The Blu-ray transfer of the soft version of this film is, of course, superior in terms of color, definition, focus and detail. It's really quite beautiful in spots, especially the scene where Alice Arno and Lina Romay smoke and talk amidst a purple haze. A very ethereal scene which was used in a different context as the opening credits sequence in Franco's TENDER AND PERVERSE EMANUELLE, made simultaneously with .... LINDA?
But it's nice to have the hard version also, even from an ancient VHS source with the [superior] French soundtrack and new English subtitles. It should also be noted that this film has parallels with NECRONOMICON, LORNA THE EXORCIST, AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO in the way the villain Radeck meets his end getting slashed in the back of the neck by a daemonic, seductive female. A recurring conceit in a career of reverberating images, characters, themes, moments in the teeming filmography of Jess Franco.
Paul Muller, a skilled, prolific Swiss actor who played the drug addicted zombie-kidnapper in Riccardo Freda's 1957 classic I VAMPIRI, confided to me during an interview I conducted with him in 2004 that he was well aware and upset by the often slapdash, deceptive practices Franco would use to get his films made. Muller noted that THE HOT NIGHTS OF LINDA (both soft and hard versions) was made simultaneously with the aforementioned TENDER AND PERVERSE EMANUELLE and "SEXY BLUES" aka KISS ME KILLER, but he was the only actor on set who was in on the scam. He made sure Jess was aware that he was aware and dangled his contract indicating that he better not see himself in two films for the price of one. Muller added, in an exasperated tone, that Jess then proceeded to start yet another film VOYAGE TO ST. TROPEZ, on the same locations, with the same actors, shortly thereafter! That film was later taken over by another Eurocine contract director. Dan Van Husen also told me he was unaware he would be appearing in TENDER AND PERVERSE... while appearing in the film for which he signed, KISS ME KILLER. 1973 was a very busy year indeed for Jess Franco...
Only Jess Franco could make four films simultaneously while pulling the wool over just about everyone's eyes.
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