILLE DE DRACULA, THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN-LES DEMONS is a cut-rate but nonetheless personal and visually fascinating effort, enhanced by an anachronistic acid rock musical score which was later added by Robert De Nesle and sound editor Gerard Kikoine.

Appreciate the architecture, over which the beard “Clifford Brown” appears, enjoy the show… you may be next!

(C) Robert Monell, 2016

A DVD/Blu-ray company has asked me what Jess Franco films fans most want to see on Blu-ray in the next year and beyond. We all know several titles are coming in HD, but what titles would you like beyond those in the next year or so? Put your list right here in the EL FRANCONOMICON group reply section.

Here’s your chance to have your voice heard. The lists will be read and evaluated. Here’s my list:

AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO (1973): One of the two or three all time best Jess Franco films is a complex, musical murder mystery featuring an award winning performance by Emma Cohen.

LA NOCHE DE LOS SEXOS ABIERTOS (1982): A secret agent (Antonio Mayans) and a nightclub performer (Lina Romay) conduct a violent investigation to locate hidden Nazi treasure. A colorful, atmospheric thriller, stylishly filmed on Canary Island locales with a surprise ending involving a Liszt composition. One of Franco’s “black films” as he called it. Great music and visuals!

NECRONOMICON (1967) aka SUCCUBUS: Still my all time favorite Jess Franco title. This was the one where he broke free and made exactly the film he wanted to make. A delirious, erotic dreamscape which drifts into the viewer’s unconscious mind as an exotic dancer controlled by a demon conducts a harvest of corrupted souls in the Berlin nightclub scene.

MIL SEXOS TIENE LA NOCHE: (1982) Another delirious thriller set in the nightclub world of the Canary Islands. A corrupt performer and his psychic partner (Lina Romay) are not what they seem as a group of criminals attempt to wipe each other out after a robbery. Once again, an almost dialogue free, onieric mystery.

BOTAS NEGRAS LATIGO DE CUERO (1982): Franco’s favorite detective, Al Pereira, meets his match when the ruthless Candy (Lina Romay) involves him in a deadly criminal trap. A gorgeous neo-noir with a sinister score and terrific performances by Antonio Mayans and Lina Romay. An intense S&M interrogation is just one of the hurdles Al must face in this twisted tale which recalls the best Film Noirs of the 1940s.

LA MANSION DE LOS MUERTOS VIVIENTES (1982): A group of crazed monks conduct human sacrifices of tourists at a monastery located near a luxury resort. Jess Franco’s allegory of the Catholic Church’s stranglehold on Spanish culture. The sexual violence and erotic interludes are dialed up way past the maximum here.

EUGENIE DE SADE (1970): My favorite Franco Sade adaptation features my favorite Soledad Miranda performance. One of Jess Franco’s most personal works.

LOS BLUES DE LA CALLE POP (aventuras de Felipe Marlboro, volumen 8)(1984): a punk-styled comic strip on film features a private detective (Antonio Mayans) swimming though the lower depths of Shit City. This film anticipates such more recent films as SIN CITY by decades. An entertaining visual treat with a special role for Jess Franco. Play it again, Jess!

THE CRIMES OF USHER (1983): the long lost original version of the Poe classic, with the more familiar NEUROSIS as a special feature on a double disc set.

SINFONIA EROTICA (1979): Another gorgeously lensed Sade adaptation is even more visually stunning than its model, PLAISIR A TROIS.

LES EBRANLEES (1972): Maybe the sleaziest of the Al Pereira adventures, this time Al is played by Howard Vernon. The burnt out PI investigates a ruthless white slavery ring as he descends into a netherworld of sex and violence.

LES GRANDES EMMERDEUSES (1974): I seem to be in the minority for liking this ultra cheap Eurospy joyride but any film featuring Pamela Stanford and Lina Romay as high spirited diamond thieves needs some of a digital release! An absolute delight from start to finish.

EL SEXO ESTA LOCO (1980): an outlandish, surreal cycle of private Jess Franco jokes revolving around a nightclub troupe. UFOS, aliens and a secret satanic cult are also involved.

EL SINIESTRO DR. ORLOF (1982): My favorite of the Dr. Orloff series features Howard Vernon as the aged mad scientist and Antonio Mayans as his violently demented son. A visually overwhelming film with an abstract synth score performed by the director himself. Filled with weird electronic experiments, sexual violence and a science fiction twist at the end.

