ALONE AGAINST TERROR (1983)

The shadow of Dr. Orloff (Ricardo Palacios) lurks over Jess Franco's 1983 psychological thriller, SOLA ANTE EL TERROR.

THE VENGEANCE OF DR. MABUSE (Jess Franco, 1972) Kino Cult Blu-ray

Although the title of the new Kino Lorber Cult Blu-ray is THE VENGEANCE OF DR. MABUSE, the film contained within is not Jess Franco's LA VENGENZA DEL DR. MABUSE (1972). It's the reedited, redubbed German cut prepared by producer Artur Brauner who rejected Franco's director cut. The oncreen title of this version is DR.M STRIKES.

LA VENGANZA DEL DR MABUSE Blu-ray release: hot jazz bursts, dreamy lounge interludes, frenetic percussions written by David Khune aka Jess Franco. See the Spanish version first, if you can find it, before seeing/avoiding the recent Blu-ray, which was re-edited by the producer who hated Franco's director's cut. This version also has redubbed German dialogue which changes all of Franco's original dialogue and story. The story now takes place in America and they're talking about invading Mexico! They hired a new director to shoot additional scenes of a shoot out during a robbery and people talking in offices. All this additional footage is shot like a bland TV movie. Then they had a new editor cut it all together without Franco's involvement. This Producers cut was released in Germany . The Spanish director's cut was only briefly released in Spain and is now in the Spanish Filmoteca. I have the director's cut on video from VSOM. The Bluray has good video quality but is a mess. They should have included Franco's version as part of the release. Hopefully someone will contact a company like MONDO MACABRO or Severin to do a proper release

LA VENGANZA DEL DR. MABUSE, the original cut of this film, is a very interesting oddity, a very low budget sci-fi thriller, Jess Franco style. It opens with waves crashing onto a rocky shore (the film was shot in Alicante, Murcia and Barcelona) as lounge/jazz music, including some soft saxophone notes, vibes, lull the viewer into a receptive state until some bursts of le jazz hot sax stylings are later scored over action scenes. This score (which is altered in the Blu-ray version) was written by Jess Franco, as David Khunne, with an uncredited Daniel White (according to OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO) creates a mood unusual for a science fiction-crime film. Style usually dictates content in the filmography of Jess Franco, rather than vice-versa. The mise-en-scene of this film was affected by the low budget and initial demands of the producer, CCC CEO Artur Brauner, who presented Franco with an original treatment. Franco's response was a film which osscilates between the visual style of a B western and a Pop Art sci-fi film. I found my original review of LA VENGANZA DEL DR. MABUSE on the now defunct DARK WATERS website. It might be constructive at this point. This was written and published in 1998: -------------------------------------------------------------------- (a.k.a. DER MANN DER SICH MABUSE NANNTE; DER DOKTOR MABUSE) In a remote lighthouse lab, criminal mastermind Dr. Mabuse conducts mind control experiments on women who are kidnapped by his assistants. Mabuse uses a mineral from stolen moon rocks (!) to create a ray that turns people into obedient zombies. A stripper, a witness to one of the abductions, in turn becomes the next victim. Under Mabuse's telepathic guidance, she seduces an American diplomat. These rapidly escalating events are investigated by Thomas, the local Sheriff, who finally manages to locate the hideout. Mabuse is killed during a melee involving his brain damaged henchman, and the lab explodes. This obscure feature represents the last gasp of the long-lived Dr. Mabuse franchise, which had seen better days in the Fritz Lang thrillers of the 1920s and 30s. Franco's movie has a very rushed look, For intance, one scene is partially obscured by a section of the lens-cap which appears not to have been properly removed. Also, when the cops arrive at Dr. Mabuse's hideout, the shadow of the Manuel Merino's camera falls over the arriving police car. There's more: Some amusing touches include Mabuse's hulking henchman, Andros, who, with his sewn-up skull cap, looks like a refugee from a Hammer horror entry. The Red Garter "nightclub," which is just a parking garage with a few chairs and tables placed inside, is the setting for Ewa Stroemberg's minimalist striptease. The office of the local Sheriff (Fred Williams) looks like a leftover from some spaghetti western, and Williams appears throughout the film in a cowboy costume. Despite these curiosites -- and that Jack Taylor is miscast as Mabuse-like mad scientist -- the action is punctuated by a decent jazz music score, as well as some impressive photography. Most interesting are some extremely wide-angle compositions in Mabuse's lab and during the abduction scenes, which distort spatial relationships and employ lighting and color in a way which anticipate Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. .................................................................................................................

