Die sündigen Nonnen von St. Valentin

'The Sinful Nuns Of Saint Valentine' is a mildly entertaining slice of 70s European nunsploitation. While it never reaches the demented heights of my fave the sensational 'Killer Nun' ('Suor Omicidi'), it's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

What we have here is basically a cheap cash in on Ken Russell's superior 'The Devils'. The background is the Inquisition, and the basic plot concerns a pair of lovers from feuding families ala Romeo and Juliet. Esteban, accused of heresy and murder, seeks sanctuary after being wounded in the convent where his lover the beautiful Lucita is being held. Lucita's father has forbidden her to marry Esteban and has banished her to this kooky place ruled over by a wicked Abbess. Esteban must try and save Lucita from taking Orders and clear his own name before he is captured and executed. Events get even more complicated when Lucita is arrested for the murder of a fellow nun, and must face the evil Inquisitor.

Sadly there isn't half as much "sin" on screen as you would expect. A whipping, some lesbianism, a few topless shots, that's about it. The actress who plays Lucita (Jenny Tamburi?) is stunningly beautiful which makes this mediocre movie much easier to sit through, but you can't help but be disappointed with this fairly innocuous, and not all that exploitative exploitation movie. Things finally start to heat up with a mass semi-naked nun freak out in the last 15 minutes, but it's too little, too late. Jess Franco doesn't have much to worry about from Sergio Greco. Very average, but worth a look if you don't get your hopes up.

It's another Romeo and Juliet story where two families at loggerheads forbid the lovers to meet, claiming Esteban is a heretic and murderer and an unworthy suitor for beautiful Lucita.

Set upon by soldiers of the Inquisition Esteban scarcely survives as he staggers into a nearby convent where Lucita and the verger dress his wounds and care for him in a secret room.

Esteban and Lucita plan to elope from the convent but their escape is thwarted. Lucita is accused of murdering one of the nuns and her love for Esteban has brought shame and disgrace to the sanctity of the Order. She is to be burned at the stake in the main square of Seville.

One considers that this is drama enough, but the action has scarcely begun.

Because of the terrible sins committed within the old stone walls, the Inquisition demands that all entrances and openings to the convent shall be walled up. When Esteban hears of this he flies into action as any real hero would.

The imprisoned nuns ( I am not sure why) begin to tear off their clothes as they crave for food and water in utter despair. Bare-breasted they roll about on the floor, screaming for water, licking the walls where a few droplets may have appeared. We could be watching Greek drama, but more likely the naked bodies are purposely introduced to add an interesting interlude for male viewers who find watching life as it unfolds in a convent normally rather unexciting.

This is not a great film by any means, but admittedly the setting is different and there is plenty of action..... sword-fights, scaling castle walls, torture chambers, secret passage ways etc. We have the power of the Church versus the innocence of the lovers....an interesting situation which could go either way.

It is worth watching right to the end to find out if this romantic couple suffers the same fate as Romeo and Juliet. We hope not of course, but when the Inquisition interprets the laws of the Church the fate of lovers is never certain.

Lucita is a young girl who's banished to a convent by her over-protecting father, so to stop her from marrying her flame, Esteban. Accused of murder, Esteban is set upon by some soldiers of the Inquisition, but he escapes with some injuries and seeks refuge at the convent where Lucita happens to be. While, wanting to clear his name of this foul play. His lover is mistaken for the killing one of the nuns, but she admits to the murder, where she is to be executed. Although, Esteban finds out that the convent's Abbess has more to do with Lucita's misfortune.

An often-told tale (known as Romero and Juliet of course) features very prominently in this watered down Italian nunsploitation flick. While even though there is constant nudity (mainly topless) and some lesbian scenes amongst the field. The factor is, that it doesn't explore the exploitive angle of its material with any vigour and prowess. It starts off decent enough, but hit's a flat spot midway through before reaching its somewhat flipped-out final instalment involving nuns' slowly losing their marbles. The plain and one-note story was very dreary and at times quite automatic, but it managed to scrummage up some surprising developments to cover up its shortcomings and lack of punishing action. Sergio Grieco's direction is pretty conventional and lacks real style, but he captures the detail of the period perfectly and does his job adequately in keeping this a curious piece. The film did have an intrusive look to it because of the camera-work that gets up and close to the act. Now what caught my ear was the seductively faint music score that whispers along rather beautifully and is one of the film's strong points. Acting by the cast is particularly sound, even if there are one or two stilted performances. Jenny Tamburi is very glowing and quite strong as Lucita and Paolo Malco brings a determinedly, courageous edge to Esteban. Also Françoise Prévost is excellent as the sternly, tainted Abbess.

"The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine" is a modest effort that's not terribly satisfying, but still I found it to be persistently watchable despite being considerably subdued.

Aaaah! The '70s - THE decade of the exploitation movie: Italian cannibal films, blaxploitation, Nazisploitation, and, of course, nunsploitation, of which The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine is a prime example. It's not the most explicit of naughty nun movies, but it does tick a lot of the expected boxes: hot nuns, sex, torture, a crazy abbess, lesbianism, and murder, making it a reasonably fun time for fans of the genre.

Clearly inspired by Romeo and Juliet, the plot sees lovers Lucita (Jenny Tamburi) and Esteban (Paolo Malco) unable to wed because of the long-running feud between their families. To make matters even worse, Lucita is sent to a covent by her father, while Esteban is accused of heresy and hunted by the Inquisition. Chased by three soldiers, Esteban is wounded, but still manages to kill his attackers and make his way to the convent where Lucita is living. Given sanctuary by the verger, Esteban is reunited with Lucita, but not for long... the poor woman is wrongly accused of the murder of her lesbian room-mate Josefa (Bruna Beani) and sentenced to be burned alive. Can Esteban prove her innocence before it is too late?

The naughtiness is limited to bare breasts and butts, and one rather tame sex scene - there's nothing quite on the level of dirty Joe D'amato or sleaze-master Jess Franco - but the women who shed their clothes are mostly attractive, with Tamburi as Lucita being especially sexy; it's no wonder Esteban is willing to risk his life for her. Likewise, the torture isn't too extreme - no nipple slicing or skin flaying on this occasion - but it suffices. Director Sergio Grieco keeps the pace lively throughout, leading to a tense race against time to rescue Lucita from a drooling horde of crazed topless nuns, with a happy ending for these particular star cross'd lovers.

At risk of sounding sleazy, I do like 70/80's exploitation flicks. I just can't get enough of the weirdness that they offer.

Coming across a film with a title like this could and should be a reason to rejoice. If only it lived up to it's name.

During Inquisition-era Spain, a man is wrongly accused of a crime. In his attempt to flee he is injured and takes refuge in a convent. This convent also happens to be the same place his beloved has been put by her father, who wants to keep the love birds apart. All looks like it might turn out well, until our female lead's room-mate turns up dead and she is the prime suspect.

Given name and set-up, one would imagine all sorts of sacrilegious sexual goings-on, but instead the film takes itself really seriously and sexual encounters are limited to some (relatively) brief nudity and all of one sex scene, which itself is pretty tame.

It fails miserably at being a 'real' film and isn't all that good at being exploitation either.

3/10