Women Without Innocence, or Wicked Women, opens with a naked and bloody couple dead on the
floor. The police arrive, and we see a naked Lina Romay running upstairs to
hide. It's already pretty obvious that we have just started another of Uncle Jess Franco's
films. This one is not a WIP flick, but it's close. The variation is that most of it takes
place in a mental hospital for women instead of a women's prison. The doctors are trying to cure Romay of the trauma she suffered when the couple was murdered. We eventually
get around to the real plot about smuggled diamonds, but this being a Jess
Franco film, we will have to wade through an enormous number of naked women
and people having sex. When the patients aren't exposing themselves or
masturbating, the doctors and/or nurses are getting it on.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
From 1975 until 1977, Jess Franco and Erwin Dietrich were a notorious and
prolific B-movie team. In that brief period, Franco directed sixteen films
which Dietrich produced, including seven of them in 1977 alone! Dietrich was
also credited as a writer on ten of the sixteen films, Franco on nine. The
list follows:
-
Downtown - Die nackten
Puppen der Unterwelt (1975) 5.2/10 (17 votes)
...aka Down Town (1975) (Switzerland: German title)
-
Frauen für Zellenblock 9
(1977) 5.2/10 (66 votes)
...aka Flucht von der Todesinsel (1977) (Switzerland: German title: video
title)
...aka Tropical Inferno (1977) (USA)
...aka Visa pour mourir (1977)
...aka Women in Cellblock 9 (1977) (USA)
-
Frauen im Liebeslager
(1977) 4.8/10 (46 votes)
...aka Love Camp (1977) (USA)
-
Frauen ohne Unschuld
(1977)
...aka Women Without Innocence (1977) (International: English title)
-
Frauengefängnis (1975)
5.2/10 (132 votes)
...aka Barbed Wire Dolls (1977) (USA)
...aka Caged Women (1975) (UK)
...aka Women's Penitentiary IV (1975)
-
Frauenhaus, Das (1977)
4.9/10 (57 votes)
...aka Blue Rita (1977) (Europe: English title)
...aka Cabaret des filles perverses, Le (1977) (France)
-
Greta - Haus ohne Männer
(1977) 4.6/10 (341 votes)
...aka Greta the Torturer (1977)
...aka Greta, the Mad Butcher (1977)
...aka Greta, the Sadist (1977)
...aka Ilsa, the Wicked Warden (1977)
...aka Ilsa: Absolute Power (1977)
...aka Wanda, the Wicked Warden (1977)
-
Jack the Ripper (1976)
5.3/10 (303 votes)
...aka Dirnenmörder von London, Der (1976) (West Germany: cut version)
-
Liebesbriefe einer
portugiesischen Nonne, Die (1977) 6.0/10 (157 votes)
...aka Love Letters from a Portuguese Nun (1977) (USA: video catalogue
title)
...aka Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun (1977) (USA)
-
Marquise von Sade, Die
(1976)
...aka Doriana Grey (1976)
-
Midnight Party (1976)
3.1/10 (27 votes)
...aka Lady porno (1976)
-
Mädchen im Nachtverkehr
(1976)
...aka Wild Desire (1976) (International: English title: X-rated version)
-
Ruf der blonden Göttin,
Der (1977) 4.4/10 (51 votes)
...aka Porno Shock (1977) (USA)
...aka Voodoo Passion (1977) (International: English title) (USA)
-
Sklavinnen, Die (1976)
...aka Swedish Nympho Slaves (1976) (International: English title)
-
Teuflischen Schwestern,
Die (1976) 4.6/10 (55 votes)
...aka Devilish Sisters, The (1976)
...aka Sexy Sisters (1976) (International: English title)
-
Weiße Haut und schwarze
Schenkel (1976)
There are several positives for Frauen ohne Unschuld:
- In between the exploitation elements, Uncle Jess actually threw
in a few pretty good plot twists into a decent little story. Look
for not one, but two different multi-mirror sets and a total of
three scenes in them.
- Some of the minor characters are hilarious, such as the diva, a
patient who imagines herself an opera star, and the religious nut
who prays constantly in some rather outrageous ways.
- This was made before Franco became fascinated with psychedelic
photography, and the photography here is wonderful, as is the transfer.
- And, of course, the nudity is non-stop.
The only drawback: the audio is only available in German, and the woefully
inadequate English sub-titles barely allow you to follow the plot.
Well worth a look for fans of 70s
exploitation. |