Despite some similarites between A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and LA VENGANZA's visual styles I doubt if Franco had seen a pre-release of Kubrick's film or read the original 1962 Anthony Burgess novel before making his film. Orson Welles, a Franco mentor and favorite filmmaker, used similar wide angle lensing and shock lighting in his 1958 Film Noir, TOUCH OF EVIL. That said, Franco's film is not really an adaptation of the Dr. Mabuse character created by Norbert Jacques in a 1921 novel. Fritz Lang made an epic length, two part film based on the book in the early 1920s when a dissatified character was in prison waiting to take over Germany, create the Nazi party and war machine, launch World War II and operate concentration camps where millions of Jewish people were exterminated. Lang made two more Mabuse epics, THE TESTAMENT OF DR MABUSE in 1933, which Hitler admired so much he offered Lang the leadership of the Nazi film machine. Lang declined and slipped out of Germany for a career directing Hollywood films. Lang returned to Germany in 1960 to kill of Mabuse in THE THOUSAND EYES OF DR. MABUSE. THIS film was Lang's last but producer Artur Brauner, who ran CCC Films, produced 5 more Mabuse adventures during the 1960's which unfolded in descending order of interest. Brauner also became successful producing numerous German Krimi films, gritty crime stories which became boxoffice hits in Germany and Europe.

In 1970 Brauner decided to resurrect the Dr. Mabuse character for a new generation and gave Jess Franco a treatment to direct, which he did in late February, early March, 1971. Brauner resented that the film didn't follow his treatment and hired a team of directors and editors to shoot new scenes and reedit the footage as DR. M. Strikes. That is the film presented on the KINO CULT Blu-ray. Here is the copy on the back of the slipcase: [A criminal mastermind (Jack Taylor, Female Vampire) deploys poison gas and a beautiful whip-wielding assassin (Beni Cardoso) in a plot to steal government secrets in The Vengeance of Dr Mabuse (Dr. M schlägt zu). But his elaborate schemes risk unraveling when a small-town inspector (Fred Williams) stumbles into the scene. An unauthorized entry in the Dr. Mabuse cycle, the film makes no reference to Norbert Jacques’s clairvoyant criminal (the M-word is carefully avoided). Instead, director Jess Franco used the project as a chance to revisit his own sci-fi thrillers (The Awful Dr. Orlof, The Diabolical Dr. Z). Fold in a disfigured henchman (Rocha), a striptease dancer (Ewa Strömberg, Vampyros Lesbos), and wrap it all in a feverish jazz score, and the result is a spicy cinematic mélange that could only have been concocted in the demented mind of Jess Franco.]................................................................................................................

The name Dr. Mabuse is not mentioned in either the German version or LA VENGANZA DEL DR. MABUSE. Instead Spanish horror regular Jack Taylor is Dr. Farkas in the latter, who stages a wild west type of robbery (helped along by toxic gas) of "moon rocks" from a delivery van from the a local scientific institute. He is "the man who would be Mabuse" as a translation of the German shooting title indicates. The German version mentions that coded plans which Taylor, renamed Dr. Cranko, is seeking to sell to international criminals in Mexico. When it is discovered that the scientific plans may be encoded, Dr.Cranko panics and sends out the thugish Andros (Moises Augusto Rocha) on a kidnapping spree to leverage some blackmail. The name Andros references Franco's 1964 THE SECRET OF DR. ORLOFF, where a radio controlled robot named Andros was the center of attention. There's also a Dr. Orloff in this film, as a legit scientist who is attacked by Cranko's staff. It should also be noted that the violent kidnappings here are staged and edited to reference Franco's first horror film, GRITOS EN LA NOCHE (1961).