EUGENIE, HISTORIA DE UNA PERVERSION (1980): Forget it, it probably won’t happen for various reasons, but this is a favorite version of Sade’s EUGENIE, THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION. Once again, surreal imagery dominates the mise en scene as a demented killer living in a Ricardo Bofill beach house freaks out.

GEMIDOS DE PLACER *1982: A daring stylistic experiment. As in Hitchcock’s ROPE Franco shoots this story of lust and murder in extremely long, unbroken plan sequences. There are only about several dozen individual shots in the entire film as the camera roams around a villa where madness and death erupt. * Released on Spanish DVD.

Also HD upgrades of VENUS IN FURS, SINNER, LORNA, THE EXORCIST would be nice and may be in the works.

C) Robert Monell, 2016

A burnt-out, morally compromised Al Pereira (Howard Vernon) considers the man, or woman, in the mirror….

A bloody woman-on-woman S&M performance at La Maison Du Vice becomes reality in the final scene (cf NECRONOMICON-1967)..

Kali Hansa is the Alpha Woman who dances a ferocious dance and administers hardcore torture when needed….

There are only red and whites in La Maison Du Vice…. And don’t hold your breath waiting for a HD edition of this obscurity.

The enthusiastic hostess (Esther Moser, GRETA THE MAD BUTCHER) of a cable broadcast Reality Television program focused on all aspects of eroticism, takes the audience on an interactive journey to various cities around the world, visiting notorious sex venues, sometimes taking part in the action as she breathlessly promises more to come. This is a review of the hardcore 87m version of this Mondo style film, which had been unavailable for many years, and is now out on Blu-ray from Producer Erwin C. Dietrich’s Ascot company.

MONDO EROTICO-AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BEDS, is not first, second or even third tier Jess Franco. It’s more of a curiosity which provokes the question: What is a Jess Franco film?  In this case I would guardedly agree with the IMDB listing of this as an Erwin C. Dietrich-Jess Franco composite, with nary a trace of Franco’s name in the credits of the hardcore version. As with so many Jess Franco films it opens as a “show” and the viewer is the audience. The cable viewers are invisible and we are rather like the protagonist in David Cronenberg’s  VIDEODROME (1983), locked into position in front of a broadcast where exotic, and sometimes violent, sexual displays are offered. All similarities end there, though, since it’s made clear that this is lighthearted entertainment and never as dangerous as it appears to be onstage.

The opening credits roll over stock footage of New York City, from the waterfront to 42nd street, before finally settling down into a sadomasochistic ritual set in Greenwich Village. Of course, Jess Franco didn’t shoot any of this or any of the further footage of world sex capitals. Cu to a cramped interior (all the interiors seem to have been shot in the same small studio stage, a rather narrow space which forces the eye to focus toward the back of the composition, creating a minimalist sense of depth.

This first episode immediately evokes the opening S&M performances of NECRONOMICON (1967) and EXORCISME (1974). A naked woman is tied to an X shaped crucifix, tortured and sexually mutilated with a sword as upscale libertines lounge and enjoy the Sadean spectacle. Peter Baumgartner’s camera performs some minor wonders here, given the severely limited mise en scene, with eye catching color, lighting and framing. Baumgartner lensed most of the Franco-Dietrich product and he was a skilled, reliable craftsman. He and the producer also supervised the transfers of these Golden Goya Blu-rays, which were well preserved and maintained under Dietrich’s stewardship in his Zurich based operation over the decades. This explains why they look superior to most other Franco Blu-ray releases, and they are all worth the investment in terms of collect-ability/video/audio quality. Jess Franco is credited as DP on the box, but knowing Baumgartner’s work I would give the nod to him, with a Jess Franco assist for certain scenes, such as the first episode.

Most of the other episodes, set in Copenhagen, San Francisco, Amsterdam and Hamburg, are strongly reminiscent of any number of Dietrich directed soft/hardcore products. An episode set in the Antilles, a staged virginity ritual, does have some of the amusingly “native” quality of the Franco-Brauner ROBINSON UND SEINE WILDEN SKLAVINNEN (1971), a minor delight but certainly superior to this and certainly a Jess Franco film all the way. The least Franco-esque episode, set in an Adult Ed sex class, where masturbation aids are displayed and techniques demonstrated, is as low brow, crude and dim-witted as possible. It could have been taken from any Dietrich/West German sex report film of that era, but has no sense of Franco’s personal humor, subversive touches or redeeming style. There’s no acting or interesting characters in this film, although Ms. Moser is an enthusiastic hostess, if lacking in anything approaching charm. The episode about a dominatrix is similarly witless and runs much too long.

