Short Film: Mickey Mouse in Vietnam (USA, 1968)

Here's a short and silent little underground animated treasure from the days of yesteryear. As with our Sept 2013 Short Film of the Month Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969) and our Oct 2016 Short Film of the Month Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown (1986), copyright laws were broken; and as with those films, no legal repercussions occurred. If Disney even noticed the film when it came out, why give it the publicity of a lawsuit?

Made in protest of the Vietnam War and originally on 16mm film stock, Mickey Mouse in Vietnam was considered lost for years until it suddenly resurfaced on YouTube in 2013. (Just wait and see: If and when London at Midnight [1927 / surviving bits] finally resurfaces, it'll be on YouTube.) The one-minute short takes the famous slogan "Join the Army, see the world, kill people" and redoes it as "Join the Army, see the world, die."

Originally screened at the 1968 Angry Arts Festival, the creative force behind it was [Whitney] Lee Savage (17 Dec 1928 – 6 Sept 1998), an American artist (see below) who went on to do shorts for Sesame Street, and Milton Glaser, a designer best known for having created the "iconic I ♥ NY logo". (As an "I ♥ Berlin" person, closer to our heart is the less known fact that he designed DC's Bronze Age "bullet logo" above.) 

Two People (1964),

Painting by Whitney Lee Savage

Mickey Mouse in Vietnam isn't exactly well drawn or masterfully animated, but then, it doesn't/didn't need to be to get its anti-war sentiments across. As Milton Glaser explains at Buzzfeed, "Well, obviously Mickey Mouse is a symbol of innocence, and of America, and of success, and of idealism — and to have him killed, as a soldier, is such a contradiction of your expectations." 

As an added attraction, an old protest song
from Country Joe & The Fish:

The Babysitter (USA, 2017)

(Spoilers.) Ah, the babysitter. Tragically misrepresented in the movies. Beginning with their looks. In all three babysitter movies we know of — The Babysitter (1969 / trailer), The Babysitter (1995 / trailer) and The Babysitter (2017) — the titular babysitters are all rather hot, if only by the tastes of their respective era. Dunno, but let's get real: in real life, does anyone out there really remember ever having had a knockout babysitter? Hell, no. If any flick named The Babysitter really wants to achieve an ounce of believability or mildly reflect reality — if one can even speak of such when talking about a movie featuring devil-worshiping "teenagers" with an incredible talent for cleaning house — the titular character would have to be, if not butt-ugly, then at least a plain Jane. But then, who would watch the movie?

Luckily, The Babysitter is not a realistic film: it is a blood-drenched black comedy featuring a wet-dream-worthy babysitter named Bee (Samara Weaving of Mayhem [2017 / trailer] and Bad Girl [2016 / trailer]) who pops the cherry of her 12-year-old ward of the night, Cole (Judah Lewis)...

OK, so Bee doesn't pop Cole's cherry, but he probably was wishing she would before the shit hit the fan. Pretty much like every man who watches this movie wishes he were also playing spin the bottle with her and her friends — at least, that is, until she puts two knives into the skull of the "winning" hapless loser Samuel (Doug Haley, found in Hansel & Gretel Get Baked [2013 / trailer]), whom she kisses soon after her male-fantasy lesbian kiss with the cheerleader, Allison (Bella Thorne of Big Sky [2014 / trailer]).

Director McG, who rose from music videos to Charlie's Angels (2000 / trailer) & Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003 / trailer) only to nosedive from Terminator: Salvation (2009 / trailer) to lame-ass TV movies (and beaucoup bucks as a producer), brings his hipster style to this uneven tale that is more fun than it deserves to be and hardly as fun as it could have been. The script takes the basic idea of a pubescent kid's wet dream fantasy (the knockout babysitter) and turns it on its head by reversing the basic structure of the classic body-count movie.

Normally, at least until Wes Craven's Scream (1996 / trailer) and its sequels, a body-counter has one psychopath leaving a trail of dead people behind as one after the other the various victims wander off alone; in The Babysitter, the intended fodder actually manages to do away with various psychopaths, one after the other, as they wander around alone looking to do him in.

Interestingly enough, and probably intentionally, the devil-worshiping psychos are almost all body-count film stereotypes and, aside from the hot blonde Bee, include the alibi Afro-American quipster (Andrew Bachelor of Meet the Blacks [2016 / trailer]), a generically handsome jock (Robbie Amell of Devil's Night [2007 / trailer] and Arq [2016 / trailer]), a cheerleader, and — somewhat less common to the genre — an Asian American (Hana Mae Lee). Indeed, in regards to the last listed, prior to this flick here the only western-world body-counter we remember seeing with an Asian character was Paul Hunt's obscure and hilariously abysmal slasher Twisted Nightmare (1987 / film), which featured a hotly muscular Darryl Tong, "a real-life fitness trainer [with 80s bad hair] whose facility with a crossbow was worked into the script" [Mondo Digital], as fodder.

The Babysitter is a fun film made by guys and for guys. Not that it is full of naked flesh or particularly misogynistic (no helpless women victims here, you could argue, despite some dead women), but the viewpoint — the visual focus, the titillated eye — is definitely based upon the male fantasy of not just the babysitter straight men all wish they had had, but the perfect girl that all male cis genders wish they could have. Only, the fantasy suddenly goes way off the deep end midway, and Ms. Perfection reveals herself to be total misperfection. (OK, the word doesn't exist — sue us.)

The movie does do some visual lip service to the possible [straight] female audience by having one of the males of its murderous quintet, the jock, go shirtless most of the time, thus giving the audience the extended pleasure of his ideal physique, but face it: shirtless guys don't do as much for girls as shirtless girls do for guys. Indeed, shirtless guys probably don't do as much for girls as even a girl in a hot bikini does for guys, and while guys get no nude female in The Babysitter, they do get Bee in a drool-inducing bikini. Indeed, there is probably no scene that better reveals the movie's male gaze, and the hormonal overdrive of pubescent males, than the pool swim scene in which the viewer experiences Cole's view of Bee stripping down to her red bikini in slow motion. Of the seven people watching the movie at our screening, the scene got embarrassed laughs of identification from those males who remembered puberty's insecure desires for the unfamiliar, loud catcalls from the guys lacking long-term memory, and simultaneous dismissively dry "Uh-huhs" from the two females. (Did we mention that The Babysitter talks more to guys than women?)

