For me, this delightfully tacky advert beats the stylish Jano poster for the Spanish version, LA CIUDAD SIN HOMBRES, which was my favorite up to this point. Note that Georges Sanders billing font is twice the size of Shirley Eaton's and Richard Wyler's. BTW, look for a future blog on the career slide of Sanders following his encounter with Jess Franco, including some behind the scenes glimpses of the actor from my interview with Richard Wyler. But what exactly is GIGANTIC SCREENOVISION: THE 4th DIMENSION?!
The wealthy father of a missing girl (Marta Reves) dispatches a Private Investigator to Brazil to rescue her from the all female city of Femina, presided over by the Supercriminal, Sumanda (Shirley Eaton). Our hero travels undercover as a fugitive bank robber. He finds more than he bargained for when he himself is captured and tortured by the outrageously clad female soldiers of the archvillainess. Even more trouble arises when crime lord Masius (George Sanders) sends his henchmen to collect the cool millions of the absconding Wyler and the fortune in gold bars in Sumanda's treasury. The Pop-Art/dominatrix style black and red leathers costumes of Sumanda's army of sadistic seducers and the frequent changes of outre fashions by Shirley Eaton steal the show from the rather befuddled looking Richard Wyler, who told me when I interview him that he hated making this film and thought that Jess Franco was a "terrible" director who he claimed spent most of his time during production reading pornography, delegating production tasks to his nephew, Ricardo Franco. The fact that Wyler wasn't fully paid may explain his sour expression throughout. George Sanders looks almost dead, although it's fun to see him reading a POPEYE comic while directing the torture of an employee. Lots of foxy ladies here, none moreso than the always scantily clad Eliza Montes, who had hypnotic cat eyes. Another ultradimensional, jarring score from the great Daniel White (who claimed producer Towers never paid him for his work) puts the frosting on the dessert, and that's just what this delightful Eurospy trifle qualifies as: fascinating, silly entertainment which allows Franco fans to gorge on his hastily prepared, delicious eye candy. Note that the torture ray which Sumanda (who is called Sumitra and Sumuru in alternate versions) uses on prisoners is actually a dental X Ray machine (take that, Ed Wood)! Colorful exoticia with a bit higher budget than the usual Franco product, thanks to the dubious Harry Alan Towers. This first came out on home video via a sparkling new DVD from Blue Underground with an extensive poster and still gallery along with interviews featuring Franco and Ms Eaton. This version lacks the opening armoured car robbery which can be seen in the German language alternate, DIE SEIBEN MANNER DER SUMURU. It has since been issued on Blu-ray with some scenes from the German language version included as Special Features. The German version also drops much of Daniel White's original score, replacing it with music previously heard in the 1964 German Krimi, THE MONSTER OF LONDON CITY. Then there's the Harry Alan Towers produced prequel, THE MILLION EYES OF SUMURU (1967), also starring Ms. Eaton in the title role and featuring Maria Rohm, George Nader as an American secret agent, and Klaus Kinski. That one is directed by Lindsay Shonteff and is on a Blue Underground Blu-ray along with THE GIRL FROM RIO. A more action packed and legitimately resourced film than GIRL, it was filmed on location Hong Kong. Both Maria Rohm, who plays Wyler's love interest, and Wyler told me the sets on which THE GIRL FROM RIO was shot did not have air conditioning, making the shoot very uncomfortable in the sweltering Brazilan heat. Yet another version of THE GIRL FROM RIO appeared under the title FUTURE WOMEN, which doesn't even carry a director's credit. This iteration was reedited to include stock footage from the action film, SINAI COMMANDOS, a 1968 war film shot in Israel. (C) Robert Monell, 2025 (C) Robert Monell03 July, 2025
THE GIRL FROM RIO/LA CIUDAD SIN HOMBRES/DIE SIEBEN MANNER DER SUMURU (1969)
17 June, 2025
LE SOMBRA DEL JUDOKA CONTRA EL DOCTOR WONG: Jess Franco's Martial Arts Holocaust.
The movie benefits from its luminous cinematography and occasionally hectic energy but needs a more interesting focal point.. The Far Eastern locations, represented via the aforementioned stock footage are given an atmospheric boost by Pablo Villa’s (Franco and Daniel White) brassy score, some of which recalls music heard in Franco’s earlier FU MANCHU AND THE KISS OF DEATH/KISS AND KILL (1967). Given the negatives I’m at the stage where I can still engage with and enjoy even an understandably flawed genre mashup such as this one. It’s obvious that Jess Franco took it serious enough to attempt to deliver a multi-faced entertainment package under impossible circumstances. As he told me when I interviewed him on his Golden Films Internacional period, these productions were “poor”, i.e. made at very low coast, with little or no resources and rushed out to theaters or hidden away in the offices of producer Emilio Larraga to be lost forever. I had some fun watching it but have no idea where one could see it outside of fan websites. I am not aware of any DVD release, although it may have appeared on Spanish VHS.
The version I saw was from the wretchedly unreliable VSOM and had no English subtitles. A good quality HD transfer from a print or negative with language options is required for a more in-depth consideration, but it’s an example of Franco’s 1980s exotica.
