Le corps et le fouet

This has to be the grandmother of all porn films that attempt to have some semblance of a plot. Gratuitous nudity and sexual activity is rampant. Every scene features a beautiful naked Woman (or Women). It is a soft porn flick that tries to include material to suit everyones taste by implementing a broad variety of erotic activity. There's foot fetish activity, bondage, girl on girl, boy/girl, humiliation, a Dominant Woman, submissive women, self-pleasure, role-playing, S&M, etc... All of this is fairly mild but the film is far too explicit to be counted as a regular theatrical film. I give it a 3.7.

Several of the scenes are forceful and/or cruel and could trigger PTSD symptoms in abuse victims, or distress sensitive individuals. Steer clear or tread lightly if this is you! Of course this isn't a film for family night! It is suitable for open-minded persons age 17 and older to enjoy alone or with friends or a partner. Like most pornographic films the acting is sub-par. It's laughable but not the worst I've seen in other Euro-trash sexploitation films. Dialogue is almost nil and there is no character that with whom to relate to or admire (aside from their lovely aesthetic attributes).

"Histoire D' O" of 1975 s a better example of practical storytelling and believable performances. I recommend it over this film. "Histoire..." is the tale that strongly inspired the "50 shades" franchise. In fact, "50 shades" is close to a blatant rip-off and isn't deserving of popular praise. I digress.

The island filming location is quite unique and visually impressive. It's isolated, and the tucked-away beaches and drastic mountain peaks are both romantic and severe at the same time. It's the ideal locale for the movies half-cocked attempt at a plot by reflecting the storyline via landscape.

Not surprisingly, there are way more bushes inside the prison complex than in the landscape...haha! Grooming ones' downstairs region wasn't fashionable until the early to mid 90's. A few of the women didn't think it necessary to shave under their arms either. A couple of the men (guards) are also quite hairy. Back hair and thick full bushes...yuck. By god, why were people so adverse to smooth skin during those decades?! You'll likely find it funny and/or icky as did I.

Europeans (and the Japanese) have always been bolder than other nations at expressing their sexuality and especially peculiar activities. Their non-nonchalant attitude towards nudity and unusual "love-making" activities has always been the envy or bane of more conservative countries. I imagine that the more expressive nations have no qualms about labeling "Caged Women" as a regular theatrical production. The rest of the world either has the film banned or presented clandestinely to niche audiences.

This movie is amusing without intending to be. I think it could be re-worked and tweaked to make a great comedy-thriller for adults. I hope a talented director see's this ridiculous film and reaches the same conclusion.

Though Gefangene Frauen masquerades as a Women In Prison movie, it's more like the collected footage of some people on a nudist vacation, shot between meals and sight-seeing, sort of like a nude Sports Illustrated Prison Swimsuit video. The plot is slapped together in normal euro-trash fashion, and takes up very little of this flick, which is a shame, since it's really pretty comical. At one point there's three consecutive coup d'états in the span of ten minutes. The dialog is scant but always poignant:

Warden: "You cannot and will not leave this island. As a reminder you will no longer wear your clothes. Everyone undress!"

.. which is thought-provoking, since everyone (including the warden and the guards) was already undressed almost the whole time. But now it's for real.

Directed and written by Edwin Dietrich, euro-smut-peddler extraordinaire, Gefangene Frauen takes place mostly outdoors in what seems like a Mediterranean island. The light is crisp and the color is subtly beautiful, which is rare for a flick of this caliber. It helps that the cast is completely nude throughout almost the entire duration of the movie, be they in their cells, or performing manual labor (ie. throwing small rocks around) in the countryside.

Gefangene Frauen dispenses with the sadistic aspects of the genre, and focuses mostly on nudity and getting the scenes shot before dinner time. It's a good movie to play in the background while doing something else, though it's a must to pay attention any time there's dialog.

I've come to realise through watching this sort of film that I don't like them very much. Caged Women is yet another 'women in prison' film, and like the most of the rest of the genre; the plot is completely forsaken in favour of simply showing nude women. Now don't get me wrong; I love nude women, but I also like there to be some sort of plot thread to go with the nudity, and since this film has only the basic 'women are in prison' theme running through it (aswell as the essential escape, of course), I got a bit bored before the end. The film is good because there's barely a moment in it where the women are wearing clothes, but that's about the only positive element. Director (and writer, ha ha) Erwin C. Dietrich delights in showing close-ups of the naked female body, but it's never very erotic. The director was the producer on a number of trash flicks, including some directed by Jess Franco. In my opinion, he should stick to producing as his writing talents are non-existent, and he doesn't seem to know how to film a sex scene. This sort of material is rather dry a lot of the time, but I reckon Franco could have made more out of it. Overall, this might suffice for people that are really into this sort of stuff; but I can't say I enjoyed it.

Yes it is trashy...but the women in this movie are delightful. They pulled alot out of a z movie budget. Great colors, back drops and the framing was good. I would take this type of movie over any modern block borester movie any day. I mean a nude woman pushing a wheel barrow full of rocks....that action!

Put them all together: Erwin Dietrich behind the camera, Brigitte Lahaie and a whole bunch of gorgeous, very naked women in front of the camera, keep the nudity and hot scenes going from beginning to end, and you've got a winner. Storyline?... who cares! Okay, okay... a bunch of beautiful girls are kidnapped from a bordello by a paramilitary force (yikes!) and taken to a deserted island to be held as sex slaves. That's the bad news. The good news is they don't suffer much at all, and they are nude most of the time. Basically the same cast from "Come Play With Me" (another wonderful Erwin Dietrich romp) with a bunch of welcomed additions. Fans of '70s Euro sleaze will definitely enjoy this one.