L'Île aux filles perdues

According to the IMDB, this was American star Guy Madison's second European film, after SLAVE OF ROME and before SWORD OF THE CONQUEROR and EXECUTIONER OF VENICE. Madison went on to have a successful and prolific "second career" in Europe throughout the 1960's. This film plays very much like an old pulp men's magazine story come to life. A boatload of scantilly clad and sweaty female convicts from France are on their way to Devil's Island, the infamous French penal colony on the coast of South America. One of them is also looking for her sister. We are treated to various abusive policies by the corrupt prison-camp management and guards, along with sexual exploitation of the women by officials looking to trade favors for attention (don't get excited here--you could show this film to an eight-year-old!). Thirty minutes into the film, handsome, rugged Guy Madison arrives to take over administration of the penal colony, and he's something of a reformer, stopping the abuse and punishing those who do not respect the human rights of the prisoners. That doesn't win him any popularity among the old guard. Madison also falls in love with one of the prisoners, but Madison's character is not exactly what he seems to be, and there's also a question of a cache of hidden gold... Unfortunately, Mr. Madison does not dub his own voice, although the voice assigned to him is not too distracting. He plays the role with class and authority. The rest of the cast, with exaggerated gestures and exaggerated dubbing, along with the period costumes and the low-budget historical settings, give the whole thing a pulp-magazine-illustration feel. Collectors of women-in-prison films may want to seek this out as an early (and tame) example of the genre, and Guy Madison fans should be satisfied (even though he doesn't appear for 30 minutes into the film), but overall I'd rate it only "average" among early 60s Italian costume dramas.

Director Domenico Paolella directed many excellent costume adventures and peplum films, and later the intense Eurowestern HATE FOR HATE, and worked with many American actors in the 60s.

Dismal production values ruin a tale that, in some ways, was ahead of its time (several of the women know how to handle a gun, for example). The plot concerns female prisoners on the remote Devil's Island, who work all day under exhausting conditions to collect gold for the French government, and if they want to "rest" one day they have to visit the guards' rooms the previous night, if you know what I mean. One day a new warden arrives and takes over command of the prison, and his No 1 priority is to ensure the humane and respectful treatment of the prisoners. But could he have a secret agenda of his own? And is that black guy whose boat crashes on the island really a fisherman? I would like to give this film a higher rating than * out of 4, but I can't: the cinematography alone is among the worst I've ever encountered - everything appears to be seen through an awful orange filter. Ultimately, "Women of Devil's Island" is more of historical (as one of the earliest women-in-prison flicks) than of artistic interest.

A review I read of this film classified it as 'Women In Prison' and 'Pirate Adventure'. As far as I'm concerned, you can classify this as 'Sci-Fi/Fantasy'. Slave women that pan for gold in 19th century aristocratic formal wear - clothing that never gets dirty on bodies that never sweat. This is the only 'women in prison' film I have ever seen with no nudity or sex. Also, no implied lesbianism. Basically, this might be the most unrealistic and boring 'women in prison' film of all time.

RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1 Casting - 1/1 Directing - 0/1 Story - 1/1 Writing/Screenplay - 0.5/1

Total Base Score = 3.5

Modifiers (+ or -): Believability/Consistency: -1;

Total RealReview Rating: 2.5 (rounded up to 3 for IMDB)

This film is ostensibly about women who were sent as prisoners to the infamous Devil's Island in French Guiana. However, this mostly seems like an excuse to assemble a large group of comely women (often with breasts bulging from their dresses) and have them punished or raped by the men running the prison. Considering this French-Italian picture was made in the early 60s, this means that most of this is done off camera and it's not nearly as sleazy as the genre became in the late 60s and early 70s where they were essentially soft-core skin flicks with strong hints of lesbianism. Here, it's quite subdued by comparison...but still rather sleazy and exploitational.

