By Lee Pfeiffer 

I will confess to being almost totally ignorant of the late, lamented Spanish director Jess Franco's work. Franco (also billed as Jesus Franco), who died in 2012, was known to be a prolific director of cult movies, many of which accentuated bizarre sexual practices. Franco was an enthusiast for the works of the Marquis de Sade and literature that was inspired by or devolved from his erotic stories. In addition to directing, Franco also wrote many films and provided the musical scores as well. If nothing else, you have to admire the sheer quantity of his work, if not the quality. During 1973 alone, he directed at least a dozen movies and perhaps a couple more that never saw completion (like most independent filmmakers, he was always scrambling to find funding from unreliable sources.) Franco would often complete production on one movie then immediately move the same cast and crew onto location for a completely different film. His "stock company" alternated between leading roles and supporting performances but for the most part they remained loyal to him and many worked on his films for many years.

The Mondo Macabre label has released a special edition DVD of Franco's 1974 film Plaisir a trois under its rather absurd English title How to Seduce a Virgin, which makes the movie sound like its one of those low-rent British sex comedies of the era. It's anything but. The film is a disturbing but mesmerizing thriller that centers on an attractive young French married couple. Martine (Alice Arno) is a blonde bombshell who we first meet as she is about to be released from an extended stay in a mental asylum where she has been committed for unspecified reasons. Upon returning to her opulent country manor house in the South of France, she is greeted by her loving husband Charles (Robert Woods), a handsome man who immediately makes up for lost time by bedding his seemingly insatiable wife. (I believe most men do the same whenever their wives are released from extended stays in mental asylums.) He informs Marlene that she has avoided a jail sentence only because he paid off local officials. A hint of what crimes needed to be covered up comes when Marlene lures a local hooker to the mansion. She brings her to the basement where the hapless woman finds herself in a real life chamber of horrors. It seems Marlene and Charles "collect" beautiful men and women by subjecting them to extreme sexual torture then murdering them. Their bodies are preserved as they look at the precise moment of death. With another victim now added to their "collection", the murderous couple make plans for their most ambitious undertaking. Charles has befriended a local diplomat and his wife and convinced them to allow their 21 year old daughter Cecile (Tania Busselier)  to stay with them while they are abroad. Upon seeing her for the first time, the bisexual Marlene is driven to virtual insanity by desire to seduce the young woman, who is a virgin. The couple secretly spy on Cecile, who conveniently has a knack for parading in front of her bedroom window scantily clad before she indulges in long sessions of masturbation. Upon arriving at the couple's house, Cecile is a willing student in Charles and Marlene's sexual capers and is soon participating in orgies with the couple's live-in mistress Adele (Lina Romay), a comely teenager who is inexplicably mute and is obviously mentally challenged but who is all too willing to please her hosts. Despite the fact that Charles and Marlene are equally smitten by Cecile, they nonetheless make plans for to add her as their ultimate trophy to their ghastly collection of former lovers. 

How to Seduce a Virgin is one of Franco's most controversial films. It is richly photographed and well-acted and directed. The film is as mesmerizing as it is distasteful and features a sting-in-the-tail ending worthy of Agatha Christie. Franco's cast performs gamely, doffing their clothes and engaging in extended sex sequences that come as close as you can get to hardcore. Despite the emphasis on sexual violence, Franco is surprisingly restrained in the sex scenes, emphasizing an erotic mood over anything shocking. He is particularly sensitive in filming the numerous scenes of lesbian lovemaking. Nonetheless, a Franco film would apparently not be a Franco film without bizarre elements being stressed. There is no background information given on Charles and Marlene or any of the other characters. This intention to be opaque only makes them all the more interesting. It's as though they exist in their own world. There are few outsiders scene in the story: a psychiatrist, Cecile's parents and the ill-fated hooker are the only people not to live in the house of horrors. A crazy old gardener (Alfred Baillou)  and a loyal chauffeur (Howard Vernon) serve the murderous couple without making any moral judgments against them...although the gardener does attempt to warn Cecile what is in store for her.

The DVD boasts a gorgeous transfer and features interesting and informative biographies of each cast member. (Lina Romney appeared in many of Franco's films and eventually became his wife.) There are also recent interviews with the film's screenwriter Alain Petit and Franco scholar Stephen Thrower. In all, a very impressive release of a bizarre film that will haunt you long after the first viewing.  