The western atmosphere is established by a pan shot over a sunbaked desert plain to the Spaghetti Western style police station of the local Sheriff (Fred Williams), who is assigned by his superior, played as a cigar chomping taskmaster by Franco himself, to investigate cascading situation. Williams, who had already played the lead in Franco's previous Brauner production, THE DEVIL CAME FROM AKASAVA, an action krimi with Soledad Miranda in her final role, is not an exciting actor. Dressed in cowboy gear, inhabiting an office interior which seems out of Howard Hawks' RIO BRAVO, he's there to re-establish the Euro-Western motif. Working in the shadow of Fritz Lang and Sergio Leone may not be as much fun as it would seem. The subsequent action toggles between a B Spaghetti Western, a B minus sci-fi film and a minimalist crime-action adventure. Nontheless, Franco manages to maintain interest in the comic book proceedings via frenetic pacing, tilted, color gel lit camera set-ups and non-stop esoteric in-jokes for genre buffs and Franco fans. All of these arcane references in the Spanish dialogue are wiped in the German language dub. The improv-style jazz-lounge score helps to maintain some kind of aesthetic cohesion. As Franco himself noted, he considered himself a musician-composer who made films. The rigidity of the cast inhabiting the ramshackle sets suggest a fun visit to a cinema theme park at a run-down carnival. So, go ahead and collect this Blu-ray if you must, maybe it will hold you over until a composite or a restored double disc LE appears in the near or far future. (C) Robert Monell, 2025

DIE MARQUISE VON SADE

Enter a hushed parallel world of Sex and Death...


Strange shadows in empty rooms. A bleak mise-en-scene...


DAS BILDNIS DER DORIANA GRAY/DIE MARQUISE DE SADE/DIRTY DRACULA/EJACULATIONS:
SWITZERLAND/WG-1976, 79m.
I think this film, best known as DAS BILDNIS DER DORIANA GRAY (1976), works a whole lot better without the distraction of the closeups mechanics of hardcore sex. just as LA COMTESSE NOIRE (1973) works best without the hardcore footage, which really drags it out.

As with LA COMTESSE NOIRE, Franco made this film as a hardcore female vampire film with the main character sucking the "essential liquids" from her victims and also as a version without the XXX action inserts.Then there was a horror version where the character is sucking blood from victims, as in the novel DRACULA and all the films based on it. But I don't know of any version of DORIANA GRAY which has traditional vampire scenes of the main character sucking blood from her victims, as the EROTIKILL version of LA COMTESSE NOIRE has. This version was distributed by Force Video in the mid 1980s in the US and lasts just over 75 minutes and is cropped at 1.33:1, which takes much of its impact away.

Many critics have complained about the numerous out of focus shots and seeming technical "errors" in LA COMETESS..., like Lina Romay bumping into the camera lens during the credits sequence. But I find these moments part of the film's uniquely dreamlike quality. To paraphrase the late Henri Langlois, sometimes Franco's failings become his greatest strengths.


It opens with one of the most stunning images in Franco's extensive filmography and justs get better as it goes along. An almost dialogue-free film the impressionistic and low level sound mix is very appropriate to the theme. DORIANA GRAY tells the same story as LA COMTESSE NOIRE with the same characters but in a slightly different key. An lonely female vampire leading a life of quiet desperation in lavishly appointed isolation. Adding a Conradian "secret sharer" in Doriana's torment, her twin sister, separated at birth, who suffers hidden away in the clinic of Dr. Orloff. First seen in a mirror sing songing a macabre nursery rhyme Doriana's twin is one of Franco's most haunting creations, a pathetic creature, a sexually addicted victim of her predatory sister's erotic experiences. She thrashes about having the climaxes denied to Doriana, who telepathically, or somehow, transfers the orgasms to her imprisoned sister who is almost always seen either sexually stimulating herself in between Doriana's transmissions.

