Femmes dans la nuit

It took me a while to figure out that this movie is set in Shanghai, some time during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The German military establishment (!) masquerading as a hospital is working on a "Cosmic Death Ray", which they are supposed to share with Japan, but do not wish to. They have also arrested half a dozen women of all nations, who are intended to act as dates for high-ranking officials.... when they are not killing German and Japanese officers as part of the Underground.

This mess was directed in Mexico by William Rowland, and it is a mess. Intended to leer at the Production Code, it has some pretty women dressed in elegant evening gowns, one pair of women who seem to be engaged in a Lesbian relationship, and several Chinese-American actors, like Richard Loo and Philip Ahn, who made a living during the War playing despicable Japanese officers, still playing those roles. The only explanation for this production is that it sat around for three years, was minimally revised, and produced in a hurry. That may be an explanation, but it's no excuse.

I think it highlights crimes against all humanity by focusing on one central topic yet the horror lies within the tale in its seedy undercurrent that we are all animals, so whilst the man watches, we know this is wrong but there is always that looming animal side that pesters as desire... yes , we are human but the paradox is by placating our animal basic human instincts we clash against humanity trying to justify an inhumane decision by adjusting the moral compass here and now there, but in the end...?

But here I felt a choking oppression from every angle of this film. The bad guys, the good guys, war is just so consuming, it takes everything whilst leaving nothing, its as though the hitherto human characters forthwith lose all their humanity somewhere along the terrible journey that is war time.

I don't think the salt of the earth , people who want to farm, feed their families, write a poem, enjoy nature a bit can ever ever understand war and all its attendant manifold corroborating threads to any capacity. It is virtually impossible, I think artists have come close , but I don't think anyone has really touched or grasped the concept of the few at the top that benefit from its universal concomitant atrocities.

This piece of cheapo, post war Nazi & 'Nip' bashing must hold some sort of record for the most on screen verbiage before the first spoken line of dialogue in motion picture history.

First we have a scrolling prologue (four screens full) - Followed by an establishing shot of the 'Bureau of Records', followed by a stock footage interior, and a zoom in on a drawer labelled "Case Histories Crimes Against Women", a tilt down to another drawer: "Confidential". A hand pulls open the drawer and starts to flip through the files giving us a chance to read their titles and some of the contents: (three shots showing eleven separate bits of paper to read). The last piece of paper is turned over to reveal a still photo of some women and a German soldier. Lap dissolve to stock footage of somewhere labelled: "Shanghai". Dissolve to yet another on-screen, full-screen message: "In the Final Days of the war...blah blah blah". Cut to another filing drawer, a hand pulls out yet another typewritten card to read: "Crimes against Hospital Nurses Location: Shanghai". Lap dissolve to a sign "University Hospital"... Dear god! I'm loosing the will to live here... Another dissolve to a sign saying "Nurses Quarters", another dissolve to a crucifix. The entire audience spells out 'I N R I' to themselves they are, by now, so used to reading anything that's on the screen.

In all it's four and a half minutes! before anyone says anything meaningful - and then it's to read out a list of the character's names as they step forward one by one. Heaven help us! Not more establishing!

There are seven writers credited with the script on this; I guess none of them had an eraser.

Everything is lousy about this production except the story. The direction is despicable, the actors can't act, the result of the editing is a mutilation, and the happy ending is a joke. However, most of the ladies are quite good and convincing enough, and it's their film. It's their story this film is here to tell, and it's a great story involving many stories. Not only are several of these girls brave freedom fighters who don't hesitate to wage their lives when there is no other choice, but there are a number of great tragedies hinted by their stories, the most important of which is the mother who finds her daughter.

Forget about the Japanese and German officers, they are all caricatures, and you can see that the actors themselves don't believe in the almost ludicrous roles they are playing. This is a women's drama, and that's all that matters.

Also the music is very well made and gives at least a gilded frame to something that could have been an engaging masterpiece, if the direction and the male actors had been better.

The fact is, that there were rests of German officer cliques stranded in China (here Shanghai) and elsewhere after the surrender of Germany and before the Japanese final surrender who still believed in their absurd Reich, many escaped alive out of Germany and immediately started planning for the next Reich, - of course, they did not succeed, as they also fail in this film, but their plans and visions were enough alive to keep cliques like this active to the last.

Pity that such a good story should be made such a bad film of, but then at least you can take care of and mind what's memorable in it, and it is never wrong to point out the women's cause.

Pure exploitation film about Nazi's in China nominally to help the Japanese try to win the war and to abuse women. Actually the Nazi's in Asia have come up with a secret weapon that could have helped the Fatherland had they gotten it home before defeat, however Germany has fallen and the Japanese want it only the Germans don't want to give it up. Lurid exploitation film that is supposedly based on actual case files. Other than some note cards about nasty experiments I doubt very highly that any of what we see happened. More unbelievable spy drama mixed with and excuse to abuse women this is the precursor of the Nazi prison camp films of the early 1970's, though with out the nudity and truly graphic violence. I'm not sure what I think of the film. Taken for what it is its not a bad film, but I can't say its the sort of thing that I would willingly watch again since there is a rather mean spiritedness to it all. If you watch it you probably will walk away liking it, but you may hate yourself in the morning