The Tigress (1992)

from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

 

This is a low-budget effort with a meandering story which takes place during the Germany of the Weimar Republic. "The Tigress" leaves Berlin because of her dangerous mobster boyfriend. She teams up with an American grifter, and when they reach Karlsbad, the two concoct a scheme to fleece a Texas oil millionaire, played by Hannibal from the A-Team. Meanwhile, the mobster boyfriend picks up her trail.

The acting in this film is sometimes "expressionistic," to be charitable. The mobster boyfriend is straight out of a Jean Rollin movie. Imagine that you got a bunch of sixth graders together and told them to act like an evil mobster - well, the guy who played this role wouldn't be one of the most subtle in the class. In fact he'd probably be the least subtle unless he went to school with F. Murray Abraham.

Before the ending it's just another uninspired B film, and at least it has a compass bearing on reality, but get this ...

(spoilers, of course)

Tigress and the American have gone their separate ways. The American skips out on his hotel bill, so he is now fleeing from both the police and the mobster - on foot - and finally escapes by grabbing a freight train in the train yard. Well, he gets into a little contretemps on the train with some hobos who want to steal his clothing, so he has to jump from the speeding train to avoid being overpowered. He doesn't know where he is, but it's a desolate area somewhere halfway between Marienbad and Prague. Weary and battered, he pulls himself out of the trackside ditch and stumbles to the nearby road.

Well, guess who is parked there in the new Bugatti she fleeced from the oil millionaire?

And guess who doesn't seem surprised to see her?

Oh, by the way, she didn't know he was on that train, and he had no idea what had happened to her. They just happened to run into one another randomly, and were not surprised to do so.

Because , hey, Europe is a small continent.

(end spoilers)

There is quite a bit of nudity, including the full frontal variety, from earthy Valentina Vargas, who is probably best known as The Girl in The Name of the Rose. The only other strength of the movie is a genuine sense of visual style, and an appreciation for the styles and fashions of the 20's.


The movie is on DVD, but is not sold as a separate title. I picked it up in a package which included the immortal cinema classic, "Woman of Desire", with the powerhouse cast of Jeff Fahey, Bo Derek, and a very tired old Robert Mitchum.


IMDB summary: 4.7 out of 10.

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