LES GLOUTONNES /THE GREEDY/THE EROTIC EXPLOITS OF MACISTE IN ATLANTIS (Clifford Brown, 1973

LES GLOUTONNES /THE GREEDY/THE EROTIC EXPLOITS OF MACISTE IN ATLANTIS (1973) According to legend, a group of women escaped from Atlantis just before the destruction of the continent. They took refuge on a mysterious island, and founded a kingdom. Men who dared approach the island, were devoured by these sexually voracious Atlanteans, and thus they were called “gobblers”... Crew: Robert De Nesle (Producer), Robert Viger (Music) Details Genres: Peplum, Erotic, Fantasy, Adventure Releases: 1975 (Franco) Cast: Wal Davis Alice Arno Robert Woods Montserrat Prous Lina Romay Kali Hansa Chantal Broquet Howard Vernon Richard Bigotini Caroline Rivière Pamela Stanford Roger Sarbib Thanks to Mario Giguere..

MACISTE ET LES GLOUTONNES/LES GLOUTONNES /THE GREEDY/LES EXPLOITS EROTIQUES DE MACISTE DANS L’ATLANTIDE (1973) 32531-les-gloutonnes-0-230-0-341-cropro Here’s an update of my review of LES GLOUTONNES, Jess Franco’s Z budget peplum from 1973. Actually, this and YUKA/THE LUSTFUL AMAZONS were shot back-to-back or, since it’s Jess Franco, simultaneously, with same cast, on the same locations. They’re odd wonderments, unpretentious, no-budget fun. Originally published by the wonderful Club Des Monstres in 2008.

Directed under his oft employed beard, Clifford Brown, this is a fascinating mess due to the fact that Robert de Nesle and co. took a supposedly «serious» movie and made it into a delirious collage of peplum, adventure, comedy, erotic and fantasy patterns. It’s Wal Davis as the legendary Maciste (first seen in the 1913 Italian epic, CABIRIA) vs. Robert Woods (LA COMTESSE PERVERSE) as the explorer Caronte, who, turned by the evil sorceress Parka (Kali Hansa), attempts to overthrow and kill the Queen of Atlantis, played by Alice Arno. Maciste prevails with the help of «the gobblers», the lost women of Atlantis. Howard Vernon makes an appearance as Cagliostro (cf LA MALDICION DES FRANKENSTEIN), who, along with his puckish assistant (Richard De Conninick), views the erotic adventures via a magical globe. A very interesting, eclectic score, credited to Robert Viger [?], is a bonus. The shot-on-Madeira locations are rather intoxicating, especially explored by the director’s trademark telezoom lens in the manner of the much more somber LA COMTESSE NOIRE, also 1973.

There’s even a hardcore sex scene thrown in the mix, with a nude man descending a spiral staircase to ejacute Arno and another actress with pent up white fluid which looks like mayonnaise. Mark Forest was originally supposed to play Maciste, according to Franco, but another actor was mistakenly engaged. Davis (rn Wadlemar Wohlfart) ending up as a goofy looking Maciste. The opening sequence of Robert Woods exploring a misty valley and the first view of the stormy coast of «Atlantis» are outstandingly atmospheric, but unless you are a Franco completest you may hate this film. The emergence of a platoon of white sheeted ghouls looks like outtakes from the alternate Spanish version of EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN while some additional footge of Alice Arno reading a book (a Jess Franco novelization of the film?) looks like alternate footage from one of the many versions of THE HOT NIGHTS OF LINDA. Franco also made YUKA (also 1973 with Davis / Wohlfahrt Waldemar and Robert Woods playing the leads), another erotic «peplum» set in the Middle Ages. Both would make a nice double bill on a High Def restoration,but don't hold your breath. I could watch this film on a 20 hour loop or as an endlessly expanded termite epic. It’s the kind of film Robert Siodmak (an idol of Tio Jess) would make late in his career and everyone would dismiss as an absurdity. But it’s sublime in its unapologetic absurdity. Made even more absurd by the commercial demands of Robert De Nesle which deformed this intended "somber" peplum into delirious adventure made on the far-side of Franco's own genre specifications.

