Mademoiselle cuisses longues

Giovannona Long-Thigh (1973)

** (out of 4)

A new government minister closes down factory that is leading to all sorts of pollution so a plot is unhatch to try and get him to open it back up. A couple dimwits hire a prostitute (Edwige Fenech) to seduce the man in order to make him change his mind. As with most of these sex-comedies from Italy, this film is full of misses but there are a few hits that actually get a nice laugh. The biggest problem is the problem of all of these types of films have and that's the fact that everyone in them, with the exception always being the lead woman, are complete idiots who are constantly doing dumb things. Some might say this is where the comedy comes from, which would be fair to say but there comes a point where you at least need something serious or at least not so over the top where you feel as if you're watching something being aimed at a child. This movie features all sorts of dumb characters doing dumb things but a few of them are funny. There's a very long sequence on a train where the government guys try to get their plan working but Fenech keeps messing up because she wants someone else. Earlier in the film we get a pretty funny scene of Fenech needing to pretend to be a proper lady but her foul mouth keeps that from happening. These scenes, as well as a pimp duel towards the end, work but this is about it in terms of laughs. The nudity/sex side of things is also pretty low with Fenech only getting naked a couple times but we all know this is better than nothing. As usual, she delivers a charming performance as she could certainly act unlike many of the other sex actresses of her day. In the end this certainly isn't the best the genre has to offer but both director Martino and star Fenech would continue to do these types of films and they quality would eventually go up.

Not, for me, as funny as 'Umbalda, All Naked And Warm', from the year before and also starring the lovely Edwige Fenech but still pleasant enough. All the usual Italian preoccupations on view, Catholic church, bribing of government officials, streetwalkers, although now I think of it barely any eating! Unless you count the seductive sucking on a bread stick from Edwige, not much eating at all. As usual although it is the men who come up with all the scheming it is the women who make the running in all the action. And action there is in this sunny farce, non-stop, actually which prevents it from getting too dull . Added to which some of the jokes really are funny, if only the bumbling Pippo Franco weren't quite so bumbling, I quite liked him in Umbalda but less so in this. Bit of a Benny hill finale this is not meant to be serious and it does have Edwige in various stages of loveliness.

The absolutely gorgeous Edwige Fenech is reunited once again with comic Pippo Franco for this Sergio Martino-directed Italian sex comedy. Their last pairing was Ubalda, All Naked and Warm.

Fenech enthusiastically throws herself into the role of a streetwalker with a heart of gold who is asked to pose as the wife of a shady businessman (Gigi Ballista) in order to seduce a government official (Vittorio Caprioli) into reopening a cheese factory that was closed for pollution.

The usual sexual hijacks ensue! Very little sex, just occasional nudity, and a lot of screwball comedy.

Fenech looks magnificent. This was Martino and Fenech's first sexy comedy after a string of successful giallos and set the tone for future entries in the genre.

It was starting to look like a Benny Hill movie at the end, but everything worked out.

Italy didn't exactly hold back when it came to ripping off films back in the seventies - everything from Dirty Harry to Jaws got the Italian treatment, but I must say I never expected to see an Italian sex comedy version of the classic romantic comedies of thirties USA! Even more surprising than the premise of this film is the fact that it's good! Sergio Martino, a director who tried his hand at a number of different genres, but will always be best remembered for his superb Giallo efforts such as The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh and The Case of the Scorpion's Tail, has put together a delightful comedy that works thanks to the fact that the action never lets up, and it's really quite funny! The plot focuses on Commendatore La Noce, a man who has polluted a river. He realises that he has to bribe an honourable to get away with it - but the problem is that the honourable in question IS completely honourable. However, he does have one vice - he likes to sleep with other people's wives. Not wanting use his own frigid other half, the Commendatore lets his assistant find him a prostitute to act as his wife.

It was actually quite odd watching this film as after watching a number of Italian sex movies, I've come to expect a lot of sleaze. This one features brief nudity and some swearing, but it's extremely tame overall. Martino has made the film more 'cheeky' than anything else, as the lead characters are sexually promiscuous, but sex itself isn't actually seen. This is no bad thing, however, as loads of sex would have distracted from the comedy. Of course, my main reason for seeing this film was because it stars the beautiful Edwige Fenech - and although I say this almost every time I see one of her films, she really has never looked better than she does here! Martino and Fenech worked together on a number of occasions throughout their careers, and it shows as the director really knows how to make best use of his stunning lead actress! The plot is quite incidental to the set pieces, but it's not important as the film is never boring. The scenes aboard the train midway through are the best, but the film introduces new things to chew every time it seems to be drying up, and this ensures that Giovannona Long-Thigh is absolutely great fun to watch!

Although usually I wouldn't touch such lowbrow comedies with a ten-foot pole in spite of their vintage, ever since I attended the 61st Venice Film Festival in 2004 and met with several second-league (but, as it turned out, still highly enthusiastic) Italian directors, I've been trying to catch up with any of their films which crop up (invariably late at night) on Italian TV practically every week!

This fondly-remembered (but, in retrospect, only very mildly amusing) sex comedy is chiefly notable today for two reasons: it marked a turning point in the careers of both its female star (the half-Maltese Edwige Fenech) and director Martino, both of whom were chiefly known until then for a series of grisly and erotic giallos; and also because its suggestive title – which translates roughly to "Joanie Longthighs, Honorably Dishonored" and which was changed at the last minute to emulate the unexpected success of Lina Wertmuller's current film, THE SEDUCTION OF MIMI (1973) whose original title was also similarly long-winded (as would come to be her fashion) – got it into hot waters with the censors at the time.

Fenech is, of course, lovely and throws herself enthusiastically into the role of a streetwalker with a heart of gold who is engaged by a shady businessman to pose as his wife in order to seduce a Government minister with a roving eye for other men's wives in return for some official favors; unfortunately, contrary to expectations, her nude scenes are few and far between and never quite as explicit as previous films I've watched her in like TOP SENSATION (1969) and THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH (1971). Incidentally, unlike her sometime co-star Barbara Bouchet, even though she was present at the Venice Film Festival I attended in her capacity as co-producer of the Al Pacino/Jeremy Irons version of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (2004), she did not appear at any of the screenings of her films or the press conferences which preceded them!

Anyway, in this film, which plays like a low-brow, broader version of a Feydeau pochade with a dash of "Pygmalion" thrown in for good measure, Fenech was reteamed with Italian comic (and future TV show host) Pippo Franco after another "celebrated" and controversial sex comedy, QUEL GRAN PEZZO DELLA UBALDA TUTTA NUDA E TUTTA CALDA (1972), which I've also caught up with quite recently and enjoyed slightly more. Ultimately, Vittorio Caprioli (a prolific character actor I "discovered" at the Venice Film Festival) as the womanizing MP and Riccardo Garrone (as Fenech's pimp who's got ideas above his station) come off best. Having said that, the film does manage to amuse in spots and the reckless driver (which turns out to be an escaped blind lunatic) and the final 'pimp duel' sequences are the film's highlights. My local DVD rental store has gotten hold of a couple more of these Italian comedies on DVD and, against my better judgment perhaps, I'll give them a try too one of these days