Vanessa

This film was one of the staples on cine max and it's after dark shows in the early 80's. So got to see it numerous times then, unfortunately it was before the common use of the VCR so never got a copy of it. One of the best scenes, for someone into it that is, is where Vanessa straps herself into a torture machine and gets whipped, it's short, but it's sweet and makes you wish you were there for filming on that day. Other than that scene the movie is fairly unremarkable. How ever it was worth setting an alarm clock to get up at three o'clock in the morning just to catch it. It was one of those rare occurrences when bondage was being shown on TV.

I like 1970's European soft-core movies so much more than what passes for that genre today. They made real movies (with a lot of nudity) which had actual plots (even if those plots were designed to lead to the nudity). Today's films are, or seem to be, just heavily edited hard-core porno films. Back then, they would photograph real live women, rather than today's cement-like mounds of silicone. Okay, about "Vanessa". The star, Olivia Pascal, was very beautiful, exuding an innocent charm that really helps a sex movie. She could have benefitted, I thought, though, from a quick armpit shave. She wasn't terribly furry there, though, so that wasn't too jarring. The film had a lot of good shots of Hong Kong. Here's the scorecard: 16 breasts, 6 butts, and 6 pubic hair shots. However, I saw the version cut down by about 15 minutes for American cable TV. (I taped this movie about 10 years ago.) I'd really like to know what all was cut. Overall, among the better films of its kind.

This is not really a review, it should be taken more as a collection of impressions of the film.

Very trivial erotic film with a linear plot but which still has many holes and inconsistencies, but I think whoever watches this film only watches it for the boobs so I don't think they notice the plot in any way. So, the acting is bad, so bad that it's even funny at times and the plot with the inheritance plot is trivial but very badly managed because all the plots based on sex don't make the slightest sense and I think they don't even want to have it because the film is content to show you an avalanche of boobs and bases everything on this factor alone.

Olivia Pascal ,in her first movie role, stars as Vanessa, a Innocent doe-eyed Catholic schoolgirl who travels to Hong Kong to collect an inheritance from her deceased Uncle, but soon (while she's taking a bath, so we witness her in her full puffy-nippled glory) learns said inheritance includes a string of bordellos as well as a plantation. OK, grated the plot-line is a bit on the daft side and absolutely nothing to write home about, but thankfully this film is beautifully shot and has some true beauties in it, so I can absolutely overlook the silly lack of competent plot. As far as soft-core '70's films go I'd still ran this up there.

Eye Candy: Eve Garden, Olivia Pascal, Uschi Zech and a few extras all get fully nude Severin

My Grade: C+

DVD Extras: Interview with Director Hubert Frank and director of photography Franz Lenderle; a 16 minute silent (save for the accompanying music), nudity-filled behind the scenes featurette; & a theatrical trailer for this film

As a very young kid in the late 70's, I remember sneaking views of this classic flick on the 'adult' cable channels of the time. I was always into film even very young, and this one I knew was different. I thought the combination of the photography, music, direction, and locales made this a very exotic film. And of course, Olivia Pascal looked great. I would love to get this on video, even the cut cable version, if anyone has it, please email me. A DVD release would be great.

Addition - it is now May 2015, almost 14 years since I wrote the above review. I'm glad to say today that "Vanessa" has indeed been on DVD for a while, and a spectacular release it is. Great picture, great sound and amazing extras like interviews and even home movies during shooting!

I'm pushing 50 and I still love this film as much as I did when I first saw it, maybe in 1978 or '79 on cable. I'm not saying it is going to win awards. I just simply love everything this film has to offer - the beauty, the haunting music, the touch of black magic, the characters, and of course, Vanessa/Olivia Pascal, who is nothing short of absolutely stunning here.

Of course there is a rampant sexual fever throughout, and the tension between Vanessa and Jackie builds to a fantastic climax, no pun intended. All the actors look like they are having a good time, really getting into their roles.

What can I say, I just love this flick. Pick up the amazing DVD release before it becomes unavailable.