Still, it's odd that a movie like this supposedly sat two years on the shelf before finally being picked up by Netfux. It might not be as successfully hip as, say, other recent exercises in neo-postmodern self-aware genre moviemaking like Edgar Wright's name-actor heavy Baby Driver (2017 / trailer), but it is an entertaining and quirky and well-made spin on the familiar that, while slow to start, is never boring. Crisply filmed, tightly edited, and (unbelievably enough, considering the no-name cast) well acted, The Babysitter drips as much gore as it does pop culture references — many of which one might doubt that even a nerdy 12-year-old like Cole would know. (Seriously: Billy Jack [1971 / trailer]?) But Cole, as much of a wimpy loser as he is, is actually a likeable guy, and thus easy to root for — all the more so when he finally takes the bull by the horns to save his peach-fuzz balls.

Aside from Bee and Cole and the wanna-be killers, The Babysitter is also populated by a small plethora of throw-away characters — parents and bullies — who manage to instigate laughs on their own, some of the meanest (non death- or gore-related) laughs being at the expense of the parental figures. (Really, if the scene of Cole's parents at the hotel is a reflection of them working at their relationship, they should get a divorce.)

Like most of the rare dead-teenage movies in which parents are seen, such figures of familial authority are in the picture but briefly and disappear by the time the blood begins to flow. Too much so, one can't help but notice: the events may occur in a dreamy ideal of pristine suburban perfection, but even in Pleasantville neighbors would probably show up to rubberneck when cop cars, sirens screaming, pull up at a house on the street. Likewise, neither gunshots nor explosions seem to awaken anybody on the block, nor, for that matter, does anyone even throw a shoe when Cole runs across lawns and streets shouting (something to the effect of) "Come & get me! Here I am!" The closing credits jump scare is also pretty stupid: one might argue that such a scene is mandatory for teen horror movies, but be what it may, such scenes are also so generic and expected that they no longer work — at least, not for anything other than being an easy way out for a possible, if doubtful, sequel.

The Babysitter will never be seen as a classic, but it is good bloody and silly fun. Especially for guys. And while it'll probably never get the sequel the final scene would allow, give it ten to fifteen years and, like Cabin Fever (2002 / trailer and 2016 / trailer), it'll surely be subject to an unnecessary remake. But why wait? Watch the original now. On Netfux.

R.I.P. Maria Rohm, Part II: 1968-69

13 August 1945 – 18 June 2018

Vienna-born Maria Rohm (nee Helga Grohmann), talented cult actress and wife of British independent film producer and screenwriter Harry Alan Towers (19 Oct 1920 – 31 July 2009), went the way of the wind in June at the age of 72 in Toronto, Canada, the home of Bruce McArthur. Rohm, who began her acting career as a child stage actress, seems to have begun her film career at the age of twenty playing a prostitute in a 1964 film. Soon after she married producer Towers, also in 1964, he began putting her in many of his projects, including nine different movies directed by Jess Franco (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013). She retired from acting in 1976, at the young milfy age of 31, but like her husband remained active as a producer.

Go here for Part I: 1964–1967 

Eve
(1968, dir. Jeremy Summers)

Trivia: British director Jeremy Summers' father was the British director Walter Summers (2 Sept 1896 – April 1973), who long ago directed the early Edgar Wallace horror film starring Bela Lugosi, The Dark Eyes of London aka The Human Monster (1939 / trailer). Lugosi's character has a name familiar to many a Franco fan: Dr. Orlof[f].

This movie here is aka The Face of Eve, Eve in the Jungle, and Diana, Daughter of the Wilderness.... and, somewhere, as Hula Hula. But it is not to be mistaken with Eve, The Savage Venus aka King of Kong Island (1968 / nudity), which is also about a jungle gal named Eve. That that Eve (Esmeralda Baris), however, shows a lot more boobage. (Boobage good.)

This Eve is the last movie of the four that Jeremy Summers did for Harry Alan Towers, only this time he reportedly didn't finish the flick and quit mid-job. Depending on your source, either Robert Lynn (see Part I: 1964-67) took over or Jess Franco did.

Trailer to

Eve:

Maria Rohm gets neither poster credit nor does she play the title character: she plays Anne, "a singer who continues to trill even as a massive brawl is going on around her, apparently because Towers wanted to play her song in full".

And although "Eve", otherwise known as Celeste Yarnall, was lauded on some posters with an "Introducing Celeste Yarnall" credit, Ms. Yarnall had already been involved in movies since the early sixties. In fact: the same year that she made this movie, as "Ellen" she was also romanced by Elvis Presley (8 Jan 1935 – 16 Aug 1977) in the movie Live a Little, Love a Little (1968 / trailer), where he serenaded her with A Little Less Conversation.

Elvis's A Little Less Conversation,

as mixed by Junkie XL:

We took a quick look at Eve way back in 2012, in They Died in September 2012, Part VII: Herbert Lom, where we more or less wrote:

"[…] Herbert Lom is the bad guy to Christopher Lee's dying old man, while the delectable Celeste Yarnall (of The Velvet Vampire [1971 / trailer] and Beast of Blood [1971 / trailer]) is the title character.

"Super Strange Video explains the plot: 'While searching for Incan treasure, Mike (Robert Walker Jr.), an American pilot, crash lands in the upper Amazon region of Brazil. He is rescued from savages by a white girl called Eve (Yarnall), who is worshiped as a goddess by the natives. When news of Mike's adventure reaches a small river port, an unscrupulous American showman, John Burke (Fred Clark [19 Mar 1914 – 5 Dec 1968] of The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb [1964 / trailer]), sets out to find Eve and add her to his touring sideshow.'

Mountain Cat Fight:

"Fantastic Musings and Ramblings opinions: 'It's a dull affair, especially during the long middle section where the hero returns to civilization, and any interest it does generate is more due to the presence of several familiar faces (Lom, Lee, Clark) than anything that actually happens. At least it doesn't take itself too seriously, though it does resort to stereotypes (in the form of Jose Maria Caffarel's comic character) to do so. One fun thing to do in the movie is to keep track of how many characters die as a result of their own monumental stupidity; I count at least three.'

"Let's hear it for leather bikinis — and Yarnall's lovely, non-anorexic body!"

