The Movies
Jess Franco! A name to strike fear into the heart of any true cinephile. He’s been called Spain’s answer to Ed Wood and manages to live down to that billing extremely well and yet, for lovers of trash cinema there’s often much to enjoy in a Franco film. With titles like Swedish Nympho Slaves and Diary of a Nymphomaniac you’re not really expecting another Citizen Kane. And how can you not want to see Killer Barbys vs. Dracula?
This second release in Tartan’s Jess Franco Double Bill series pairs a couple of lesser-known offerings from the schlockmeister’s 70s heyday, First up is Devil’s Island Lovers from 1974. One of Franco’s preoccupations, particularly in the 70s, was with imprisoned women. Caged Women (aka Barbed Wire Dolls in the US), Women Behind Bars and Ilsa, the Wicked Warden all came from his fevered mind. Devil’s Island Lovers is one of his earliest entries in the genre.
A fictional island’s corrupt governor who lusts after the girl, Beatriz, frames her and her lover for murder. The plot doesn’t really make a lot of sense, it’s just there to get the girl into the prison, although it takes almost half an hour to get there. The main reason for this is the flashback nature of the narrative; it’s told from the perspective of the couple's lawyer as his investigations begin to uncover what happened to the young lovers.
Once we get to the prison you’d be forgiven for expecting a bit of nudity (or even a lot) and some lesbian action, probably featuring a dominatrix warden. You would be forgiven but you’d also be disappointed. For a Franco film, at least in this, the Spanish version, it’s remarkably tame. It’s also pretty dull and that’s a word you wouldn’t normally expect to hear describing a Franco film.
There isn’t really a lot you can say about the performances since everyone is dubbed into Spanish. Ivan Reitman’s wife Geneviève Robert makes her second appearance in a Franco film (the first was Dracula vs. Frankenstein) as Beatriz and it was obviously enough to put her off acting for almost 20 years (she didn’t make another film until Dave in ’93.) Dennis Price plays the lawyer and it’s sad seeing a once-respected British actor (he starred in Kind Hearts and Coronets ) reduced to doing something like this to pay the bills. He died of cirrhosis of the liver before the films release, a sad end to a career that encompassed great heights and, in working with Mr Franco, the ultimate low.
Article comments
1 - Pat Evans
The man is so incredibly over the top at times, that his films are sometimes just about watchable -- The Awful Dr. Orlof being a case in point. On the other hand I have the 8-disc set and most of them still remain unwatched after over a year. Mind you the god-awful dubbing of these German-produced movies doesn't help.
2 - Ian Woolstencroft
I have the same set Pat and mine also sits neglected on a shelf.
For me there are three levels of Franco
1) The early one who made half way decent films (if a bit over the top) like The Awful Dr. Orloff
2)The passionless hack who made dull films like The Castle of Fu Manchu
3)The man who gives Ed Wood a run for his money with ‘so bad its good’ stuff like Killer Barbys vs. Dracula
You mentioned Germany but Franco will take money from anywhere to make a film. The two in this set are French/Spanish productions and while they’re dubbed into Spanish the alternate footage for Devil’s Island Lovers is in French and at least some of the lip movements seem to match the dialogue.