*Thanks again to Juan Cozar for additional information on the production of this film. Given the furious production pace of Franco's GOLDEN FILMS INTERNACIONAL period EN BUSCA DEL DRAGON DORADO, another Franco martial arts adventure, this time casted and shot as a children's film of all things, may have been shot back-to-back with LA SOMBRA DEL JUKODA CONTRA DOCTOR WONG. This time the featured martial artist was "Li Yung", no clones of "Bruce Lee" this time around. Presented as a daydream of Almond Eyes it could have been a delightful lark.
EN BUSCA DEL DRAGON DORADO (James P. Johnson, 1983): Yes, Jess Franco also made children's films. This one features several pre teen friends who are led to a hidden treasure by friendly jungle animals, including a cute chimp, a helpful tortoise, a convenient elephant and several talkative parrots. It also features lots of martial arts displays to exploit the then popular craze in Spain. Supernatural martial artist Li Yung demonstrates the dragon claws style of combat and also helps the curious kids defeat greedy villains. Franco directed under a beard and has a role as a kindly blind guide. It all ends up being a daydream of one of sleepy kids. Based on Edgar Allan Poe's story THE GOLD BUG. Franco would make another adaptation of this story a decade later, JUNGLE OF FEAR, dropping the kids and the martial arts content, featuring Lina Romay, some American actors, and William Berger in his final role. (C) Robert Monell, 202522 May, 2025
Exclusive new Interviews with Jess Franco stars Pamela Stanford and Monica Swinn!
29 April, 2025
Jess Franco Europsy Files # 69
24 March, 2025
PHOLLASTIA (1987) (original title) Phollastía France Fellations sauvages(new title) Spain Phollastía
06 March, 2025
LA CRIPTA DE LAS CONDENADAS-- Jess Franco, 2012
19 February, 2025
LILIAN (la virgen pervertida) Clifford Brawn (sic) 1983
20 January, 2025
LA TUMBA DE LOS MEURTOS VIVENTES (1982)
10 January, 2025
COCKTAIL SPECIAL (1978): Jess Franco's XXX Files

Christopher Lee, in his memorable crimson smoking jacket, as the vicious Sadean perpetrator/narrator, Dolmance, seen in this vintage advert for Jess Franco's first version of Sade's 1795 literary outrage, PHILOSOPHY IN THE BEDROOM. COCKTAIL SPECIAL is a hardcore remake of EUGENIE, THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION (1970). Actually, the second remake after PLAISIR A TROIS (1973), which also featured some hardcore action, but much less than in this entry.
This may have been chronologically the last film Franco made for the prolific producer Robert de Nesle, who is credited with the script. De Nesle reportedly died in 1978.
The titular drink may be especially disgusting but there are reasons to examine this film, outside of its interest to those who must see each and every film Franco made during his 50 year and still ticking directorial career. Visually exotic, with bizarre masks, strobe lighting, esoteric set-ups, this brief, ingeniously composed adult programmer is interestingly scored by Franco and Daniel White (as Pablo Villa, these delirious cues would be heard in many of his 1980s period films). Touxa Beni is an olive, bright, rather mysterious Eugenie and a makes an equally compelling protagonist as the other actresses (Marie Liljedahl; Alice Arno; Katia Beinert) who have played the role for Franco.
I disagree with the review in OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO, which dismisses this film while pushing the suggestion that Franco did not direct it. There may have been some inserts added but there are many trademark Franco images and plot details.
With Karen Gambier as the most significant eye candy, outside of Ms. Beni, in the film, there's little to behold outside of the endlessly interesting ways Franco finds to illuminate the penniless production, often large lamps are just placed directly behind the actors as the camera shoots into them, breaking one of the cardinal rules of "well made" cinema.
Shot in Portugal, one wonders if this was the film Franco offered to to Brigitte Lahaie in the wake of another de Nesle Portuguese-lensed hardcore, JE BRULE DE PARTOUT [type the title in the blog's search engine for my archived review]' she summarily refused the offer.
One wonders why Franco kept returning to the original Sade story, published as seven "Dialogues" in 1795. Female characters reading books (Sade/erotic pulp) is another activity given special attention in his Sade films. Reading it is a shocking experience as one realizes, with reference to the five Jess Franco versions, it's much, much more explicit and transgressive than any or all of them put together. Note the way Franco uses the languid images of character's smoking cigrarettes as punctuation between the extended hardcore scenes. Smoking is always an activity which attracts special attention in the Franco filmography. Given the director's own habit of chain smoking for virutally every possible moment it registers as some kind of miracle that he lasted a few years past 80. The final twist in COCKTAIL SPECIAL is that Eugenie's own father is tricked into incest during the climactic masque, but in the Sade original it's Madame de Mistival who ends up as the victim of a brutal physical-sexual assault by Eugenie under the close direction of Dolmance, played by Christopher Lee in the the 1970 version. Eugenie's subsequent dialogue highlights her delight in her role as multiple transgressor.
The final dialogue concludes with the lines which Lee speaks (with acidic irony) in a key scene: "I never dine so heartily, I never sleep so soundly as when I have, during the day, sufficiently befouled myself with what our fools call crimes." That's Entertainment, Sade style.
*[There is only the main title and a FIN card on the print I screened]; most of Franco's de Nesle backed films of this period were signed as Clifford Brown or Jacques Garcia.
Thanks to Francesco Cesari for helping me to see this rarity via DVD-R.
(C) Robert Monell, 2025