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By Lee Pfeiffer 

Despite its hokey title, the 1958 sci fi cult favorite I Married a Monster From Outer Space is a few notches up the totem pole in comparison to other "B" movies of the period. Produced and directed by Gene Fowler, Jr. and theatrically released by Paramount, the film has been out of print on DVD for a number of years. The Warner Archive has just released it as a burn-to- order title. The film stars Gloria Talbott as Marge Bradley, a small town girl who is engaged to local hunk Bill Farrell (Tom Tryon). However, just prior to their wedding day, Bill encounters an alien from outer space on a back country road and the being takes over his physical body. While the "new" Bill looks the same, his actions and mannerisms change radically. The once fun-loving young man becomes sullen and quiet, leading Marge to speculate what has caused these mood changes. Nevertheless, the couple gets married on the designated day, though Marge finds her wedding night to be anything but romantic, with Bill seemingly disinterested in his new bride. As the days go by, Marge becomes increasingly alarmed by Bill's behavior. Making matters more frustrating is her inability to conceive a child. (Maybe the fact that the dreaded production code at the time mandated that even husbands and wives sleep in separate beds might have had something to do with this particular problem.) Ultimately, Marge discovers a shocking secret: not only has Bill's body been taken over by an alien but the same dilemma has befallen many of the other men in town. In fact, Marge finds it impossible to escape or even to call outside the town for help. She finally manages to round up a posse of "real" men who set out to take on the invaders- only to find they are impervious to bullets. Seems the rather benign beings from another world have the same problem most cinematic space aliens have: their world has been threatened by a natural catastrophe. In this case, all of the women on their planet have died. Not only does this panic the male population, but it probably also caused sales to plummet in local nail and waxing salons. Realizing they must mate or face extinction of their race, the aliens sample numerous planets before deciding on taking over the male population of earth. Once achieved, they intend to figure out how human females will be able to produce their offspring...though their intent is to revert to their normal ghastly physical appearances. As space invaders go, these guys are fairly lame. They seem reluctant to utilize their abilities to use death rays to reduce their opponents into a pile of ashes. In fact, they seem to dig their faux human alter-egos especially since they discover that sex can actually be fun, especially with attractive earth girls. (On their home planet, sex was only for procreation purposes, an understandable policy especially if the women looked like the men.) It is revealed that the "real" men are being kept alive in a space ship while their dopplegangers have been wreaking havoc. Thus, it becomes a race against time to thwart the aliens before the few remaining human males fall victim to an identical fate. 

The film is a blatant rip-off of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, although director Fowler doesn't show similar restraint in making the terrors largely unseen. Instead, the film makes liberal use of special effects and monster costumes, but they aren't half-bad when compared to most B sci-fi flicks of the era. The acting is also above par with Talbott achieving the rare distinction of being a '50s sci-fi heroine who doesn't turn in a laughable performance, though she does comply with the now mandatory act of tripping and falling in the woods while being pursued by the villains. Similarly, Tom Tryon plays it straight and emerges with dignity intact, thus not deterring him from becoming a successful leading man a few years later in major studio productions. (He would also become a bestselling author whose work includes the eerie classic "The Other"). In all, despite its hokey title, I Married a Monster From Outer Space remains one of the more enjoyable B movies of its era. 

The Warner Archive DVD is identical to Paramount's out-of-print previous release. The transfer is crystal clear but, as with most Paramount titles of the period, there are no extras whatsoever.  

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Network Distributing is pleased to announce the next batch of titles within “The British Film” range which will be available in the UK later this year. Each feature once again benefits from a new transfer, an instant play facility and will be presented in special slim-line space-saving packaging.  Some of the highlights from October are a documentary about the body narrated by Vanessa Redgrave with music from Roger Waters, more gems from the vaults from Ealing Studios, classic horror, British musicals and a courtroom drama starring Richard Attenborough.

7 October

THE BODY £9.99

Vanessa Redgrave and Frank Finlay narrate an intimate and innovative documentary from the seventies about the human body cut to music from Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. Commentary by poet and playwright Adrian Mitchell.

