ELLES FONT TOUT (1978); CLAIRE (1979)

ELLES FONT TOUT is not a favorite of mine and I find the 1980s remake HOTEL DE LAS LUIGES a bit easier to take, but it is preferable to this rather Keystone Cops assembly, which is nonetheless a minor curio for fans of both European Trash Cinema and Jess Franco. The fact that once again a Franco 1980s Golden Films Internacional remake is as interesting and sometimes superior to the orignal confirms Franco's creative persistence rather than a lack of new ideas since what's good about HOTEL DE LAS LUIGES is that it's smarter, funnier and more stylistical layered than ELLES FONT TOUT. Considering the French adverts and this synopsis "Trois couples séjournent dans un hôtel et tous ont des problèmes sexuels. Un jour, une star du porno professionnel (Lina Romay) enseigne à tout le monde comment faire", one might expect a sophisticated and elegant display of epicurian erotica. The French do have a way with words. Fixated on visual slapstick and oral hardcore (Lina Romay literally sucks food out of the diners) this seems like a haphazardly staged orgy for gourmands only. Romay, as the randy porn star Nini, is pretty much the whole show. A key scene has her character sneaking into the bedroom of a sexually dysfunctional couple and performing oral sex on them as they sleep. This qualifies her as a succubus, referencing Franco's 1967 NECROMONICON aka Succubus, which signaled a paradigm shift in his filmography and work arena. Filmed in Portugal, Cascais, Lisbon; Portugal (Stock shot travelling of the Bay, Estoril-Sol Hotel, and the Palácio Seixas); Boca do Inferno, Cascais; Lisbon, Portugal, according to the IMDB, in what appears to be a local hotel for interiors and some exterior stock shots. This seems to have had an unusually frenetic production, even for a filmmaker famous for frenetic productions. Some charm is exhibited by the always welcome Martine Flety (Blue Rita) and the charming sprite Touxa Beni (Eugenie in COCKTAIL SPECIAL, one of three films made back to back for ailing produced Robert De Nesle, who was to pass away in 1978, the year this, along with JE BRULE DE PARTOUT would form a desperate trilogy for the legendary moneyman. Franco, ever the salesman, visited De Nesle on his death bed, attempting to make a final deal for future productions. The producer of THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN, COPLAN EUROSPY FILMS and PEPLUMS left this plane of existince on April 21, 1978.

First, a little known parallel film to ELLES FONT TOUT was Leon Klimovsky's 1956 HONEYMOON/VIAJE DE NOVIOS, which Franco worked on as assistant director and co-wrote some of the musical score. The plot and main characters in that film were again used in ELLES FONT TOUT without credit. In that film Aurora de Alba (FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR) plays the Lina Romay role of a sexy singer who comes to a vacation spa in rural Spain where she flirts with several married men and finally leaves with the couples reconciled. Filmed in candy colored hues, Franco wrote several songs de Alba performs, among them AMOR, AMOR, later to be heard in Franco's horror debut GRITOS EN LA NOCHE (1961). She also performs a Conga song which uses the word "Cucufate" repreatedly. Franco fans will recognize the word as the name of a devil cut in his wild 1980 sci-fi-sex epic, EL SEXO ESTA LOCO. Franco once again was employing his composing and directoral skills in different contexts. VIAJE DE NOVIOS is a much better resourced, directed and performed film (including future collaborator Fernando Fernan Gomez in a key role) and is well worth seeking out.

I am able to verify the existence of an Italian version, QUEL CERTO SAPORE (That Certain Taste) of ELLES FONT TOUT, which would appear somtime after the initial release of the template. I have had it in my Jess Franco collection for decades and have never gotten around to watching it. I finally fished it out of storage and it's a sub-par dupe, but watchable. In fact, this is the only way to watch ELLES FONT TOUT, as it has completely disappeared and only this Italian dub has suvived. The best shot in the film, and only stylish one, is the final shot of Lina's character wearing a eye-catching sun hat as she walks out of the hotel, script in hand for her upcoming porn film.

CLAIRE (1979): Threee Jess Franco films and at least three Joe D'Amato hardcore films composited by D'Amato make up the Italian producer's second attempt to make a commercial product out of several Franco films. This is probably the most difficult to find of Franco-related films, with no DVD release whatsoever. Actually, this composite was put together by none other than the Italian Jess Franco, Aristide Massaccesi aka Joe D'Amato. Franco's 1978 Robert De Nesle funded hardcore ELLES FONT TOUT, which featured Lina Romay as a porno actress vacationing at an exclusive sex spa, was merged with footage shot by D'Amato featuring his own hardcore favorite, Mark [PORNO HOLOCAUST] Shanon (aka Manlio Certosino). The pamphlet AKA Joe D'Amato (Italy, 1995) cites footage with B. Lahaie, but she is elusive to me in the blurry print which I referenced. I guess it would be Franco's JE BRULE DE PARTOUT (1978). In addition there is footage from COCKTAIL SPECIAL, and at least three D'Amato 1980s era hardcore features edited into the mix. That would be three Jess Franco's and three Joe D'Amatos for the price of one. Basically this composite is a mess of main interest to Franco and D'Amato collectors.

Note that even though she is prominently credited, Franco icon Pamela Stanford [aka Monique Delaunay] is not present in this print version. CLAIRE seems to have been put together circa 1979 but wasn't until several years later that it was released in Italy. The print referenced was a poor video dupe in Italian. Thanks to Nzoog for alerting me to the Franco connections in LUNA DE MIEL and finding a print for me to reference. [74m 30s] (C) Robert Monell, 2025

THE GIRL FROM RIO/LA CIUDAD SIN HOMBRES/DIE SIEBEN MANNER DER SUMURU (1969)

THE GIRL FROM RIO aka FUTURE WOMEN aka La Ciudad sin Hombres aka Die Sieben Männer der Sumuru - Jess Franco, 1968 Espagne/Allemagne/États Unis

Many thanks to Uwe Huber for contributing this image [which hopefully will stay up here] of the poster prepared for the US theatrical release of Jess Franco's THE GIRL FROM RIO. This "Daring Motion Picture" was never exhibited theatrically under this title in the US as far as I know.

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 Monell