LES GLOUTONNES /THE GREEDY/THE EROTIC EXPLOITS OF MACISTE IN ATLANTIS (1973)

Thanks to Mario Giguere. MACISTE ET LES GLOUTONNES/LES GLOUTONNES /THE GREEDY/LES EXPLOITS EROTIQUES DE MACISTE DANS L’ATLANTIDE (1973) Here’s an update of my previous review of LES GLOUTONNES, Jess Franco’s Z budget peplum from 1973. This and YUKA/THE LUSTFUL AMAZONS were likely shot back-to-back. They register as odd wonderments, unpretentious, no-budget fun. [Originally published by the wonderful Club Des Monstres in 2008]. Directed under his Clifford Brown beard, 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 long haired, baby faced version of the legendary Maciste (first seen in the 1913 Italian epic, CABIRIA) vs. Robert Woods (LA COMTESSE PERVERSE) as the explorer Caronte, who bewitched 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 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 shot in 1973. I conducted a still unpublished interview with actor Robet Woods about these Maciste films and he immediately indicated that they were fun to make and gave him some time to engage in fishing along the island's coastline, a relaxing indulgence of a favorite sport during production downtimes. He felt that AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO was the best of his Franco films because of the quality of Emma Cohen's award winning performance in the lead role and that it gave him the chance to disply his skill on the jazz trumpet as the musician lover of Cohen's character.

There’s even a hardcore sex scene thrown in the mix, with a nude man descending a spiral staircase to sospray down Ms. 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 Waldemar Wohlfahrt) 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 outstanding images, but unless you are a Franco completest you may resist the bizarre delights of this film. The emergence of a platoon of white sheeted ghouls looks like outtakes from the Spanish version of LA MALDICION DE FRANKENSTEIN.

The final battle between Maciste and Woods' Caronte takes place on what appears to be a huge sandpit filled with rocks and black stones which seem leftover from an ancient eruption on the volcanic island. It's a surreal finale which features Maciste causing an avalanche by throwing boulders into the pit. Some additional footge of Alice Arno writhing around in bed reading a book which appears to be literary iteration of the main narrative. Her scenes look like alternate footage from one of the many versions of THE HOT NIGHTS OF LINDA. Even if it was hijacked by De Nesle LES GLOUTONNES still registers as one of the director's most delirious efforts, a no-budget fantasia which draws the viewer into a strange, mythical world. Franco also made YUKA (also shot in 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. I could watch this film on a 20 hour loop or as an endlessly expanded termite epic. It’s an oneiric peplum which defies the familiar coordinates of time and space into a Jess Franco state of mind. (C) Robert Monell, 2026