It's a world without love, only compulsive sexual behavior, frustration and screaming release for the sister. Punctuated by the cries of birds and set to the minimalist sitar score of Walter Baumgartner the film is clinical, remote and deeply disturbing. The reduced, but luminous, color scheme which lights the way to world of shadows is rigorously explored by Franco's drunken camera.

Designed in slate greys and eye popping pinks (Doriana's see-through robe), set within a castle perched above a jungle (Portugal, probably), much of the run time is taken up with Franco zooming in to study the architecture of the estate. The endless rains pour from the mouths of gargoyles onto the hard tile floors of the mansion while Doriana slowly walks through pillared patios and down long, mysterious hallways to her next deadly assignation. Like Irina Von Karlstein she dies in private bath evoking the last lines of T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land." It works as unique version of Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, while evoking Ingmar Bergman's THE SILENCE and Kieslowski's THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE.

Having re watched the 2003 VIP DVD from producer Dietrich's ELITE FILMS, taken from original camera negs and superbly restored, I find it somewhat technically flawed with some motion glitches, unless there's been a replacement transfer since then.
The English language track grates due to distracting voice casting. I do wish for a new English subtitled NTSC disc which ideally would contain both the non-hardcore version as well as the XXX one.

1976 was a rather amazing years for Jess Franco in that he managed to turn out three of his best films, all in different genres (erotic vampire; nunsploitation; gore/true-crime thriller) and styles: DORIANA GRAY, LOVE LETTERS OF A PORTUGUESE NUN and JACK, THE RIPPER. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Since I wrote the above text there has a been a Blu-ray release of DORIANA, with both versions on Dietrich's THE JESS FRANCO GOLDEN COLLECTION, which I haven't yet seen. I have now seen the non-hardcore version, DIE MARQUISE VON SADE, made in Southern France and in the Dietrich Studios in Switzerland, first in a XXX hardcore version, usually titled DAS BILINDAS DER DORIANA GRAY, then in a non-hardcore version with inserts shot by producer Dietrich (according to FLOWERS OF PERVERSION; THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO). As Dietrich states in his OBSESSION interview, there were more than one version of both the non-hardcore and the hardcore produced. DIE MARQUISE... is a version I have seen on AMAZON PRIME, running approximately 69 minutes with the inserts replacing all the hardcore material. I much prefer this version as it overall plays in a quiet, daydreamy tone, which is often interrupted by graphic hardcore close-ups of genitalia and oral sex in DORIANA. It's more of a tone poem than an arty porno epic. Some references note a 74 minute version of this re-edit, and there may be more of both out there. The softcore version contains several scenes with Lina Romay, wearing a markedly different hairstyle, descending a staircase while holding a large flower, scenes of Romay smoking something from a pipe, seen through rain spattered window eating the flower. This nude descending a staircase and other footage replaces all the hardcore footage.

Here is a link to an updated article on both versions of the film, along with new interviews with actress Monica Swinn about the making of the film. Also included are research notes and bibliographical information. Written by Michael Orlando Yaccarino. https://www.dorianavilla.com/ (C) Robert Monell, 2025

Jess Franco's XXX Files: VIAJE DE NOVIOS (1956); 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 stylistically 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 1960s Peplums left this plane of existence 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 can verify the existence of an Italian version, QUEL CERTO SAPORE (That Certain Taste) of ELLES FONT TOUT, which would appear several years after the initial release of ELLES FONT TOUT. I had it in my Jess Franco collection for decades and had 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 seems to be the only way to watch ELLES FONT TOUT, which despite a release of French video seems to presently have disappeared. The best shot in the film, and only stylish one, is the final shot of Lina's character, wearing an eye-catching sun hat, exiting the hotel, script in hand for "Sucking in the Rain", 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 one of the most difficult to find of Franco-related films, with no known DVD release. 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 one of his favorite hardcore performers, 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

LE SOMBRA DEL JUDOKA CONTRA EL DOCTOR WONG: Jess Franco's Martial Arts Holocaust.

