LES EXPLOITS EROTIQUES DE MACISTE DANS L'ATLANTIDE (Clifford Brown [Jess Franco], 1973)

LES GLOUTONNES (1973, Clifford Brown)

a.k.a. LES EXPLOITS EROTIQUES DE MACISTE DANS L'ATLANTIDE/ Sexes Au Soleli. Video title  (AMERICAN VIDEO) Maciste et les Gloutonnes.  France 1973 Portugal (When I interviewed actor Robert Woods he remembered that this film was shot  partially on the island ofMadiera, around the same time as AL OTRO LADO DE ESPEJO,  during the Summer of 1973.) Directed under his French nom de plume Clifford Brown, this is a fascinating melange due to the  fact thatde Nesle, or somebody, took a supposedly "serious" film and made it into a delirouscollage of  peplum, adventure, comedy, erotic and fantasy motifs. It's Waldemar Wohlfaartd as Maciste  vs. Robert Woods as the evil Caronte, who attempts to overthrow and kill the Queen of Atlantis,  played by Alice Arno. Arno alsoappears in what appear to be added footage of her from another (?) film  lying in bed and pleasuring herself.  Maciste prevails with the help of " Gobblers", the women of  Atlantis. Howard Vernon makes an appearance as Cagliostro (cf. LA MALDICION DES FRANKENSTEIN), the antics through a homemade portal with  his horny attendant, played by the puckishRick Deconninck/Bigitoni. Kali Hansa gives perhaps the most  memorable  performance as the vicious Parka, the consort of Caronte. A very interesting, electic score by Robert Viger [?] is a bonus. There's even a hardcore sex scene  thrown in the mix.This scene features a naked, longhaired man walking slowly down a spiral staircase  in what appears to be a theater as Alice Arno lies on the floor below. The man then hovers over her  as she excites him into ejaculating on her. Another actress, who looks something like Montserrat Prous  (LOS OJOS DEL DOCTOR ORLOFF) is also involved, but it's hard to tell who it is due to  the poor quality VHS dupe I've had to consult.Prous does appear in other non-sexual scenes.  Scenes of cult members covered in white sheets as they wander through a misty forest  seem to be outtakes from similar scenes in LA MALDICION DE FRANKENSTEIN,  the Spanish version of EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN (1972).   Mark Forest (THE LION OF THEBES) was supposed to play Maciste, according to Franco.. The opening shot of Caronte wandering down a misty valley and the first view of the stormy coast  of "Atlantis" are outstanding images, but unless you are a Franco completist you may hate this film.  Franco also made YUKA (also 1973) with Davis/Waldemar Wohlfaart and Robert Woods again   playing the leads in another erotic "peplum" set in the Middle Ages..  (C) Robert Monell