Mark David Welsh, who was less than enamored with the movie, points out that "The ending does suggest the possibility of sequels, but it's hardly a surprise that none emerged. This is formula filmmaking at its most uninspired; the lazy screenplay not even bothering to explain how the infant Eve managed to survive all those years in the jungle. Was she raised by apes? The native tribesmen? Aliens, maybe? Oh, well, nobody cares. She looks great in an animal-skin bikini and that's all we need to know!"

The Blood of Fu Manchu

(1968, writ. & dir. Jess Franco)

Aka Fu Manchu and the Kiss of Death, Kiss of Death, Kiss and Kill and Against All Odds. It is the fourth film in a series: preceded by The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (see Part I: 1964-67), it was followed by The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969), which we look at later. 

Trailer to

The Blood of Fu Manchu:

Written with the help of Harry Alan Towers, otherwise credited as "Peter Welbeck", The Blood of Fu Manchu is possibly the first of an eventual nine flicks in total that Franco (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013) directed for Towers, almost all of which featured Maria Rohm in the cast.

Here, she plays "Ursula Wagner". Richard Greene (25 Aug 1918 – 1 June 1985), of The Black Castle (1952 / clip) took over the role of Nayland Smith. Shirley Eaton appears to say all of two lines of dialog as "Black Widow", but she maintains that she never was officially part of the movie and never got paid for appearing in it: Jesus Franco simply inserted footage shot for another of her/his films, The Girl from Rio (1968), which we look at later. Interestingly enough, at least one poster (below) was also previously used for another movie, namely the German language release of The Vengeance of Fu Manchu.

According to Cinema Retro, "Jess Franco admitted to being surprised at having been asked to direct the series' fourth and fifth entries. In many respects the eccentric Spaniard was worthy of Tower's consideration as he shared the producer's lifelong enchantment with the comic-strip sensibilities of such popular dime-store-caliber novelists as Sax Rohmer and Edgar Wallace. But while he manages to bring some sense of old world British Empire derring-do to the screen, his two Fu Manchu films — with their attendant misfires and lurid nude sequences — stand apart from the first three films in the series and remain resolutely Franco in construction."

Over at All Movie, Robert Firsching has a plot: "This horror-tinged adventure is full of jungle action, creative murders, and violent sexual sadism. […] The mysterious Asian madman Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee) [is] plotting world domination from his secret headquarters underneath the Amazon rainforest. Fu has discovered a rare poison which affects only men, and uses it as lipstick for ten beautiful women, who are to deliver a kiss of death to each of 10 public officials. Carl Jansen (Gotz George [23 July 1938 – 19 June 2016] of Hypnosis [1962]) and Sir Denis Nayland Smith (Greene), a pair of Scotland Yard detectives, track Fu Manchu to his underground hideout and — with the aid of Dr. Ronald Petrie (Howard Marion Crawford) — search for the antidote to the deadly poison. Lee's wooden performance is alleviated by an amusing turn by Ricardo Palacios (2 March 1940 – 11 Feb 2015) as a revolutionary, and a beautiful female cast. […] This [is an] entertaining, if extremely sexist, fourth entry in the Fu Manchu series. Nude torture scenes and snake attacks are featured in some of the numerous prints, running 91, 88, 82, and 61 minutes."

"Filled with bright colors, banditos, and bondage galore courtesy of chained women in cages, this film encountered numerous censorship hassles and raised more than a few eyebrows with its publicity stills of topless women being tortured, one of which adorned the film's first VHS release box in America despite the fact that anything remotely naughty had been trimmed out of the film itself. The nudity level is actually pretty discreet by today's standards, but for a series of adventure films geared at preteens, it was definitely strong stuff. The low budget and sometimes pokey pacing can be a challenge if you're expecting something like the earlier Fu Manchu titles, but as a slice of cinematic exotica (with a slinky score by regular Franco composer Daniel White, it's an amusing diversion and a key entry in Franco's post-'60s evolution. [Mondo Digital]"

"The plot of The Blood of Fu Manchu often resembles the one in The Brides of Fu Manchu, which similarly had Fu Manchu with a collection of women under his control, hypnotised and forced to act as his puppets. The plot about women with a deadly kiss or as carriers of a disease was also used in a number of spy films of the era, most notably the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969 / trailer). However, the story here is all over the place. Most of the film consists of Fu Manchu prepping the girls for their mission intercut with numerous scenes of the bandits raiding. It is a plot that never seems to be in the process of going anywhere or building to anything. Disappointingly, Fu Manchu's customary adversary of Nayland Smith is barely present as a nemesis throughout. He is put out of action early in the show and only appears in two scenes during the first hour. This is peculiarly a Fu Manchu film where Nayland Smith is almost a supporting character to Dr Petrie who gets the lion's share of the adversarial scenes […]. The film arrives at a perfunctory climax where the lost city is blown up. [Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review]"

At Schmollywood Babylon, Fred Anderson thinks that "Götz George is decent in the part [of an agent], but his character kinda disappears from time to time and there're other characters taking over, including a fat bandit and the stunning Maria Rohm — and I could never figure out why. Everything is very confusing. It's also low on action and adventure, which is very dangerous for being an adventure movie. Fu Manchu sits in his fortress yelling orders to people watching him, then he walks around a bit and then he sits down a bit. That's what Lee does and it's not much fun. […] I'm a huge fan of Franco and I love when he goes secret agent/kitch adventure in the 60's […] but The Blood of Fu Manchu just doesn't work. Damn pity."

The Blood of Fu Man Chu is in the public domain in the US. You can watch it here, at Free Classic Movies. Free Classic Movies is the place to go for your legal public domain movies.

 The Girl from Rio

(1969, dir. Jess Franco)

Not to be mistaken with The Girl from Rio (1939 / full movie), from Lambert Hillyer (8 July 1889 – 5 July 1969), the uninteresting director who somehow managed to direct two minor classics of horror, Dracula's Daughter (1936 / trailer) and The Invisible Ray (1936 / trailer).