While the American actor Guy Madison is listed first in the credits, he doesn't appear until almost 40 minutes into the film. He's the new leader of the prison who is shocked to see how depraved the prison has become. He orders the men to stop beating and molesting the women and to treat them humanely (crazy concepts, I know). However, his reforms are short-lived as it turns out he's got a HUGE secret...and the old ways are soon re-instituted. Is there any hope for these 'ladies'?

Like so many European productions of the era, they brought in a token American actor and dubbed the film into multiple languages in order to increase the marketability abroad. Actors such as Clint Eastwood, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, Burt Lancaster and the British actor Dirk Bogarde were lured into these mostly Italian productions. Madison's career by the early 60s was stalled and his making this film was a decent career choice, as some of these films made the actors mega-stars (Eastwood)...plus it offered a paycheck in spite of little in the way of artistic appeal!

Overall, it's a sleazy but not TOO sleazy film...watchable but not much more. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" it is NOT!

Entertaining adventure movie with prisoners , intrepid pirates and exotic scenarios . The movie is set in XVIII century during Louis XVI-Maria Antonieta kingdom , previously French Revolution . Female prisoners are shipped to Devil's Island penal colony , in French Guayana , one of them is the beautiful Martine Foucher (Michèle Mercier) . They are indoctrinated into the prison life from abusive guards and then a new prison commander called Henri Vallière (Richard Harrison) replacing former named Lefevre (Paul Muller) arrives with planned reforms . There then takes place riots , fights and escapes .

This thrilling picture results a be a mixture of Pirate movie and Women in prison (WIP) sub-genre in Jesus Franco style . The film is a nice pirate-adventure movie , though average , being produced in mediocre budget . Amusing adventures with valiant pirates and spectacular scenarios on jungles and marshes plenty of crocodiles . This classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by Eastmancolor cinematography in charge of Carlo Bellero , though a perfect remastering being necessary . This release has some nice and even quite exciting moments here and there , though isn't always interesting , sometimes is diverting and fresh and on a couple of sympathetic occasions is frankly delicious . The picture is full of struggles , sword-play , villainy , romance , ambushes , swashbuckler and heroism . As for the cast, as was also usual, at the top, we found an American actor decided to try his luck in European cinema . In this case the character brought to life , was rightly played by Guy Madison . He is cool as the governor/pirate hero who encounters dangerous situations while trying to retrieve his love . He was an actor who had his first major role in "Until the End of Time" a drama directed by Edward Dmytryk, 1946 to then changed in action roles , mainly series B westerns , get some success with the series "Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" and ends up traveling in Europe in the sixties where he made many Euro-westerns . Madison starred in Italy several adventure movies such as Last King of Incas , The adventurer of Tortuga , Il Vendicatore Mascherato , I Misteri Della Giungla Nera , Leopardo of Sarawak and Vengeance of Sandokan . The female role was performed by Michèle Mercier, unforgettable starring in the role of Angélique, "the Marquise of the Angels", was both a blessing and a curse. It catapulted her to almost instant stardom, rivalling Brigitte Bardot in her celebrity and popularity, but ruined her acting career. By the end of the 1960s, the names Angélique and Michèle Mercier were synonymous, and to escape type-casting, Mercier was compelled to leave France and try to re-start her career in United States, unfortunately without any success. The rest of the cast , we find a negative character to which the director gives a special treatment : the nasty Paul Muller , a secondary actor who interpreted various roles for Jess Frank .

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Domenico Paolella . He was a director and writer, known for filming all kind of genres such as Nunexploitation : ¨The nun and the devil¨, ¨Unholy Convent¨ , Peplum : ¨Maciste Nell'inferno Di Gengis Khan¨, ¨Il Gladiatore Che Sfidò L'Impero¨ , ¨Golia Conquista Di Bagdad¨ , ¨Ercole Contro Tiranni Babilonia¨ , ¨Maciste Contro Mongoli¨ , ¨Samson Against the Sheik¨ , ¨Ursus¨ and Eurospy genre : ¨Agent 003: Operation Atlantis¨ , among others .