Lady Diamond

An owner of a 1970's London disco gets sexually involved with a shady medallion man who may have dangerous Mafia links.

What a pile of junk this is! But, somehow and some way, I have a soft spot for it. A guilty pleasure that should be whispered lightly and only in limited company. It is so camp that on release it probably drove drag queen rushing towards the exits.

It does - however - capture the 70's disco scene and fashions as well as the faceless hits that pumped out of them. Clear and brainless padding though they are.

This is based on a (Jackie) Collins novel that shows the imagination of a newt: discos, glamour, the mob, diamonds, dancing and guys who think they look better with a thick moustache. If you were given the task of writing a script based on clichés you couldn't do better than this.

Lead Joan Collins, only a few years before so down-on-her-luck that she was signing on the dole, takes her clothes off for about six milliseconds to reveal a pale skinny body that has seen better days, but you still would, wouldn't you?

Everyone hated discos, even the people that went to them every week. Boring places where girls danced around handbags and every girl you spoke to was "waiting for her boyfriend." A plastic imitation of a good time. Not to mention that horrible, insisting, pounding music that made any dance floor conversation impossible. If there is a hell - it must be like a 70's disco.

Yes, you are probably going to hate it. Yes, you won't see what the point it is. But it is like a bad war film about a war that you went through yourself and have the scars to prove it - it keeps you involved even though there is a million other things that you really should be doing.

Though I searched high and low, I couldn't find a copy of Joan Collins' previous movie, "The Stud", so I had to settle for watching this sequel. After watching the movie, I no longer have any desire to find the original film. Though sequels are typically bad, this movie was so bad that I simply could not picture "The Stud" being better. It's a shoddily made movie at times - some of the dialogue was obviously dubbed over in post- production. What's even worse is the story - more than a third into the movie, I was asking myself, "Just what is the point of this movie?" I asked myself that same question in the closing minutes of the movie! If you feel you can look over the pointless story and are just looking for trash, the movie still disappoints. Except for one mildly erotic sequence taking place at an indoor pool, the sporadic nude/sex sequences aren't the least bit enticing. If you want to see Joan Collins in a trashy movie, you'd be better of watching "Empire of the Ants".

If you take "The Stud" as the height of the hedonistic campy and thrashy disco 70's then this is not your movie as it is a major let down.

Joan Collins revives her role as the hedonistic and sexually liberated Mrs. Fontain Khaled (read as "BITCH") is now divorced after her husband found incriminating evidence of her bonking Tony (The Stud.. if you remember) and is now doing every one in sight. She must be really bored with her sex life because in a few hours of her arrival in London she screws her driver????

And so the saga of sex and sin continues...and unfortunately the sex scenes in this movie can be summerised in one word.."AWFUL" The actors actually look so bored and lifeless it is amazing, plus there is the obligatory pool-orgy.

The only thing to ss in this movie is when the main titles roll, and as the title song comes on, we see Joan Collins without any make up (looking as pale as a milk ). As it continues she does a total make over and by the end completes looking like the BITCH she loves to play.

Worth only for die hard J.C. fans, but they may be disapointed.

Joan Collins returns as middle-aged, sex-mad uber-bitch Fontaine Khaled in the inevitable sequel to The Stud, which sees her becoming involved with a hustler named Nico (Antonio Cantafora), who is trying to raise money to pay off his debts to the mob. But Nico isn't the only one with financial problems: Fontaine is also feeling the pinch, her divorce leaving her far less affluent and her London disco Hobo failing to pull in the crowds.

If you enjoyed the tacky disco-era smut that was The Stud, there's a very good chance that you'll enjoy The Bitch as well, this sequel delivering the same heady concoction of swinging sex, melodrama, and crazy dance floor action, all accompanied by a throbbing soundtrack of '70s smashers (including Leo Sayer, Real Thing, Blondie, and The Three Degrees).

Fontaine has nookie with every man she meets (sporting black basque, stockings and suspenders and chauffeur cap to seduce her driver), there's a swimming pool orgy scene (yes, another one!), Nico screws a mystery woman who turns out to be working for the mob, and Ian Hendry turns up as British gangster who wants Nico to pay off his debts by doing a small favour for him.

It's all instantly forgettable trash, as one might expect from a film based on a Jackie Collins novel, but it's fun for the duration.

"The Bitch" is one of countless exploitation films dealing with the sex lives of the "jet set" crowd, (today they are known as the '1 percenters.) This film offers a tawdry look into a very decadent lifestyle, led by people with no real morals or concern for anything other than their own pleasure. Days are filled with shopping sprees at Cartier and fashion shows, and nights are spent at tacky London discos, or bed hopping. The wealthy circle is rather small, so it seems like everyone has already slept with everyone else, and everybody knows everyone's secrets. Joan Collins is admittedly very good as Fontaine Khaled, the forty-something socialite who made her financial stake by marrying an Arab billionaire, who foolishly gave her everything she could want, before he discovered her extra marital affairs, and quickly divorced her. In this film, a sequel to "The Stud," which is a better film, Fontaine must use her own "skills" to survive. And survive she does, quite well actually.

This is super-trash on the highest level. We have violent mob bosses, nude swimming pool orgies, sex with the chauffeur, fixed horse races, jewel smuggling and endless discotheque scenes. And there is an endless display of thick mustaches, thick ties, and thick Euro accents. In fact "The Bitch" might just be the most "70's movie" ever made. Is it good? It is a bit uneven. Some might be put off by the lengthy dance sequences, while fans of the disco era styles and "Saturday Night Fever" will be entranced. "The Bitch," if nothing else, is supremely entertaining, and at times, fascinating. Of course it is all fantasy, but somehow we know that there are people who actually live like this, and this film provides a window into that World. Collins is a lot of fun here too. The first film, "The Stud" was somewhat of a commentary on how the working class are used and exploited by the upper class, and it condemns their decadent lifestyle. This sequel however, forgets all of that, and just embraces that lifestyle, and wallows in the decadence. The moral? There is none..other than "every man (or woman) for themselves, and the one who ends up with the most toys wins..

Update Sept. 2020 The advent of Bluray technology is allowing us to see these old, neglected films, restored to their original glory. Suddenly a movie that looked cheap, ugly and incompetent, suddenly looks gorgeous. This film's restoration is truly a revelation. "The Bitch" suddenly looks like a polished Hollywood movie with high production values. Everything looks stunning, from the neon color-saturated discos to the smoky casinos. The home of Fontaine Khalad is a 70's art-deco dream, with it's gleaming chrome, mirrors and zebra rugs. Even the scenes in the English countryside become poetically beautiful..even the soundtrack has been amped up, and those fun disco songs are given life...what a difference from those old, muddy transfers from Thorne-EMI video! Both this film and it's "brother" film, "The Stud," need to be seen in their restored glory, before they are properly judged.