Aka The Seven Secrets of Sumuru, City Without Men, Sumuru Queen of Femina, Rio 70 and Future Women — and more. The Girl from Rio is the sequel to The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967, see Part I: 1964-67), once again featuring Shirley Eaton as the man-hating version of Fu Manchu, Su Muru. Eaton retired from making movies after this one. "Peter Welbeck" wrote the script, supposedly with the un-credited assistance of Bruno Leder (co-scripter of The Moment to Kill [1968 / trailer]) and Franz Eichhorn (1904–1982). Maria Rohm's "Helga" of the first film being rather dead, Rohm now plays someone else… 

Trailer to

The Girl from Rio:

"Speaking of which, […] brunette Maria Rohm [makes] her leggy presence felt […] while giving Jeff Sutton (Richard Wyler [20 June 1923 – 5 March 2010], of The Strange Door [1951 / clip]) a manicure in his hotel room. Sitting with her legs crossed, Maria, who plays a woman named Leslye, notices that Jeff has put his hand on her knee. If I tried a move like that, I would be shunned by society; shunned, I tell you. But since this Jeff pratt exudes charm and douche-adjacent elegance, he's got himself a date with a leggy Maria Rohm. It's not fair. [House of Self Indulgence]"

Over at the imdb, some guy named Claudio Carvalho, who lives in Rio, supplies a plot: "Jeff Sutton (Wyler) arrives in Rio de Janeiro with a suitcase with 10 million dollars, and the powerful mobster Sir Masius (George Sanders [3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972] of Good Times [1967] and The Body Stealers [1969]) sends his henchman Carl (Herbert Fleischmann [13 March 1925 – 5 April 1984]) with his gangsters to follow Jeff and get the money. Jeff has one affair with the manicurist Leslie (Rohm) and succeeds to escape from Sir Masius' mobsters. Meanwhile, Su Muru (Eaton, of And Then There Were None [1965]), the leader of the women of the City of Femina that wants to defeat the men and take over the world, captures Jeff and brings him to Femina expecting to get the money. Su Muru has several prisoners locked in glass cages, including Ulla Rossini (Marta Reves), who knows Jeff Sutton. Jeff discloses to Ulla that his arrival is part of a plan to save her from Su Muru. Jeff Sutton becomes a pawn in the middle of the war between Masius and Su Muru."

"Woman as fetish dominatrix, man as submissive victim destined to be ruled by the female sex. The Girl from Rio is Franco having fun with comic book and James Bondian conventions, as much fun as the film's George Sanders character has when he relishes his Popeye comic while a woman is being tortured. The Girl from Rio is also Franco having fun with as much soft-porn as he can get away with, slyly filming nude scenes when star Shirley Eaton was not on the set, steering his camera toward women's anatomies, pausing his camera at peek-a-boo attire, and positioning his actresses (excepting star Eaton!) so that breasts are revealed and bottoms placed in the forefront — everything guided by his own libido and obsessions. […] Whatever its obvious shortcomings, The Girl from Rio is at least hip and, in many places, fun, unlike the artificial and very square but far, far bigger-budgeted American super spy film In Like Flint (1967 / trailer), which shares a plot line with the Franco film of the female of the species wishing to take over the world. A more interesting and personal film from Franco than the two Fu Manchus he directed for Towers, The Girl from Rio spreads a bit of sunshine into the gloom of a rainy or melancholic day if it finds you in a receptive mood. [The Casebook of Jess Franco]"

Ninja Dixon gushes, "Wow, this was one fun Jess Franco-movie! […] The Girl from Rio manages to make a lot of entertainment with probably very little money. We have the good old Franco working, with lots of pointless zooms and out-of-focus shots. But it's not that much, because most of the movie is a gorgeous and fantastic-looking spy/thriller/kitsch/action story with Franco showing his best. That man knows how to point a camera, and he likes stylish wide shots — as usual — and lots of half-naked women. There're a few fights and chase scenes and all of them are competent and echoes of James Bond and all the other colorful action movies from that time. But they obviously didn't have money to use blanks, so every time someone shoots it's off screen, just with sound effects. The final is extra cheap, and if they didn't say that the places was blowing to pieces, I would just think it was some extra abstract editing and Franco being a little more creative than usual! But still, it looks damn good and the Rio-locations are beautiful."

Yep: "Welcome to Femina: The City of Women. A magical place where naked midriffs rule the roost. Where pantyhose-adorned undercarriages grow on trees. The city voted the red cape capital of Brazil for the third year running by Red Cape Magazine. And the best place to find affordable cunnilingus for all you lesbians on a budget. I don't care if men aren't welcome (a misandric speech given by Sumuru during our initial tour makes that all too clear), I want to live in Femina: The City of Women. [House of Self Indulgence]"

99 Women

(1969 writ & dir. Jess Franco)

 

"From now on you have no name, only a number. You have no future, only the past. No hope, only regrets. You have no friends, only me."

Thelma Diaz (Mercedes McCambridge)

According to various sites online, including Cinesploitation, "In 1968 Franco and his legendary producer Harry Alan Towers (aka 'Peter Warbeck') were in Brazil shooting The Girl From Rio when they found that they had some extra time on their hands. So instead of letting the crew just hang out getting paid in Rio de Janeiro, they decided to write a whole new movie over the weekend and began shooting the following Monday. By the end of the week, they had shot a third of the entire script."

Scripting assistance was supplied by "Peter Welbeck", Milo G. Cuccia and Carlo Fadda. Maria Rohm plays Marie, subsequently called [prisoner] #98. We took a quick look at 99 Women way back in 2012, in They Died in September 2012, Part VII: Herbert Lom, where we more or less wrote: 

"Herbert Lom takes part in his first Jess Franco film — and in nothing less than Franco's first women-in-prison flick! As Governor Santos, Lom shares the screen with Maria Schell, Mercedes McCambridge and Rosalba Neri (of Lady Frankenstein [1971]); the French release includes inserted hardcore footage, none of which naturally involves the real cast. 

Trailer to

99 Women:

"DVD Drive-in explains the film: 'In cult director Jess Franco's [...] epic, three sentenced females arrive by boat to the island where they will imprisoned — 'The Castle of Death.' The main girl is a pretty blond named Marie (Maria Rohm), but since these prisoners are only called by their numbers, she becomes branded "98". Marie makes the mistake of informing the butchy warden (Oscar-winner Mercedes McCambridge [16 March 1916 – 2 March 2004]) of an ill patient in the next cell. After the expected punishment, she finds herself at the wandering hands of a feisty lesbian (Rosalba Neri [below, not from the movie]), as well as the shady Governor (Herbert Lom) who apparently reaps the benefits of having sex with the prettier inmates that the warden delivers to him. Later, a sympathetic investigator (Maria Schell [15 Jan 1926 – 26 April 2005]) arrives on the scene to witness firsthand how badly these girls have been abused and mistreated, but it may be too late…"

The inserts for the French hardcore version, which is entitled Les Brûlantes (while it lasts, see: uncut sausage on YouTube) and was released in French porn theaters five years after the original film's theatrical run, were supposedly shot by the great Italian hack Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) — see: Island of the Living Dead (2007). Who supplied the hairy muffs and hairy balls for the close-ups is unknown. Like many Franco films, there are as many cuts of the movie as there are titles.

