Les 69 Dalmatiennes

A young, virginal nurse (Sybil Danning) gets fired from her job in the city and returns to her hometown to stay with her druggist father and her two younger sisters. The father is a local "moral reformer" who naively believes his two youngest daughters are both innocent virgins, even though they'll both hop into bed at the drop of some lederhosen. The younger sisters are afraid the older virgin will expose their activities to their oblivious father, so they first try to arrange for various men to seduce her, and when that doesn't work, they invent a powerful aphrodisiac. But, of course, it all goes completely awry in a not-so-hilarious but occasionally pretty sexy way. . .

I've watched a number of German sex comedies for no real reason at all, and this one features German sex star Sybil Danning in a very early role (and REALLY stretching herself by playing a virgin). Naturally, Danning looks pretty good--although I really wish the liner notes of DVD hadn't pointed out that the young Danning looked kind of like Paris Hilton (but then Paris Hilton would be quite attractive if only she weren't Paris Hilton). The actresses playing the sisters (Eve Garden, )looked vaguely familiar and I believe one or both were veterans of the German "report" type films. Unfortunately, the OTT Italian stereotype "Luigi" from those films also turns up playing an impotent schmuck. Of course, there is lots of gratuitous nudity all around (including "Luigi", unfortunately).

As for the quality of the film otherwise, uh. . .Well, it's not particularly funny. The English dubbing is highly annoying, especially the guy playing the father, but that's par for the course with these things. So if you like Barvarian sex comedies in general or you like Sybil Danning, you'll probably find this at least somewhat entertaining (or more entertaining than the Paris Hilton sex tape at least).

This might be the quintessential German soft porn comedy of the early '70s, an era of innocence now lost to us forever. Helmed by one of the great workhorses of the period (Franz Antel who made most of the FRAU WIRTIN/SEXY SUSAN movies) and cast with many familiar faces and bodies, it's the perfect test case flick to determine whether this particular brand of fun 'n' fluff is for you.

Smalltown pharmacist Willibald (popular folksy comedian Paul Löwinger in a typically broad performance) is upset when his eldest daughter Elisabeth (soon to become US B movie staple Sybill Danning)has lost yet another job due to assumed indecent behavior. Especially since his other two daughters, blonde Christel (Prague-born Alena Penz) and brunette Maria (Eva Garden), are such shining examples of virtue. Unbeknownst to daddy, both girls actually have lovers that come to spend the night with them, while Elisabeth on the other hand has been falsely accused time and again and turns out to be...a virgin ! Afraid that she'll tell on them, Christel and Maria conspire to put a man into their sister's bed to solve this prickly problem and lure her over to their side. To this effect, they prepare an industrial strength aphrodisiac from a centuries old tome in their father's medical library. Of course, things don't turn out as planned, not even when Elisabeth (forcefully accompanied by Maria) accompanies her employer, handsome Doctor Marcus Koerner (Claus Tinney), to a congress in wicked old Munich. Will Elisabeth succumb to the charms of this or, indeed, any man ? Will her sisters be free to live and love whoever they choose or will they shrivel in enforced chastity ? See and find out.

Though the fever pitch acting style of the older generation and the comedy of mistaken identities that takes up the latter part of the movie may wear some viewers down, these are exactly the ingredients that endear the genre to its true fans. Having seen the film again for the first time in over two decades (I caught it as a lad of 16 at the local flea pit, now sadly long gone), I was surprised to see just how well it holds up. Much of the film's funny bits (even the crude - yet good-natured - gay caricatures that pop up from time to time) still made me laugh out loud and the skin quotient remains reassuringly high. Danning, Garden and Penz are three of the most stunning creatures ever to disrobe within a single movie. Blonde beauty Britt Corvin (as Willibald's new maid Mirli) beefs up the cheesecake quota even more. Those interested should check her out further in Joe Sarno's superb BABY LOVE. And then there's the only recently deceased Christiane Maybach as loose aunt Lilofee, an actress who went from Marilyn Monroe lookalike in the early '60s via skin flicks such as this (where she supplied the nudity along with girls many years her junior) to dark R.W. Fassbinder art-house dramas (FAUSTRECHT DER FREIHEIT, SATANSBRATEN) to daytime TV drama at millennium's end ! Speaking of which, keep your eyes peeled for a very youthful Sascha Hehn as Peter, Christel's boyfriend, who would go on to hausfrau super stardom as one of the leads on insanely popular soap DER SCHWARZWALDKLINIK. I wonder how many of those bored (desperate ?) homemakers realized that their latest heart throb had toiled in the seamier side of film-making for many years, with Hubert Frank's MELODY IN LOVE and PATRICIA being the undisputed highlights from this stage of his career. Colorfully photographed and blessed with a jaunty soundtrack that immediately screams German sexploitation, BLUTJUNG UND LIEBESHUNGRIG stands proud as one of the finest examples of its kind, a mix of laughs and leers that will delight the fans who should treasure this little gem for as long as they have the ability to draw breath.

Maybe 1972 is a bit early, but fans of the 70s-era European softcore stuff will be disappointed by this film. Typically, almost wall-to-wall nudity characterizes these films, and "Naughty Nymphs" comes up short. It's always a treat to see Sybil Danning in the Buff, but her scenes are brief and few. I suppose in its native German this film might be funny in context, but in dubbed English it's just plain silly and leaves us waiting for skin scenes that are much too short. Erwin Dietrich, save us!