THE FINAL PROGRAMME £9.99

Cult director Robert Fuest’s dystopian sci-fi thriller. Robert Finch stars as Jerry Cornelius, a Nobel Prize winning physicist and playboy who must battle his drug-addicted brother for the code that will move humanity to a higher level of creation with an immortal being.

14 October

THE EALING STUDIOS RARITIES COLLECTION VOLUME 7 £9.99

Four more films from the vaults of Ealing Studios  - mining drama Eureka Stockade (1949) directed by Harry Watt, musical extravaganza Take a Chance (1937); serial-killer drama The Gaunt Stranger (1938) and screwball comedy Play up the Band (1935).

21 October

EDGAR WALLACE PRESENTS THE GAUNT STRANGER £9.99

Sonnie Hale and Wilfrid Lawson star in a crime thriller adapted by Sidney Gilliat about a mysterious serial killer known as ‘The Ringer’ that Scotland Yard must bring to justice.

THE NIGHT WE GOT THE BIRD £9.99

A comic crime caper starring Sir Brian Rix and stand-up Ronald Shiner about forging antiques and then flogging them. What could go wrong?

28 October

THE HEADLESS GHOST £9.99

From the creator of I Was a Teenage Werewolf, this horror is about three thrill-seekers who visit a haunted castle. Clive Fevill stars in an early screen role alongside Josephine Blake.

THE 14 £9.99

Oliver! star Jack Wild leads a throught-provoking drama about 14 siblings who struggle to stay together following the death of their single mother.

4 November

THE EALING STUDIOS RARITIES COLLECTION VOLUME 8 £9.99

Films in this set are The Feminine Touch (1936)  - about the challenges of being a nurse in the NHS starring George Baker and Diana Wynard. One of the last films to be made by Ealing Studios; Young Man’s Fancy (1939) a music hall drama starring Griffith Jones and Anna Lee Seymour; There Ain’t No Justice (1939) stars Jimmy Hanley as a young boxer whose family face financial difficulty and The Silent Passenger (1935) sees Lord Peter Wimsey, Dorothy L Sayer’s amateur sleuth in his first silver screen escapade. Stars John Loder.

THE BRAIN MACHINE £9.99

Patrick Barr and Russell Napier star in a fifties sci-fi thriller about a machine that can reveal abnormalities in the brain…

EIGHT O’CLOCK WALK £9.99

Richard Attenborough stars in a courtroom drama about a taxi-driver wrongly accused of murder.  Co-stars Cathy O’Donnell and Maurice Denham.

11 November

EDGAR WALLACE PRESENTS: COASTS OF SKELETONS £9.99

Heading an international cast – including German ‘krimi’ veteran Heinz Drache – Dam Busters star Richard Todd reprises his role as insurance investigator Harry Sanders in this rare crime adventure based on Edgar Wallace’s 1911 novel Sanders of the River.

BRITISH MUSICALS OF THE 1930S VOLUME 1 £9.99

A new, multi-volume collection of musicals from the 1930s.  Contains Harmony Heaven (1930) starring Polly Ward; The Song You Gave Me (1933) starring Bebe Daniels; Music Hath Charms (1935) starring Henry Hall and his Dance Band andOver She Goes (1937) starring Stanley Lupino.

THE GOOD COMPANIONS £9.99

A musical comedy based on a JB Priestley novel starring John Fraser, Rachel Roberts, Thora Hird and Hugh Griffiths.

LIFE IS A CIRCUS £9.99

The Crazy Gang star in a comedy about a struggling circus also starring Goldfinger icon Shirley Eaton.