Anyone viewing the 1985 Jess Franco crime/martial arts epic LE SOMBRA DE JUDOKA CONTRA DR. WONG 40 years after it was filmed on Canary Island locations will be confronted by a very curious spectacle. The shadow of judo refers to Bruce, the main charater who works to bust drug smugglers in his tropical city. It was one of the first "martial arts" films made in the 1980s, a series of crime-action films made with sparse resources for Emilio Larraga's Golden Films Internactional. The martial arts action performed by "Bruce Lyn" aka actor Jose Llamas is not impressive and is mostly rendered in Lo-Fi B-movie style slow motion. But Llamas was not the only actor performing martial arts in the film. First, a bit about the late Jose Llamas from a post created by Nzoog here some time ago: "[In his work in Jess Franco films] Llamas was assigned anything from minor roles to leads, sometimes on the heroic side, as in Viaje a Bangkok, ataúd incluido (1985) and several antagonists, such as his “Macho Jim” in Los blues de la calle Pop (1983). Strangest of all was Franco’s decision that he fill in the shoes of Bruce Lee in some of the pseudo-martial arts features the director was occasionally and inexplicably turning out in the eighties despite an absolute lack of demand in Spain for homegrown product of this kind, not to mention Llamas’s lack of an appropriate background. The actor certainly looked athletic, had black hair and, as Mayans has said, could dance, but in the words of David Domingo “he’s hopelessly clueless about martial arts” (2). These words are in reference to La sombra del judoka contra el doctor Wong (1982-85), with Llamas credited as “Bruce Lyn” and the real Bruce Lee featuring on the film’s poster!"

There were numerous Bruce Lee clones appearing in a variety of 1970s and beyond would-be martial arts films. Bruce Li, Bruce K.L. Lea are just a few of the immitators Then there's the odd spectacle of Jess Franco himself playing the titular Doctor Wong with oriental eye make-up and speaking in a very high pitched variant of his real voice. Of course such esteemed actors as Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee had already played the oriental villain Fu Manchu in THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (1932) and Franco's own Fu Manchu entries. Butt his 1982 oriental villain romp is decades beyond those and approaches high camp levels of absurdity.

Beside scenes of "Bruce" battling local drug smugglers and teaming up with dubious CIA agents played by Franco regulars Lina Romay and Daniel Katz, Franco goes Godfrey Ho and inserts footage from at least two Asian martial arts epics to pad out the runtime and provide extra action. One of these is the 1973 SEVEN TO ONE/Nu ying xiong fei che duo bao, a Taiwan production starring Polly Kuan as a high kicking female martial artist, the other inserts seem to be from a typical Shaolin Temple style period piece from the same era.

