Liane, l'esclave blanche

The original "Liane" was a pretty good movie. This sequel, made one year later to cash in on the success of the first part, doesn't come near it. The story is all over the place, and you're constantly asking yourself "Why the heck...?", because numerous parts of the movie simply don't make any sense. Add that to the fact that the heroine's "assets" have sea shells glued on them in this one, which looks much too contrived (I don't remember this being the case in the original), and you really haven't got much reason to watch this. Although Liane does perform a nice tribal dance kinda thing early on...

To sum it up: Watch the first movie, but don't bother with this one, unless you REALLY want to see more of Marion Michael as "Liane".

Liane: Die Weisse Sklavin (1957)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

This sequel has Liane (Marion Michael) taking her millions back to the African jungle and that's where we start off. Her rich family are on their way to visit her but she's violently kidnapped by a group of men who want to force her into the slave trade.

LIANE, JUNGLE GODDESS turned out to be a huge hit in Germany and an even bigger one across the world so it should come as no great shock that a sequel was quickly rushed into production. I watched the original and this sequel back-to-back and it's rather amazing to see how much they have in common. Both films start off entertaining enough as they're basically just teenage boy fantasies but then they both fall apart during the second half.

This film, also known as JUNGLE GIRL AND THE SLAYER, starts off well enough as we see the beautiful Liane back in her jungle and wearing less clothes than before. Obviously boys watching this beautiful lady is what caused the first one to be a hit and they double down and really offer up some great scenes of her. Sadly, the fun ends early on and we're taken on an adventure through the desert and various other locations as Liane is kidnapped and the rescue starts.

I really wish either film would have kept the action in the jungle. I mean, after all this was a rip-off of the Tarzan movies. With that said, Michael is extremely beautiful and there's no question that she's the reason to watch this film. The early scenes with her are fun but as the movie goes along she puts on more clothes! Bad choice. With that said, I would say this was slightly better than the original.

No doubt that part of the picture was filmed in Cairo and other places next to the river Nil, but a very small part. Some of the sandy parts look as if they are filmed on the Island of Sylt in the North See. The black girl looks painted in black, the white girl with the never ending legs is beautiful Marion Michael, who walks through Cairo with rolled up shorts. That was German sex in the late fifties shortly after world war II. Still nice to look at and quite entertaining, the crew must really have had some fun with the girl or the other way round. Former German star Adrian Hoven is less sexy, but okay to look at and not a too poor actor. Rick Bataglia on the other hand is in no way an Arabic looking slave merchant, Friedrich Joloff is pretty good as the villain, but there is no reasonable plot, not to mention the absence of a director who has little more in mind than showing Marions nice body. Even the editor is so extremely fascinated that he allows Marion to ride beyond the horizon until he closes the take.

The guy mentioned as scriptwriter, if one is brave enough to call it

a scenario, is famous Ernst von Salomon the author of a great post war book 'Der Fragebogen'; well he also had to make a living.

Michael Zabel