But anything featuring Howard Vernon as Cagliostro can't be all bad. (C) Robert Monell 2010-2024

UNA RAJITA PARA DOS (Jess Franco, 1984)

UNA RAJITA PARA DOS (1984)

Credited to «Lulu La Verne» UNA RAJITA PARA DOS (rough translation: A PUSSY FOR TWO) would qualify, with its numerous close-ups of objects being removed from rectums, as Jess Franco’s most disgusting film. Nevertheless, it is not an uninteresting dip into the sordid waters of scatological hardcore. Below: Jess Franco as the hotel voyeur in UNA RAJITA PARA DOS.

Spy (Emilio Linder) in UNA RAJITA PARA DOS (Lulu La Verne, 1982)

Everyone is a spy in this film, including Jess Franco himself as a hotel clerk-voyeur. The most amusing character is a happy-go-lucky spy nicknamed «The Queen» (Franco regular Antonio Mayans). His spyware includes the kind of audio pick-up that James Bond might have used in one of his classic adventures, enjoying the sounds of the various erotic adventures in adjacent hotel rooms. Tommy Proculi aka Antonio Mayans practices audio voyeurism as a gay Russian spy named «The Queen»….. The setting is the Flamingo Hotel located on the exotic Costa del Sol. Linda is a female spy who is attempting to recover some stolen microfilm secreted in the rectum of a male agent (Johnny Poyales aka Jose Llamas). Her team includes such 1980s Franco players as Maria del Carmen Nieto (MANSION OF THE LIVING DEAD) and Emilio Linder (DIAMONDS OF KILAMANJARO). The Queen is also on the trail of the microfilm. [Below: the gay spy]

Lina Romay, who co-directed with Franco, and Mayans look like they had a lot of fun making this very minor hardcore which is mostly made up of grind footage, money shots and gynecological close-ups featuring the most disgusting images Franco even filmed, detailing the insertions and extractions of the microfilm into a spy’s nether region. To drive home his satirical point, Franco shot these scenes through a magnifying glass. It's as if the magnifying glass were the equivalent of his frequent "vaginal zooms" which are omnipresent in such 1970s erotic epics as LA COMTESSE NOIRE (1973). His philosophy seemed to be to give «too much information» along with a self referential nod to the raincoat crowd, who just expected the typical cheap thrills. Franco's filmography is full of visual essays on the art of "seeing" rather than just looking at a film. [Below: Agent 69 (Lina Romay) studies the microfilm.

I guess Jess Franco figured if he had to make a film like this he might as well have some fun with hermetic in-jokes and a sarcastic toned overview of the hardcore product which flooded the Spanish market at that time. Another mixture of self references (note the frequent zoom shots from above into the hotel swimming pools, linguistic and cultural satire which launched a series of 1980s hardcore mini-epics produced by Fernando Vidal Campos’ FERVI FILMS, Madrid. My own personal favorite of the Fervi hardcores, and also a favorite of Jess, is the 1985 EL MIRON Y LA EXHIBICIONISTA, which features magnetic interactions between these typical close-ups, a thriller undercurrent and a cubist mise-en-scene.

This obscurity received a Spanish video release on the Valfer label. Don’t expect a restored Blu-ray edition anytime soon. The hotel and Costa del Sol exteriors shimmer with candy colored flora and there are a few sight gags which might produce a guffaw from the completest. My favorite scene is the ending where Franco’s voyeur passes off the microfilm to «The Queen» who skips his merry way back toward the Soviet Union. The upbeat Hot Jazz/80s funk score* is credited to Victor Chichi Nabeira, presumably a beard for the director. More sexually related pseudonyms in the credits include Francesco Del Pi Trofuera (out with your cock) as DP (also Franco), Tony Procula (stick it up the rear), Mele Metes (stick it in) and Cheno Manboliques (sounds like something bizarre) as exec producer.

The runtime is 84 minutes, four minutes longer than the time noted in OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO. *The score also contains excerpts from Daniel White’s LA COMTESSE NOIRE (1973) music and other soundtracks credited to Pablo Villa. Thanks to Nzoog for the translations and helping me see this ultra obscure title. (C) Robert Monell 2024