Red Silk

This is a rather threadbare Jess Franco film which was apparently intended as a comic caper film. After watching it my first impression was that it couldn't have taken more than a few days and a budget in the low tens of thousands to shoot. The small cast, long long takes (particularly of the nude scenes) and talky nature all implied limited budget despite the offsetting value of scenic southern Spain.

A pair of female private eyes/sex cabaret workers get involved in an art theft and a kidnapping. Nothing really happens in the film in terms of action and consequently the two women, talking about things we should be seeing, represent 80-90% of the film. The performances by Lina Romay and Christie Levin are broad and apparently amusing to them since the endlessly break into hoots about things that aren't remotely funny. The theory that a laughing performance creates a comedy film also effects the rest of the actors in the art sub-plot while, in contrasting tone, the actors in the kidnapping subplot are somber (offset, of course, by the leading ladies hooting).

As noted above there is copious nudity, full frontal, and simulated sex (mostly girl-girl). However, viewers interested in that aspect should be aware that half of the nudity is contributed by Lina Romay. While, in this feminist age, I acknowledge the right of short, overweight, fiftyish women with butch haircuts, to appear nude on film, I should note that it may be an acquired taste for some male viewers.

Technically the official DVD release was fine with respect to the photography, music etc. but I have major reservations about the dubbing. I've seen hundreds of dubbed European films, dubbed using professional "voice" performers, and never had difficulty with the dubbing. Here, in what I can only assume is a budget issue, they have not used professional voices but presumably friends and family. The result in rapid English through thick Spanish accents. This requires more effort than the dialogue is worth. Possibly the film is better in the original Spanish but I can't say.

When a couple of over-the-hill and down-on-their-luck female private eyes stumble from an art smuggling caper into a kidnap & murder plot, they throw caution (and common sense) to the wind and try to turn a profit instead of solving the crime. Lina Romay is absolutely hilarious as one of the crooked gumshoes. Christy Levin is the pretty member of the duo and she plays the dumb-as-a-doorknob angle just right against Romay's crafty bobo. As with a lot of Franco's recent films, there's a bit of nudity (too much nudity in some cases) but that shouldn't deter you from enjoying the film. It's a One Shot Productions film and that usually means that someone was keeping an eye on Franco to make sure he paid attention to detail and that's a good thing. Even better, One Shot doesn't stop Franco when he wants to go overboard, so when Levin wants to distract a potential witness by showing him she's "number one," you get to see it all in very disturbing detail.

Call now? Yes, Call now! It's a joke. Watch the film and you'll get it.