For further information visit:

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By Lee Pfeiffer 

The niche market DVD label Mondo Macabro has released a little-known 1976 film titled In Hell, known variously as La tortura and Gloria Mundi. The movie is the creation of the late Greek director Nikos Papatakis, who obviously felt he had a significant left-wing political statement to make in this bizarre and unpleasant blending of radicalism and sexual humiliation. The film's one saving grace is an astonishingly brave performance by lead actress Olga Karlatos, who we are introduced to in a provocative, if cringe-inducing sequence in which we observe her sitting in a bathtub and attaching electrical wires to her nipples and genitals then torturing herself by turning on the current. Why is she doing this? It seems that her character, Galai, is an attractive young Algerian immigrant living in Paris. She has fallen under the spell of a mysterious and unseen political anarchist named Hamdias, who wants to wreak havoc against French colonialism in Algeria. This is to be achieved through terrorist acts that he is grooming Galai to carry out via instructions on the phone and cassette tapes. He also fancies himself an important filmmaker and is trying to raise funds for a political thriller starring Galai in the leading role. The film runs into the usual dilemma that real life independent producers must endure: the funding keeps running out but Galai becomes obsessed with ensuring that the movie is completed. Hamidias envisions incorporating perverse sexual abuse into the story line and he finds a willing leading lady in Galai, who enthusiastically submits herself to self-imposed "training sessions" in which she performs torture on her own body, all the better to please her producer/director/lover by giving the most genuine performance possible. The graphic opening sequence of this abuse is difficult to watch but the film quickly delves into a virtually incomprehensible look at the psychological tortures Galai is facing. Seems that Hamdias enjoys playing head games with her psyche and issuing increasingly dangerous demands including carrying out dry runs for terrorist bombings. She constantly vents to herself about her disdain for him, but it becomes clear that not only is she completely submissive to his whims, he is also holding their child as a virtual hostage to ensure she carries out his demands. That's about all I could ascertain from the confusing story line which at times is completely incomprehensible. There are films within films, sarcastic scenes that denounce the French elite and occasional sequences in which Galai is subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of military captor. There is abundant full female nudity but none of it is presented in an erotic manner and in one particularly awful scene one of Galai's would-be lovers vomits on her bare chest.

Papatakis might have thought he was making a poignant political statement but he comes across as a bargain basement imitation of Costas-Gavras. In fact, one suspects that all he really wanted to do was make a dirty movie but provided himself with a pseudo intellectual cover. (In one prolonged film-within-a-film sequence, a despicable French military officer engages a prostitute to engage in bizarre practices that include using a rather difficult and innovative method of opening champagne bottles.)

The scene in which a prostitute finds an innovate method of opening champagne bottles. (Ladies, please do not try this at home.)

The DVD features one of the worst transfers I've seen in recent years. It is grimy, dirty and filled with splice marks and awkward jumps. It looks as though an old VHS transfer has been used. In any event, the print utilized is certainly not ready for prime time. Mondo Macabro is releasing some first rate editions of cult movies but this is not one of them. The DVD also boasts deceitful packaging, implying that it is a lesbian-themed S&M film when, in fact, there is no such sequence in the movie. The only extra is a short but interesting gallery of Italian posters relating to the film.

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Writing on the Diabolique magazine web site, Cinema Retro contributor Harvey Chartrand takes a look at the UK Blu-ray release of the long-lost horror film and "social satire" Sleepwalker by British director Saxon Logan. Click here to read the fascinating story behind this film that has just been resurrected by the British Film Institute. 

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES

(This article originally ran in June 2007)  

The latest sci-fi special edition release from Fox is the eagerly-awaited Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The TV spin-off series from the mid 1960s has built such a devoted cult following that many people forget it was based on a major big screen feature film produced by Irwin Allen. The eccentric producer has always been marginalized by the lifted pinky crowd for being the schlockmaster supreme, but Allen was a dedicated craftsman who cared not a whit about the critical establishment. He had an uncanny sense for reading the mood of moviegoers and providing the precise type of entertainment they craved at any particular time. By the time his instincts began to fail him in the late 1970s, he had already produced some of the most popular and highest-grossing motion pictures of all time, to say nothing of cult TV classics like Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants and of course, the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea spin-off.

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES

I've got to admit that when I received this screener from Fox I forestalled watching it. The 1973 film was only vaguely familiar to me and I kept putting off viewing it in order to handle more important priorities: like working on my 6-foot decoupage tribute to Lorne Greene. When I finally did watch The Neptune Factor I was pleasantly surprised at how competently it was made and how engrossing the story is. Fox has given this little-seen adventure film a quasi-deluxe release to tie it in with similarly-themed titles like Fantastic Voyage and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The film is inferior to Fantastic Voyage but I enjoyed it far more than the latter film, which has dated noticeably.