In any event, the 2,500 Movie Challenge, which is of the opinion that 99 Women "ranks alongside Count Dracula (1970) and Venus in Furs (1969) as one the director's better outings", says: "99 Women is always engaging, thanks in large part to its impressive cast. McCambridge is over-the-top yet damned entertaining as the fanatical Diaz, while Maria Schell is more subdued but equally as effective as the sympathetic observer trying to make a difference (the animosity that develops between their characters adds another layer of drama to what is already a tension-heavy motion picture). As the lone male in the main cast, Herbert Lom is sleazy as hell as the Governor who occasionally has his way with the women prisoners; one scene in particular, where he leers at Marie and #76 (Rosalba Neri) as they get it on with each other, is downright creepy. As for the inmates, they're also well-portrayed, especially Maria Rohn as Marie, who wins our sympathy the moment we meet her."

Prison Movies obviously disagrees: "[...] This is a boring, limp-scripted, horribly acted, and uninspired effort. Ninety-nine Women in very short tunics and from a selection of different European countries are imprisoned on a half of a remote island in a big castle. The Oscar-winning (!) Mercedes McCambridge plays the confused-accented Superintendent Diaz, who reigns by terror (one is led to believe, because you see very little of it) and also procures prisoners for the male Governor who runs the men's prison on the other side of the island. Fortunately we don't see much of this, but the relationship between the two reminded me oddly of Nurse Diesel and Dr Montague in High Anxiety (1977 / trailer)."

Marquis de Sade: Justine

(1969, dir Jess Franco)

Based on some novel entitled Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue, written by some guy named Donatien Alphonse François de Sade (2 June 1740 – 2 Dec 1814), aka Marquis de Sade. Adapted for the screen by "Peter Welbeck"; "heavily censored, various prints run 120, 105, 93, and 90 minutes."

French trailer:

Way back in March of this year, in R.I.P. Umberto Lenzi, Part IV: 1976-82, while taking a look at Lenzi's 1982 film Incontro nell'ultimo paradise, we quoted a surprisingly snarky and since-deleted Wikipedia entry on that movie's star, Sabrina Siani, that said Jess Franco hailed Siani as "the 2nd worst actress he ever worked with (next to Romina Power […])."

We mention that because Romina Power, the daughter of Tyrone Power (5 May 1914 – 15 Nov 1958, of Nightmare Alley [1947 / Trailer from Hell]) and Linda Christian (13 Nov 1923 – 22 July 2011, of The Devil's Hand [1961 / trailer]), plays the title role of this movie. According to the movie's trivia section at the imdb, "In an interview on the Anchor Bay DVD release, Jesús Franco says he originally wanted Rosemary Dexter (19 July 1944 – 8 Sept 2010) as Justine, but the American partners in the film insisted upon Romina Power. Franco compared her performance to a window dummy."

That said, Romina Power, though acting in Italian films since 1965, was hardly a name in the US or elsewhere. Living in Italy since the early 60s, by 1970 she was the female half of a popular European singing duo Al Bano and Romina Power. Romina moved to Sedona, Arizona, in 2007, a location popular to New Agers and full of strip malls that one has to drive through to get to Jerome, Arizona. Her daughter, Ylenia Carrisi, "[…] (born November 1970) was visiting New Orleans when she went missing in the French Quarter. She had been staying at the Le Dale Hotel with a street musician when she was last seen on 6 January 1994. The man was arrested in connection with her disappearance by the New Orleans police detectives, but later released due to lack of evidence. She has yet to be found."

Al Bano and Romina Power's

biggest hit, Felicità:

But to the movie! SexGoreMutants raves "The film opens with everyone's favorite Euro cult stalwart Klaus Kinski pacing around in a cell tormented by the visions of some naked, blood-spattered females manacled in the adjoining room. He opens a book and starts to transcribe Justine's story — and so the fun begins. Young innocent Justine (Romina Power) and her more worldly sister Juliette (Maria Rohm) are ejected from their cosseted French orphanage to fend for themselves after their father flees the country. Left with a small amount of money, Juliette suggests they go stay with her friends; Justine discovers that these so-called friends are actually the inhabitants of the local brothel. Being the pure young lass she is, Justine decides this is not for her and decides to do her own thing. Sadly the young girl is swiftly conned out of the little money she has by a corrupt monk and ends up working as a house slave for a local hotelier. Things go from bad to worse when one of the lecherous residents upset by her disinterest to his sexual advances frames her for the theft of his gold brooch. Poor Justine is thrown into jail [and] sentenced to death, but just when you think things couldn't get any more dreadful for the poor girl (well surely you can't get any worse than the death sentence surely?) life does indeed go from ghastly to downright disgraceful! Beaten, branded, tortured and enslaved by a sadistic band of monks (led by Jack Palance in what is without doubt his finest ever role) it looks as though the pitiful Justine will soon be wishing she had never been born. What will become of Justine? How does she mange to keep going through the endless brutality? Will it ever end? Well, fans of exploitation cinema will be salivating in delight at the onscreen perversions hoping that it won't!"

TV Guide, on the other hand, carps that "One of the Marquis de Sade's most notorious works is stripped to its basic elements here as Jack Palance involves a number of nude women in his macabre forays into black magic and sadism. Klaus Kinski turns in a fairly good performance as the marquis, but the film is mostly exploitive garbage. It's a shame that filmmakers have been reluctant to consider the marquis' philosophical concerns; De Sade's revolutionary ideas would almost certainly be more interesting (and less lurid) than his outrageous sexual descriptions." (Yes, and the average reader of TV Guide would probably also find such philosophical concerns extremely intellectually stimulating.)