Another episode, set in an Istanbul brothel, uses the same set decorations, actors (including Eric Falk and Pilar Coll) and camera set-ups as MADCHEN IM NACHTVERKEHR/HEIDER SEX IM NACHTVERKEHR, yet another 1976 hard/softcore item, which I would definitely classify as a Franco -directed due to its sense of visual irony, droll humor and sometimes ethereal atmosphere. That one has no exteriors whatsoever and is sometimes attributed to Dietrich in references. It deserves its own separate review  which I’ll post  here in the future.

For the record, DAS FRAUENHAUS aka BLUE RITA aka DAS BILDNIS DER DORIANA GRAY remain personal favorites among the Franco-Dietrich canon. The appearance of the title of Blu-ray after the passing of Jess Franco takes away the possibility of him confirming of denying ownership of this title. It’s certainly slick marketing by Ascot Elite. Far from a crucial viewing or even a recommended one, it does confirm how the stylistic values and distinctive personal vision of Jess Franco cannot be faked or emulated. One wonders if the title AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BEDS is an in-joke referring to the supposed Jess Franco presence (as an extra?) in the 1956 Hollywood Jules Verne epic AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.

More Franco-related than anything approaching an auteur piece, this is not a must-have or even required viewing. If the relevant question is this: Outside of something partially or wholly directed by Jess Franco, what exactly is a “Jess Franco” film? A quick answer would be, not MONDO EROTICO-IM 80 BETTTEN UM DIE WELT.

(C) Robert Monell, 2016

Mine is EL SINIESTRO DOCTOR ORLOFF aka Experimentos Macabros (1982), because it has both Howard Vernon as the original Doctor Orloff and Antonio Mayans as his demented scientist son. They both deliver superb performances and seeing the father-son conflict adds layers of meaning to the series.

I above all appreciate the hallucinatory color stylization of the imagery, the outre synthesizer score, performed by Jess Franco on the Profeto 5. The science fiction style ending, which projects the theme into an ether dimension, is a unique twist which gives it a 21st Century quality.  It also has my favorite Jess cameo as Manolo, the highly amusing “witness.”

It really needs to have a HD release with English subtitles for its non Spanish speaking viewers. The other two, EL SECRETO DEL DOCTOR ORLOFF (1962) and LOS OJOS SINIESTROS DEL DOCTOR ORLOFF (1973, would also benefit from HD releases. Since Eurocine is he owner of EL SECRETO DEL DOCTOR ORLOFF’s rights I would hope that a company like REDEMPTION or SEVERIN would consider a Blu-ray release in the future.

(C) Robert Monell

es Grandes Emmerdeuses
1974 82 MINUTES European Trash Cinema (U.S. import) DIRECTED BY CLIFFORD BROWN (JESUS FRANCO; Produced by Robert de Nesle-C.F.F.P>Paris; Screenplay by David Khunne; DP: Etienne Rosenfeld; Louis Soulanes; Music: Andre Benichou [Robert Viger?]; P: Ramon Ardid. 82m Eastmancolor;

ABOVE: Bach-rock composer-guitarist Andre Benichou; who also scored Jess Franco’s LORNA, THE EXORCIST (1974); THE OBSCENE MIRROR (1973); EXORCISME (1974); among other titles.

WITH: LINA ROMAY (Pina) PAMELA SANFORD [Monique Delaunay] (Tina), Willy Braque [Guy Peraud] (Kashfi), Raymond Hardy [ Ramon Ardid] (Agent 0069, Perez), Monica Swinn, Lise Franval [Lisa Ferrera] (Martine), Richard de Conninck, Fred Williams, Susuki (Radeck’s female friend), Jess Franco(Martin)

(a.k.a. LES EMMERDEUSES; LES PETITES VICIEUSES FONT; LES GRANDES EMMERDEUSES aka Sexy a Go-Go)

A couple of air-headed diamond smugglers, Pina (Lina Romay) and Tina (Pamela Stanford),  travel to Istanbul to fence the jewels (guess where they hide the gems), as two agents track them. The women are captured by a criminal gang also on the trail of the diamonds. The women manage to elude their pursuers through the use of the oldest trick in the book: sex. A much more sexually explicit “Red Lips” style crime adventure than such titles as the 1960 LABIOS ROJOS or ROTE LIPPEN/ El caso de las dos bellezas (1967) [TWO UNDERCOVER ANGELS], this has never had a HQ video* or any DVD release of which I am aware.

