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6
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Troy
Howarth |
Maria
(Lina Romay) is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of
her sexually abusive father (Jess Franco). Upon her arrival
at the prison, she meets the cold-blooded, sadistic wardress
(Monica Swinn) and the spineless and equally sadistic Dr. Costa
(Paul Müller). Together the two systematically torture
and abuse the inmates, including Maria, who organizes a plan
to rebel and escape...
Barbed
Wire Dolls is one
of Jess Franco's more infamous films. Produced by Swiss exploitation
mogul Erwin C. Dietrich, the thinly plotted potboiler allows
Franco to wallow in sadism, nudity and sleaze to an almost pathological
degree, thus creating an atmosphere of Sadean cruelty. The end
result may seem like a pointless exercise in exploitation, but
Franco's treatment of the material transforms it into a dark
meditation on the evil side of human nature. Though not the
best of Franco's many forays into the "women in prison" or WIP
genre (that would have to be the Harry Alan Towers-produced
99 Women,
with a name cast that includes Herbert Lom and Maria Schell)
it is perhaps the most direct in delivering up-front titilation
and sadistic thrills. The camera lingers lovingly on the beautiful
bodies of the various participants, notably Lina Romay and Martine
Stedil, but the darker elements prevent the film from being
a mere sex fest — it's difficult to imagine viewers becoming
overly, um, stimulated by so dark and downbeat a film.
Key to the film's
success is the expert performance of Paul Müller (Lady
Frankenstein, Eugenie
De Sade) as the pathetic Dr. Costa, a recurring name — if
not identical character — in other Franco films. (Howard Vernon
plays a more gleefully sadistic incarnation in Women
In Cellblock 9.)
Müller portrays Costa as a closet masochist under the control
of the sadistic wardress (a wonderful caricature from Monica
Swinn, made up to look far less fetching than she really is),
who yearns for freedom and is unwilling to admit his own baser
instincts. He falls in love with Romay's character, a move that
proves fatal for him in a film where love, in any form, is either
forbidden or deadly. As noted by producer Dietrich, the film
is sloppy on the technical front — so much so that he considered
shelving it without giving it any release; he fortunately reconsidered
and made a big profit from it, leading to a 14 more collaborations
with Jess Franco. What Franco goes for here is a sense of reality
that ignores pretty photography and technical finesse — this
gives the film something of a home movie feel, which adds to
the disturbing quality. Though somewhat at odds with the campy
tone of the wardress and some of the action, this stylistic
decision gives the film a nervous energy that keeps it moving
at a nice pace. It may not be a masterpiece, but it is an expert
and surprisingly intelligent slice of exploitation from a man
whose erotic cinema is less concerned with carnal stimulation
than capturing and evoking a sense of sadness and futility.
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VIP's
release of Barbed Wire Dolls is of
the same calibre as subsequent releases like Women
In Cellblock 9 and Doriana Grey.
Painstakingly restored from the original negative, the film has
been perfectly letterboxed at 1.85:1 and is enhanced for widescreen
TVs. The quality of the print is, in a word, amazing —
especially for a lowbudget exploitation film that is nearly 30
years old. Print damage is negligible, colors are bold and vivid
and the image is razor-sharp throughout. As with other VIP releases,
the film is presented with several different audio options: English,
German and French. It is to be regretted, yet again, that English
subtitles were not provided as the English track leaves much to
be desired. Tracks like this explain much of Franco's poor reputation,
sounding more appropriate to a Japanese or Mexican monster movie
of the 1950s. As with other VIP releases, the best way to go is
to watch it first in English and then revisit it in German; the
difference is astounding. All three mono tracks sound very strong
and serve up Walter Baumgartner's music to its best advantage.
Extras include a collection of interviews with
Dietrich, Franco and Lina Romay that addresses the complicated
production history (Franco is said to have shot another WIP film
on the sly with the same cast and crew while he was shooting this!)
and the director's passionate hatred for censorship. These interviews
offer a valuable insight into Franco's filmmaking consciousness
and dispel any theory that he's just a no-talent pornographer
who lucked into making a couple of bigger films with well known
actors. There's also a still gallery, a collection of trailer
for the film and other Dietrich/Franco films, and a featurette
on the restoration of Franco's Jack The
Ripper (1976), the first of the VIP Franco releases. The
amount of work that went into restoring these obscure films is
to be applauded; the best way to show support is to buy them,
and to date every one of these Franco titles has been worth every
penny. 1/07/04 |
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