10K Bullets, which laments that Maria Rohm's Juliette "is underused" and that "she delivers a pitch perfect portrayal of Juliette", mentions: "From a production stand point, Marquis de Sade's Justine would give Franco the largest canvas that he ever got to work with as a filmmaker, with the film's reported budget being one million pounds. Needless to say, he would take full advantage of this rare opportunity as this film is a period drama set in 18th century. When it comes to costumes and set designs, this film does a superb job maintaining the intended look of this era. Another area where this film far exceeds its expectations are the actually Barcelona locations featured in the film, and some of them are considered landmark locations."

 

As for the acting, Celluloid Terror pretty much echoes the general opinion of most online commentaries when they say: "Unfortunately, the star Romina Power is either totally disconnected from the material or blissfully (for her own sake) unaware that she's making a movie. She has a perfect look for the character of Justine, as she has a naturally innocent look, but she's as wooden as wooden can get and doesn't emote any of the tasteless brutality that she endures again and again. […] Jack Palance and Mercedes McCambridge play supporting roles who both kill it with their respective performances. As the story goes Palance was drunk on red wine by 7am each morning and that very well may have lead to his totally bizarre and off-the-fucking-wall performance, while McCambridge owns the screen during her scenes as a powerful leader of a band of thieves and swindlers."

"Justine isn't THAT tame by the way. It has some blood and a good amount of nudity, mostly boobs and an ass here and there, but imagine if Power didn't get the part and the cool Rosemary Dexter (who plays a smaller part, but first got cast as Justine) did it instead? I think we would have seen a very different movie, an even better and more brilliant production. Now it's 'just' great. [Ninja Dixon]"

Venus in Furs

(1969, writ & dir. Jess Franco)

Well, if you do a movie based on a famous S&M novel (Marquis de Sade: Justine), why not follow it up with a movie inspired by a classic B&D novel? But it's false advertising: as Wikipedia points out, "The film (also known as Paroxismus and Black Angel) bears only a superficial resemblance to the 1870 Venus in Furs novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (27 Jan 1836 – 9 March 1895). The title and character names in Franco's original script were changed to the novel's for commercial reasons. Franco's film is a surreal supernatural erotic thriller about unattainable love and how far one is willing to go for the person they desire. It is not a study in masochism as portrayed in the novel."

Trailer to 

Jess Franco's Venus in Furs:

It also isn't the only Venus in Furs of 1969: the adaptation by Massimo Dallamano (17 April 1917 – 4 Nov 1976), aka Devil in the Flesh, hit the screen the same year (trailer).

Mondo Esoterica has the what and the why: "Although often hailed as Franco's masterwork, the end film Venus in Furs is a long way from Franco's original concept of Black Angel, which was to be a surreal love affair between a black jazz musician and a white fantasy woman whom he conjoured up during solo playing. However, the American distributors refused to fund a film with a black man/white woman romance and Franco was forced to rethink the whole story — even the title was a commercial insistence of the American International producers who wanted to capitalize on the success of the Leopold Sacher-Masoch book, even though the film itself was little related. As it stands, the storyline of Venus in Furs is very interesting and unpredictable with the curious recurrent themes of a jazz piece and the languorous pacing and jumps of a dream. […] The ending is very strong, although it would probably be more powerful without the final line of dialogue."

Set within the music scene, it also stars two real musicians cum actors: James Darren as "Jimmy Logan" and Barbara McNair (4 Mar 1934 – 4 Feb 2007) as "Rita". (The photo of her below comes from the blogspot Celebrity Nude.)

 

Non-musician Maria Rohm plays the titular Venus in Furs, Wanda Reed. Trivia: On 15 December 1976, McNair's second husband (of four), Rick Manzie, was murdered in their Las Vegas mansion.

Barbara McNair's biggest hit,

Here I Am Baby:

The plot, as given by Claudio Carvalho (of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) at the imdb: "In Istanbul, the trumpet player Jimmy Logan (Darren) is dazed and confused on the beach and finds his musical instrument buried in the sand. Then he sees a woman in the sea and he pulls her body from the surf. He recognizes her as Wanda Reed (Rohm), a gorgeous woman that he saw in the party of the playboy Ahmed Kortobawi (Klaus Kinski [18 Oct 1926 – 23 Nov 1991]). Then he saw her being whipped and raped by Ahmed and his friends Percival Kapp (Dennis Price [23 June 1915 – 6 Oct 1973]) and Olga (Margaret Lee). Jimmy travels to Rio de Janeiro and spends the Carnival playing with a jazz band and his girlfriend Rita (McNair) in the nightclub of Herman. One night, Wanda Reed comes to the club and Jimmy becomes obsessed on her. Sooner he leaves Rita and stays with Wanda. Meanwhile, she kills Percival, Olga and Ahmed [while] dressed in furs. When the police seek out the woman, Jimmy discovers a secret about Wanda Reed and him."

The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre, which often wouldn't recognize a good movie if it bit them, rates the movie as "Worthless" and spleens: "An early Franco movie bordering on the confusing and strange, and often claimed to be a surreal masterpiece but is mostly just a badly executed ghost story. […] Features trippy editing and warped cinematography (Franco's subtle way to make things dreamy), Klaus Kinski as a kinky Turk (say that three times fast), the usual dull Franco exploitative nudity, and a final twist ending."

Girls, Guns and Ghouls, however, would beg to disagree: "Visually, Franco's images are complex and intriguing. Supernatural mental states are passed into, and out of. The images slow down, dissolve and overlap. The beach, site of death and the discardment of life, and the ever-present waves, come and go throughout our story. Costumes, sixties fashion, musical instruments and objects, plus the physical locations all delight. Franco obviously loves Istanbul, having used it in quite a few of his films, and knows how to shoot it at its best. Rio's carnival atmosphere comes and goes through the middle third of the film, and adds colour to an already colour-drenched piece. If you're looking for intense erotica or horror in a film, you probably won't find a huge amount to satisfy your needs in Venus in Furs. It's really more of an effective mood piece. That's not to say that a semi-naked Rohm in furs and stockings isn't compelling to look at, but a fetish for both would probably help. The kills are all done through some sort of death-bringing psychic energy emitted by Wanda, so there're zero levels of violence and gore. If you like Franco's psychedelic efforts, this would have be a prime example of them. The next time you get a bad run of Franco films and start to look negatively at his oeuvre, pop in Venus for a spin in your DVD player, and I think you'll come back to him."