ABOVE: Lina Romay as Pina,  one of our charming diamond smugglers, in LES GRANDES EMMERDEUSES/LES EMMERDEUSES.

This minor spy/sex comedy-adventure starts as an almost-hardcore romp with the camera locked in close-up on our heroines’ pudenda, as they talk directly to the audience and explain how they eluded ruthless international criminals and got away with a stash of diamonds. This kind of interactive cinema, a sexual come-on for the raincoat crowd, also can be found in Franco’s MIDNIGHT PARTY (1975), which opens with Lina Romay stimulating herself and the audience as she directly addresses them.

The film is amusing, mainly due to the charms of Lina Romay and Pamela Standford, who really  seem to be enjoying teasing the camera/audience. It’s a lot of harmless fun in a Eurospy masque. Franco also hams it up with his telezoom lens, which is as overactive as ever, zooming in on everything from jets passing overhead to more intimate places. Romay spends most the time nude (except for black gloves pulled up to her elbows), while Stanford dons an outrageous wrap-around cat mask and leopard skin tights in order to distract the enemy.

The Eurospy element is confined to the presence of, bumbling police agents,  played by Franco regulars Bigotini and Ramón Ardid, who both look like they had a ball during the shoot. There’s a mad scientist subplot (featuring a Doctor Radeck. Who else?) and even a kind of Frankenstein creature who must be dealt with (cf THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN-1972, which, in comparison, looks like it was set, and made, in 1872!),

Franco recycles some of the score from his sexy peplum LES GLOUTONNES (1973). Curiously enough, the music is credited to Robert Viger in that film, while here Andre Benichou is listed as the composer. The same haunting piano theme in LES GRANDES EMMERDEUSES can also be heard in several other Franco titles from that period, including the opening credit sequence in LE MIROIR OBSCENE (1974). It is repeated as a guitar-driven acid rock theme throughout the film.*  Some of the director’s freewheeling camera antics recall certain 16mm experimental features of the 1960s New York Underground (Jack Smith, Andy Warhol).

[Additional comments to my original 1999 published review:
Seeing this over 15 years later made me appreciate Franco’s sheer creativity in the face of dire poverty all the more. It looks like this was shot in Super 8mm, or maybe just regular 8mm! I highly doubt there was a formal script and most of it takes place in cheap looking hotel rooms (hmmm… where I have seen those rooms before?).

There’s even a “monster” who shows up in this. The “thing” is created by yet another evil “Radeck” who uses it to threaten our heroines. It’s really just a very ugly guy (I hesitate to use the word “actor”).

Jess Franco, who may or may not be playing Dr. Radeck {hey, it’s in French and there’s a lot of talk and utter confusion throughout! NOTE: It’s heavy-set hood Victor Mendes}, looks really spaced out or hyped up on something, pacing around yet another sleazy hotel room somewhere in Portugal or the South of France.

Willy Braque (Guy Peraud), a familiar face from a number of Jean Rollin films (DEMONIACS; LIPS OF BLOOD), is even stranger looking than Jess Franco! This guy looks like he hasn’t had a decent meal in his life. In other words, he’s perfectly credible as the “connection” Kashfi.

Don’t expect to see this on R1 DVD anytime soon. But you never know…

And over ten years on I still can’t get over Pamela Stanford’s cat mask….]

*Thanks to the BACH CANTATA WEBSITE for crediting my musical research on this film’s score on my Jess Franco blog http://www.robertmonell.blogspot.com. It’s becoming a rare pleasure to be fully credited for Internet writing in our age of impatient Social Media hijacking, if not piracy. So, I tip my hat to them.

Andre Benichou (Electric Guitar, Arranger) – Short Biography

My favorite alternate title of this is SEXY A GO-GO.

(C) 2000; Updated 3/19, 2016 by Robert Monell