Jess Franco uses "enhanced interrogation" techniques to persuade Princess Arminda (Lina Romay) to reveal her involvement in a plot to extort ransom from his criminal boss Amos Radeck (Victor Mendes) in the minimalist crime film, DIE SKLAVINNEN (1977).
Jess' favorite instrument of torture is a [what else?] cigarette!
The look of this film is fascinating: exteriors shot in Lisbon (including the white castle from SUCCUBUS) while the sleazy sex/drug/crime activities take place in filthy hotel rooms which suggest late 60s/early 70s Andy Warhol productions like TRASH.
Note the "Nighclub Scene" without a Nightclub--only a few chairs, a potted tropical plant, a lamp, a talkative parrot in a cage, all set off against bottomless black wallpaper. It's all cued to funky mid 70s dance music and is bascially harmless fun considering that there are powerful people in real life who think that torture is no problem.
In his mid 1970s Eurocrime universe Victor Mendes was Franco's Sydney Greenstreet and Martine Stedil his Catwoman. They provide solid support to Jess and his probing cigarette in this short, nasty and recommended little thriller.
(C)Robert Monell, 2007
6 comments:
Wasn´t this supposed to be released by Erwin C Dietrich´s Dvd-label VIP? I can´t find it anywhere. What happened to it? I want to see this really bad.
I thought they had it scheduled for release.
That´s what I thought too but I´ve yet to see a trace of an actual dvd. Too bad.
Have you checked at the VIP site? I'm not sure what the future release schedule is.
Also check with Xploited, they might know. Frauen Ohne Unschuld is also one I really like from the Dietrich Franco collection and it's already out on DVD.
Jesús Franco, Genio Español, Español Universal
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