Barbara McNair & Manfred Mann —

Venus in Furs:

Lastly, to return to Mondo Esoterica: "Like most of the Towers/Franco collaborations, Venus in Furs has a strong cast. American actor James Darren was unusual casting for the lead role, a popular American TV star he was little known in Europe, Franco agreed to cast him after discovering that Darren was a former jazz trumpeter which lends some real authenticity to the musical sequences. Barbara McNair was similarly well known in America as a singer, which allows her character to seem much more authentic (no need to dub the singing separately) while Maria Rohm as her supernatural love rival was Tower's top name actress and very popular, although probably intentionally she gets little range here, usually appearing mute. The tragic Dennis Price and legendary Klaus Kinski give good but almost mute performances as Wanda's torturers and victims, although with little screen-time. Look out for Franco regular Paul Muller as a bar owner, and jazz musician Manfred Mann as himself, even Franco himself puts in a turn on the piano in one scene."

Has nothing to do with this film —

trailer to Joe Marzano's Venus in Furs (1967):

Eugenie... The Story of Her Journey Into Perversion

(1969, dir Jess Franco)

Another Harry Alan Towers production scripted by "Peter Welbeck" featuring Maria Rohm. Aka The Virgin and the Whip, De Sade 70: Beaten and Loved, Philosophy in the Boudoir and other names. Tangentially based on the works of Marquis de Sade, it is also yet another movie starring Christopher Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) that he later claimed he had no idea would feature so much nudity — considering that this is the case of almost all his Franco films, one wonders why Lee made so many with Franco. (Aside from the four he made around the same time — 1988-70 — he returned in 1988 for Dark Mission [full film in Spanish] and in 1989 for Fall of the Eagles [trailer].)

Franco did a total of five films "based" on DeSade's Philosophy in the Boudoir. He followed this version here, for example, a year later with the similarly entitled Eugénie (striptease), starring Soledad Miranda (9 July 1943 – 18 August 1970). After that, he followed with Plaisir a trois aka How to Seduce a Virgin (1974 / full NSFW movie, in French) and two further sex-film versions, both of which we took a quick glance at way back in 2012 in R.I.P. Lina Romay: 1978's Cocktail Special (full NSFW movie), and his final riff on the tale in 1980, Eugenie (Historia de una perversión) aka Wicked Memoirs of Eugenie.

As for Lee, supposedly the smoking jacket he wears is the same he wore as Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband desTodes (1962); he followed up this soft-core sex movie with another Franco/Towers/Rohm movie, The Bloody Judge (1969), but filming and release dates of the various productions might be irrelevant so who know what his last Franco movie truly was/is.

Despite Lee's top billing, the real star of Eugenie... The Story of Her Journey Into Perversion is, of course, the unforgettable Marie Liljedahl, who was probably 18 or 19 years old while filming (she was born 15 February 1950). Swedish, her short career actually began with a tiny part — "Girl on Beach" — in an obscure Greek film entitled O zestos minas Avgoustos, which Doris Wishman (1 June 1912 – 10 Aug 2002) bought and turned into a soft-core sex drama entitled The Hot Month of August (1966 / trailer). (Wishman is credited as director "Louis Silverman".) But when Joseph W. Sarno (15 March 1921 – April 26, 2010) cast Liljedahl, at 17, as Inga (1968 / trailer), she became a sex symbol. Liljedahl, named the Top Sex Star of 1971 by Playboy magazine, also "retired" by 1971 and supposedly later even claimed to regret that she ever made sex films. (Better to make sex films than vote Trump.)

Trailer to

Eugenie... The Story of Her Journey Into Perversion:

But now, to get to the movie. "Though not a neat break from his past oeuvre, historians of continental film are of the mind that Eugenie was more-or-less a transitional movie for Franco, a pivotal catalyst for the director’s turn from more traditional movie-making forms to a more seamy and steamy catalog of cult-films. In the final analysis, Eugenie was a difficult film to market in 1970 as it had a cinematic foothold in two disparate worlds. U.S. distributor, Jerry Gross (26 Jan 1940 – 20 Nov 2002), didn't even want the final product as he found the film too artsy and tame and wanted to see more flesh on-screen. Franco would defend the finished film as 'erotic but not pornographic'. [Cinemaretro]"

The plot, as found at The Bloody Pit of Horror: "Madame Marianne Saint Ange (Maria Rohm) seduces Monsieur de Mistival (Paul Muller of Lady Frankenstein [1971] and so much more) and gets him to agree to let her take his impressionable, sheltered 15-year-old daughter Eugenie (Marie Liljedahl) away to her tropical island mansion (only accessible via boat) for the weekend. She promises no harm will become of his virginal little girl in the process. Upon arriving, Eugenie is showered with attention, fancy wardrobe, ocean-front dinners, wine and smoke by her libertine hostess, who also enjoys bathing and rubbing lotion on her guest in various states of undress. Eugenie is also introduced to Marianne's step-brother (and lover) Mirvel (Jack Taylor of Succubus [1968] and so much more), who immediately falls in love with the naive young beauty, a black handyman named Augustin (Anney Kablan) and reclusive, mute maid Therese (Uta Dahlberg). Seems harmless — and typical — late 60s/early 70s soft-focus soft-core fluff, right? Not so fast, sucker. […] There's sadism galore, druggings, rapings, beatings, nightmares, murders and a strange cult dressed in Victorian era garb and headed over by Christopher Lee as Dolmance. Said cult seems to want to get their hands on a human heart for some kind of ceremony. [….]"

Of Maria Rohm, at House of Self Indulgence pre-transition Yum-Yum writes, "Anyway, Maria Rohm plays Madame Saint Ange, a leggy aristocratic who enjoys sunbathing, toying with her guitar-playing gardener/boatman, Augustin, diaphanous clothing, sado-masochism, and corrupting minors."

