Nigel P
Alongside producer Erwin C Dietrich (who also wrote this), with whom he directed many films from this era, Jess Franco brings us 'Love Camp', or 'Frauen im Liebeslager' as it was originally known. Part of a 'women in prison' series, this involves a group of women from all walks of life, at best only partially clothed, who are kidnapped and taken to an isolated jungle encampment in order to satisfy a group of revolutionaries when they are not otherwise engaged. The chief warder Isla (Nanda Van Bergen) is, as you may imagine, a glamorous and sadistic lesbian, with whose advances the kidnapped girls also have to contend.As often is the case with Dietrich/Franco collaborations, the locations are beautiful (although we are not given any idea where this is supposed to be set) and this appears to be funded with a decent budget. Franco, so fond throughout the 70s of frantic camera movements and intrusive zooms, seems happy to set up a heady mix of torture and/or sex scenes and simply let the lens capture the action. Although the various predicaments are horrific, they are treated in a very casual, somewhat tame manner and accompanied by cheerful, even romantic, jazz music which helps make the very tone of the film disturbing in a way that 'of its time' doesn't really cover. This, and the fact that there is a compliance, even enjoyment, between many of the women and their captors, fits in very well with the perceived popular view at the time that, on film and television, women are often 'mad for it.' Not for me to judge, and who cares what I think anyway? Not me.Of course, you wouldn't expect any background on any of the girls or revolutionaries, and the dubbing - decent though it is - robs us of much in the way of character. People here are really cyphers, boobs and bottoms you might say, paraded and presented in the way that exploitation films do - and it would be pointless and unnecessary of me to offer criticism of that. I wouldn't, after all, criticise a wildlife documentary for containing wildlife.There is a twisted romance story at play here, between Angela (Ada Tauler), guerrilla Chico (Wal Davis) and Alberto, Angela's husband, which proves very interesting. And yet what we have here is not the best example of its kind. It comes across as a kind of bawdy, unconvincingly choreographed 'Confessions' film, and the desperate situation that could be wrung out of this comes across as a rough template for soft-core pornography.
Woodyanders
A group of women are abducted by a guerrilla army and forced to work as prostitutes at their private brothel in the jungle that's run by sadistic warden Isla (nicely played with lip-smacking wicked relish by Nanda Van Bergen).Director Jess Franco and screenwriter Erwin C. Dietrich scrupulously cover all the satisfying sleazy grindhouse bases: We've got oodles of tasty gratuitous female nudity, group showers, lesbianism, sizzling soft-core couplings, a grim sordid tone, torture and whippings (alas, this stuff is on the mild side), lots of choice cruddy dubbing, and a moderately exciting last reel breakout. Moreover, the women featured herein are quite hot and watchable: Ada Tauler as the lusty and enticing Angela Delame, Monica Swinn as predatory traitor Maria, Esther Studer as virginal innocent Lupita Pavone, and Monika Kalin as the fierce Tona. Walt Davis contributes a decent turn as hunky and sympathetic revolutionary Chino de Guerra. Ruedi Kuttel's proficient cinematography gives this film a neat glossy look. Walter Baumgartner's smooth jazzy score hits the groovy spot. While this flick suffers from sluggish pacing and a meandering narrative, it's nonetheless still trashy enough to qualify as pleasing exploitation fare.
Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Frauen im Liebeslager" or "Love Camp" is another film that director Jesús Franco made together with writer Erwin C. Dietrich and it is one of Franco's many Swiss production, which is why the original language in here is German. This one here was made in 1977, so next year it will have its 40th anniversary. The title is extremely misleading. Yes there are consensual sex scenes in this film, but this so-called "love camp" is really all about violence, about rape, about torture, about murder (decapitations) and about lots of gruesome stuff. You must really love Franco to find pleasure in this one. I personally felt it added almost nothing in terms of plot or story, was really bad in terms pf the script. The acting was equally forgettable. Admittedly, some of the girls were somewhat attractive, even in the absence of the gorgeous Lina Romay, but this can probably be said about every Franco film I guess. So this is not a reason to see this one. The only positive aspect I can think of here is that it was over so quickly, before the 80-minute mark. I am all for violence and graphic sexuality if it makes sense in terms of the story. Here it's just to shock the hell out of people and very uncreative. I highly recommend to stay away from this one.
Michael_Elliott
Love Camp (1977) *** (out of 4) No one does the WIP genre better than Jess Franco and once again he delivers the sleaze and nudity. A group of women are kidnapped and taken to a remote jungle where they are forced to sleep with soldiers who are fighting the "revolution". No only must they put themselves out they also have to deal with a sadistic lesbian warden (Nanda Van Bergen). When you go to watch these Euro WIP films it's best not to expect an Ingmar Bergman type drama. What you can expect is a lot of naked women, wacky dialogue and stupid torture scenes and that's exactly what Franco delivers here. All of the women are watchable and the film's 74-minute running time flies by. The torture sequences here are quite tame and laughable compared to other Franco WIP films.
