L'Île aux filles perdues

This film is ostensibly about women who were sent as prisoners to the infamous Devil's Island in French Guiana. However, this mostly seems like an excuse to assemble a large group of comely women (often with breasts bulging from their dresses) and have them punished or raped by the men running the prison. Considering this French-Italian picture was made in the early 60s, this means that most of this is done off camera and it's not nearly as sleazy as the genre became in the late 60s and early 70s where they were essentially soft-core skin flicks with strong hints of lesbianism. Here, it's quite subdued by comparison...but still rather sleazy and exploitational.

While the American actor Guy Madison is listed first in the credits, he doesn't appear until almost 40 minutes into the film. He's the new leader of the prison who is shocked to see how depraved the prison has become. He orders the men to stop beating and molesting the women and to treat them humanely (crazy concepts, I know). However, his reforms are short-lived as it turns out he's got a HUGE secret...and the old ways are soon re-instituted. Is there any hope for these 'ladies'?

Like so many European productions of the era, they brought in a token American actor and dubbed the film into multiple languages in order to increase the marketability abroad. Actors such as Clint Eastwood, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, Burt Lancaster and the British actor Dirk Bogarde were lured into these mostly Italian productions. Madison's career by the early 60s was stalled and his making this film was a decent career choice, as some of these films made the actors mega-stars (Eastwood)...plus it offered a paycheck in spite of little in the way of artistic appeal!

Overall, it's a sleazy but not TOO sleazy film...watchable but not much more. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" it is NOT!

"Martine Foucher" (Michele Mercier) just happens to belong to an aristocratic family in France which is opposed to the monarchy during the French Revolution. Even though she is innocent of any crime she is sentenced as a political prisoner to hard labor for life on Devil's Island. We then learn that two years earlier her sister "Jeanette" (Federica Ranchi) had also been sent there and once they meet she helps Martine escape with her into the jungle. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned as Jeanette is killed and the other women who escaped with her are tortured. However, a new governor named "Henri Valliere" (Guy Madison) just happens to arrive at this particular time and is revolted by the way the women are treated. It turns out however that things aren't necessarily as they seem. Now, rather than disclose some of the surprises and risk spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this is a curious "Women in Prison" film that sometimes seemed almost like a matinée. Neither the acting nor the action scenes are that great but it's still entertaining to a degree. There are also some attractive ladies on hand with a beautiful blonde by the name of "Rosy" (Margaret Rose Kiel) as probably the best of the bunch in my opinion. Be that as it may, this is an okay movie and overall I give it an average rating.

You can find this in the Mill Creek Drive-in 50-films pack - that I how I acquired a copy - it's not a great copy in the pack but it is a copy. This one is not a grand film but it's somehow a mildly entertaining period melodrama in it's way.

Women are brought to Devil's Island, enslaved in a prison and forced to wade though alligator filled swamps in search of gold. A few of the women escape into freedom and end up making plans to get the gold they all worked and slaved so hard for. There is a new prison governor (warden) coming in to the prison system and plans on making some reforms.

This movie actually makes a fairly good manatee. Again, the film is not grand but it oddly entertaining.

3/10

Entertaining adventure movie with prisoners , intrepid pirates and exotic scenarios . The movie is set in XVIII century during Louis XVI-Maria Antonieta kingdom , previously French Revolution . Female prisoners are shipped to Devil's Island penal colony , in French Guayana , one of them is the beautiful Martine Foucher (Michèle Mercier) . They are indoctrinated into the prison life from abusive guards and then a new prison commander called Henri Vallière (Richard Harrison) replacing former named Lefevre (Paul Muller) arrives with planned reforms . There then takes place riots , fights and escapes .

This thrilling picture results a be a mixture of Pirate movie and Women in prison (WIP) sub-genre in Jesus Franco style . The film is a nice pirate-adventure movie , though average , being produced in mediocre budget . Amusing adventures with valiant pirates and spectacular scenarios on jungles and marshes plenty of crocodiles . This classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by Eastmancolor cinematography in charge of Carlo Bellero , though a perfect remastering being necessary . This release has some nice and even quite exciting moments here and there , though isn't always interesting , sometimes is diverting and fresh and on a couple of sympathetic occasions is frankly delicious . The picture is full of struggles , sword-play , villainy , romance , ambushes , swashbuckler and heroism . As for the cast, as was also usual, at the top, we found an American actor decided to try his luck in European cinema . In this case the character brought to life , was rightly played by Guy Madison . He is cool as the governor/pirate hero who encounters dangerous situations while trying to retrieve his love . He was an actor who had his first major role in "Until the End of Time" a drama directed by Edward Dmytryk, 1946 to then changed in action roles , mainly series B westerns , get some success with the series "Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" and ends up traveling in Europe in the sixties where he made many Euro-westerns . Madison starred in Italy several adventure movies such as Last King of Incas , The adventurer of Tortuga , Il Vendicatore Mascherato , I Misteri Della Giungla Nera , Leopardo of Sarawak and Vengeance of Sandokan . The female role was performed by Michèle Mercier, unforgettable starring in the role of Angélique, "the Marquise of the Angels", was both a blessing and a curse. It catapulted her to almost instant stardom, rivalling Brigitte Bardot in her celebrity and popularity, but ruined her acting career. By the end of the 1960s, the names Angélique and Michèle Mercier were synonymous, and to escape type-casting, Mercier was compelled to leave France and try to re-start her career in United States, unfortunately without any success. The rest of the cast , we find a negative character to which the director gives a special treatment : the nasty Paul Muller , a secondary actor who interpreted various roles for Jess Frank .

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Domenico Paolella . He was a director and writer, known for filming all kind of genres such as Nunexploitation : ¨The nun and the devil¨, ¨Unholy Convent¨ , Peplum : ¨Maciste Nell'inferno Di Gengis Khan¨, ¨Il Gladiatore Che Sfidò L'Impero¨ , ¨Golia Conquista Di Bagdad¨ , ¨Ercole Contro Tiranni Babilonia¨ , ¨Maciste Contro Mongoli¨ , ¨Samson Against the Sheik¨ , ¨Ursus¨ and Eurospy genre : ¨Agent 003: Operation Atlantis¨ , among others .

Dismal production values ruin a tale that, in some ways, was ahead of its time (several of the women know how to handle a gun, for example). The plot concerns female prisoners on the remote Devil's Island, who work all day under exhausting conditions to collect gold for the French government, and if they want to "rest" one day they have to visit the guards' rooms the previous night, if you know what I mean. One day a new warden arrives and takes over command of the prison, and his No 1 priority is to ensure the humane and respectful treatment of the prisoners. But could he have a secret agenda of his own? And is that black guy whose boat crashes on the island really a fisherman? I would like to give this film a higher rating than * out of 4, but I can't: the cinematography alone is among the worst I've ever encountered - everything appears to be seen through an awful orange filter. Ultimately, "Women of Devil's Island" is more of historical (as one of the earliest women-in-prison flicks) than of artistic interest.