At All Movie, Mark Deming demurs that "Die Jungfrau und die Peitsche is rather subdued by Franco's standards, though it has enough nudity, decadence, and pretty people doing awful things to satisfy the vast majority of his fans. Die Jungfrau und die Peitsche (released in the United States as Eugenie: The Story of Her Journey Into Perversion) features plenty of lovely scenery and pleasing sequences of the idle rich enjoying themselves to balance out the lurid and enthusiastic torture sequences, though most of them are mildly creepy rather than bloodcurdling. Christopher Lee's all too brief supporting performance as master sadist Dolmance hits all the right notes […], and Maria Rohm and Jack Taylor are a fine pair of creepy, if attractive, libertines. Marie Liljedahl, however, takes top honors as the defiled innocent Eugenie, who walks an appropriate line between schoolgirl charm and ripe sexuality — scoring impressively on both sides. Die Jungfrau und die Peitsche may be sleaze, but it's sleaze with style, delivering kinky softcore sex and amusingly pretentious philosophizing in amusingly equal measure."

For some intriguing musings about the film, we recommend the review at Not Coming to a Theater Near You. 

The Bloody Judge

(1969, dir. Jess Franco)

Aka: Night of the Blood Monster and, according to various sources, Throne of the Blood Monster, Trial of the Witches and Witch Killer of Broadmoor. Original title, Il trono di fuoco — but not to be mistaken with 1983's Il trono di fuoco (trailer). The version that is Night of the Blood Monster is severely cut, so don't expect the normal amount of Franco blood, breasts, bondage and beatings.

Trailer to

Night of the Blood Monster:

Another Jess Franco film with Maria Rohm — and Christopher Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015), Maria Schell (15 Jan 1926 – 26 April 2005) and Margaret Lee, among others. The story by Towers, script by Franco, Michael Haller (co-scripter of Sonne, Sylt und kesse Krabben aka Ready, Willing and Able [1971 / song]), Anthony Scott Veitch ([6 Jan 1914 – 23 Feb 1983] who cowrote Coast of Skeletons [1965]), and Enrico Colombo. Colombo scripted some fun trash in his day, for example: Il castello dalle porte di fuoco aka Ivanna (1970 / German trailer), La orgía de los muertos aka Beyond the Living Dead (1973 / Spanish trailer) and the unjustly unknown Réquiem para el gringo aka Duel in the Eclipse (1968 / trailer).

One might be tempted to write this off as a remake or alternative version of Witchfinder General (1968), but that film is based on the life and times of Matthew Hopkins (c. 1620 – 12 Aug 1647), while Franco's Bloody Judge is based on the life and times of George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem, otherwise known as The Hanging Judge (15 May 1645 – 18 April 1689). But surely, Franco's film — like Michael Armstrong's Mark of the Devil I (1970 / trailer) and Adrian Hoven's Mark of the Devil II (1973 / trailer) — would not have come to be were it not for the success of Witchfinder General.

The plot, as found at Beasts in Human Skin: "During the reign of King James II, Lord Chancellor Jeffries (Christopher Lee) has a wicked reputation as defender of the Crown and Church. Without remorse, he sends anyone to be tortured and executed if they are accused of treason or witchcraft. Alicia Grey (Margaret Lee) is brought before Jeffries on charges of witchcraft. He finds her guilty and has her burned alive. It later comes to his attention that the son (Hans Hass Jr. [3 Sept 1946 – 28 June 2009 — suicide by hanging]) of Lord Wessex (Leo Genn [9 Aug 1905 – 26 an 1978], of And Then There Were None [1965]) is having an affair with this dead 'witch's' sister Mary (Maria Rohm), who is not only associated with witches but also of conspirators against the king. Lord Wessex's son Harry is warned to leave this wench alone but he is in love and refuses. He and Mary fight for the army of William of Orange but are captured and along with 500 of their fellow rebels are sentenced to death by Jeffries. Will they escape? Will the rebels overthrow King James and his sadistic but loyal henchman, Lord Jeffries? […]"

Hans Hass Jr. sings in German —

American Pie (1972):

"Franco's admittedly admirable attempts to craft a serious period piece/historical drama include several well-staged battle sequences, dark political shenanigans ever-afoot and snatches of the driest humour. The Bloody Judge also boosts a budget more sizable than most Franco films, and there's plenty of grim detail to the filthy authenticity of the period, which is handsomely evoked. Also worth mentioning is the beautiful cinematography by Franco regular Manuel Merino, and the emotive score courtesy of Behind the Couch favourite, Bruno Nicolai. Despite these positive aspects, events are too often bogged down in dusty scenes of badly dubbed dialogue that go on a little too long; and regardless of some surprisingly effective performances, none of the characters ever really garner any sympathy. Maria Rohm […] is rather good as Mary Gray; the damsel in distress who seems prepared to do whatever it takes to protect her lover. Sir Christopher Lee, as usual, delivers the kind of stately performance he is now renowned for as the merciless judge. [Behind the Couch]"

20-20 Movie Reviews, on the other hand, says, "Anyone who has seen a Franco movie will pretty much know what to expect in terms of plot and quality. The story is played fairly straight to begin with, but it's as if even Franco grows bored of the tedious pace with which the muddled plot unfolds and decides to spice things up with gratuitous female nudity. [That's Maria Rohm getting nekkid below.] Most of this involves an unsavoury focus on violence towards women, including beatings and rape. […] Despite the attempts at respectability and relatively high production values for a Franco production, no attempt is made to add any depth to the characters. Jeffries is simply a sadistic monster with no human emotions whatsoever, and no back-story to speak of."

As Robert Firsching points out at All Movie, "This erotic horror film from cult director Jesus Franco […] revels in displays of whipping, sex, and chained women, but is difficult to evaluate otherwise due to the numerous different versions available, some with alternate endings. One version has Jeffreys hanged, then taken down and beheaded, while another has him watching a hanging from a window while a narrator reads his death sentence. There is also a third ending in which Jeffreys makes a confession to Harry's father, the Earl of Wessex, before suffering a fatal heart attack."

Bruno Nicolai — Music to

The Bloody Judge:

Jess Franco, ever a believer in (depending on your viewpoint) flogging a dead horse or reinvention of ideas, returned to the character of Jeffreys a few years later in Les Demons (1973 / trailer), with Cihangir "John Foster" Gaffari (also of Hundra [1983 / trailer] and El monte de las brujas aka The Witches Mountain [1975 / trailer]) playing the judge. Franco's Les Demons, by the way, was also an exploitation take of Ken Russell's The Devils (1971 / trailer).

When released in the US with its misleading name, poster and general presentation, Night of the Blood Monster was part of a double bill with one of Hammer's more troubled and more succesful productions, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971 / trailer).

Go here for Part III: 1970-75.