It all ends with Bruce foiling the devious hijacking plans of the tourists and Doctor Wong attempting to escape only be intercepted by Kuan's character in an inserted car chase. An oddity to be sure, but Franco's Doctor Wong would return in his Digital era. Bangkok provides the backdrop for another Franco martial arts actioner, BANGKOK, CITA CON LA MUERTE (1985), credited to Cliffor Brawm! BANGKOK, CITA CON LA MUERTE is fascinating to the serious Jess Franco student but may not engage interest as a serious action film with Jess Franco-style martial arts interludes included. The formulaic plot combines drug running, Thai pirates (led by Lina Romay), karate fighting, kidnapping, comic relief and tourist footage which on first viewing looks cribbed from an unknown source.*  [Update: the DoP of this film, Juan Soler Cozar, read this review and kindly informed me that he was actually sent to Bangkok to shoot some street footage, and that it does appear in the film. I was very surprised that they went to the expense and trouble to do this, especially considering the production’s obvious micro-budget.] The yacht-going daughter of a millionaire is kidnapped by pirates. Her father (Eduardo Fajardo) hires a bumbling private eye named Panama Joe (Bork Gordon) to locate her. The daughter’s boyfriend is also on the kidnappers’ trail. Panama Joe discovers the crooks are led by a drug smuggler (Antonio Mayans), who is in turn being double crossed by Queen Amania (Lina Romay). The detective roams around the faux Asian locations, tries to play both sides against the other, while uncovering deeper layers of corruption and double dealing. BANGKOK... is dialogue and plot heavy to no good end, and Gordon’s imitation Inspector Columbo ramblings just do not spark enough interest. The characters are shown talking in cartoon dialog balloons during the opening credits a la LUCKY THE INSCRUTABLE (1967), but Franco unaccountably drops this unusual device immediately and never picks it up again. What’s left is a C-minus adventure with some comic relief and hastily staged karate stand-offs, in which the participants miss each other by miles. Then again, given the budget and assumed rushed shooting schedule this could be understandable. It also could indicate the director's disdain for those perfectly choreographed martial arts films of Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, Sonny Chiba, etc. Gordon (Christian Borck) just seems a disheveled guy, actually a German comedian/television actor, who wandered in. Like the karate stuff, comedy-parody needs timing. The lines and martial arts blows rarely connect. Actually, I managed to find some amusement in the martial arts showdowns where the fighters miss contact with each other by such obvious distances that it looks like children playing at karate fighting. This is all likely due to a crushing schedule/lack of budget. Nonetheless the colorful cinematography frames the locations with skill and makes the Canary Islands seem like Southeast Asia, at least for 90 minutes. BANGKOK, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH (VSOM dupe from Spanish television broadcast), ends up as a colorful, amusing mix of Kung Fu fighting, faux Asian aesthetics, modern day pirates, BANGKOK, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH (1985) mixes comic book-style imagery with crime film elements, some self parody and a adventure plot with a not-so-happy ending. Franco has tried this before, notably in the delightful LOS BLUES CALLE POP…. (1983) and the above mentioned La sombra del judoka contra el doctor Wong (1982). Lina Romay has a few touching moments as the aggresive pirate leader. In one embarrassing scene, shes dances around in a tight swimsuit accompanied by a mechanical band. The result might been cute in 1973, but at this late date it is unflattering to the talented Ms. Romay. Veteran character actor Fajardo (DJANGO)  turns in a professional but unexceptional performance as the millionaire.

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, 2025

Exclusive new Interviews with Jess Franco stars Pamela Stanford and Monica Swinn!

DELIRIUM #40 features exclusive new interviews with Jess Franco femmes fatales Pamela Stanford and Monica Swinn, conducted by Michael Orlando Yaccarino. These actresses lit up the screen in a number of 1970s Jess Franco films such as LORNA,THE EXORICST, BLUE RITA, FEMALE VAMPIRE and DORIANA GRAY.

The interviews take us behind the scenes of such Franco titles as LORNA...THE EXORCIST, DAS FRAUENHAUS (BLUE RITA) and DORIANA GRAY. These are in- depth interviews about the making of these films, the actresses' accounts of being directed by Franco, stories about on-set memories about the actors, producers, locations of each of the films. Highly recommended reading. A longer version of this article with additional comments, information and notes will be avaiable this summer. More information can be found here: https://www.dorianavilla.com/

NOTE: Here is a link to the updated, expanded version of the interviews with Pamela Stanford and Monica Swinn by Micheal Orlando Yaccarino. Also included is an essay on Jess Franco's connection with Cinema Fantastique, along with some further informative notes and bibliographical information. It's all a must-read for Jess Franco explorers and historians. https://www.dorianavilla.com/library