Das Schiff der gefangenen Frauen

Strange Eurocine sleaze about a girl who's forced into prostitution, made mostly from bits and pieces from other films... to make it even more puzzling, some of the newly shot footage (or is it? You can never be really sure when you're watching a Eurocine film) also ends up in the almost identical L' Oasis Des Filles Perdues, which I saw before this one. And just as in that routine sleaze film the action just drops dead in the middle for over 20 minutes from a 1960s spy film with Jack Taylor! It's very funny when the geniuses behind this opus try to mix the spy footage to make it appear as it's part of the sleaze flick! I really enjoyed this film but there is no way I can justify it.

This could be described as a weird film or maybe just cheap, but when the name Jess Franco appears this should come as no surprise. This bit of Euro sleaze looks to have been assembled from two or more films giving the impression of a girl-trafficking film with a secret agent on the case. The film starts off well enough.

Magda Mundari plays Yvette, a girl rescued from a brothel and her story told in flashback. This is OK for about half an hour but then the film switches to a Jack Taylor film (the IMDb says Agente Sigma 3 - Missione Goldwather) in which our secret agent is put on the case. Silvia Solar also appears in both films, in both cases being part of the criminal gangs, so perhaps the two films merge - up to a point. Then there is the part on board a ship where some more girls are being held captive. Again, it looks like a Jack Taylor film but is this also from Agente Sigma or another film? Who knows?

Is this film worth a look? If you like really sleazy Euro sexploitation films then it is a definite yes. Apart from the sleaziness of pinching some-one else's film, there are also plenty of sleazy scenes in which the very attractive girls get naked, both willingly and unwillingly; and also the sex scenes, again both willing and unwilling. These are the scenes that make a Euro sleaze film, but despite these comments, this is a bad film, so only two stars.

House of Cruel Dolls (aKa House of Lost Dolls and La maison des filles perdues) is a 1974 exploitation film co-written and directed by Pierre Chevalier (The Panther Squad, Ladies House of Pleasure, and The Invisible Dead). It was co-written by the legendary Jesus Franco (Jailhouse Wardress, Golden Temple Amazons,Faceless, Zombie Lake, Barbed Wire Dolls, The Sadist of Notre Dame, Angel of Death, Diamonds of Kilimandjaro, and Sinfonía Erótica).

Yvette (played by: Magda Mundari from The Erotic Confessions of a Bed Too Welcoming, Deadly Sting, The Adulteress, and Godefinger ou Certaines chattes n'aiment pas le mou) after being liberated from a life of sex slavery in the barbaric bordello House of Cruel Dolls, tells her sordid story in flashback when a vicious gang of white slavers forces women into prostitution!!!!

Eurocine edited 1967's Sigma 3 into this one. It starts out with the original material for about the first 30 minutes then the previously shot spy thriller is included in the mix. It's kinda wild because actress Silvia Solar (Vicious and Nude, Adela, Cannibal Terror, Sinatra, Devil's Kiss, and Eyeball) appears in both films inside this one odd mix. I guess they wanted some continuity with the same person in the entire production. It's still a fun and very entertaining sleaze fest regardless of the bizarre editing thrown into it. Lots of beautiful women and none of them are shy in House of the Cruel Dolls so it's loaded with eye candy. The cast also includes Olivier Mathot, Jack Taylor, Remo De Angelis, and Sandra Julien. Don't expect a complete narrative that makes sense here but it's worth checking out just for everything that happens in this exploration flick!!!!