The Casebook of Jess Franco

Reviews by Mirek Lipinski and Robert Monell

Mirek Lipinski reviews the Blue Underground DVD.

"I feel that cinema should be like a box of surprises, like a magic box. And in that world, anything is allowed to enter, as long as it's always treated with the spirit of 'Pop!' Not in the spirit of 'Now you understand the problems of society in 1947.' No, I don't give a shit about that." -- Jess Franco, interviewed in Blue Underground's DVD of THE GIRL FROM RIO

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Woman as fetish dominatrix, man as submissive victim destined to be ruled by the female sex. THE GIRL FROM RIO is Franco having fun with comic book and James Bondian conventions, as much fun as the film's George Sanders character has when he relishes his Popeye comic while a woman is being tortured. THE GIRL FROM RIO is also Franco having fun with as much soft-porn as he can get away with, slyly filming nude scenes when star Shirley Eaton was not on the set, steering his camera toward women's anatomies, pausing his camera at peek-a-boo attire, and positioning his actresses (excepting star Eaton!) so that breasts are revealed and bottoms placed in the forefront--everything guided by his own libido and obsessions. Watching this this film you realize that Franco just had to move his cinema toward the more blatant explorations of the female form and the sexual melodrama that is Woman.

THE GIRL FROM RIO was made as an intended sequel to THE MILLION EYES OF SUMURU (1967), a wild spy film starring Shirley Eaton, George Nader and Frankie Avalon, and based on a character in a series of books by Sax Rohmer, the creator of Fu Manchu. Once again Sumuru, this time hiding out in a Brazilian city of women, Femina, would plot to take over the world for women and deny men the pleasure of rule.  Her nemesis this time would be Jeff Sutton (Richard Tyler), a man for hire, and Masius (George Sanders), a local mob chief, who lives a luxuriant life in Rio, pampered and beaten at cards by his delectable female accountant.

After recently watching two widescreen PAL DVDs of Harry Alan Towers' earlier Fu Manchu films (BRIDES OF FU MANCHU and VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU), I am convinced that Towers did Franco no favors by burdening him with poverty-row budgets to the three "series" films he hired Franco for in the late 1960s: THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU, THE GIRL FROM RIO, and THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU. It was a losing proposition from the start. Yes, Franco killed off the Fu Manchu series, and the Sumuru one, but Towers gave him the means to do so, or rather didn't give him the means (money), which resulted in films that lack the more stabilized, ornate feel of the earlier non-Franco entries in these series.  Perhaps Jess just wanted to impress the maverick producer with cost-savings or perhaps money games, with Towers the all powerful Oz, were afoot. The use of zoom, which saves considerable set-up time, is evident in this film throughout and a detriment to giving the film a more deluxe Bondian feel.  Sure enough, THE GIRL FROM RIO completed photography in Rio a week earlier than expected and before carnival time was to begin.  Since a carnival sequence was important in the film, the crew had to hang around, and Franco, under Towers' inspiration, shot scenes for the next Towers production, 99 WOMEN--one third of the film, in fact!

The film is spiced with occasional visual and dialogue witticisms: "There are some who seek to penetrate the secrets of our world," says Shirley Eaton, talking into what looks like a microphone styled as a flower resembling a vulva. Among a display of captive money-men imprisoned in Femina we find one of the Great Train robbers, who unfortunately, as notes Wyler, "didn't get anything from the film rights."  (Too bad Towers was unable to secure the cameo appearance of Ronnie Briggs, the real Great Train criminal, who fled to Brazil after taking part in the notorious robbery.)  For the most part, though, Richard Wyler's dialogue is achingly dull, so much so that one begins to wonder if it was written purposefully anti-Bond. I doubt it, though.

Dull, too, is Franco's direction of the closing battle at Femina. Truthfully, the money just isn't there to pull off the sequence, but Franco doesn't help matters by sloppily staging the entire fight and having his females shoot weapons by shaking them. If this is the army that's to take over the world, don't bother with the plan--any plan! Since action is so important to the comic book and Bondian milieus, this deficiency guarantees that many will come away from THE GIRL FROM RIO feeling cheated.

One of the most engaging elements in the film, and a salvation in a few scenes, is Daniel White's bossa nova-style music which infuses a smooth coolness to every frame it plays over. Even Franco gets in on the musical act with an in-joke appearance as a guitarist, either lampooning, or seeking spiritual connection with, the bossa nova strummers of the time. The sequence that he preludes for is one of the best in the film, by the way.  Beware of carnival-masked black-suited gentlemen lounging around parts of the city.

Shirely Eaton provides a resilient center to the film, merging an intriguing authority with artful sexual charms. After THE GIRL FROM RIO, Shirley Eaton convinced herself that family was more important than acting and opted out of the business. Luckily, George Sanders did not kill himself after making this film, waiting a few more years and films, before writing down, "Dear World, I am leaving you because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool - good luck," and then committing suicide in Barcelona. Jess Franco, in the supplemental interview to the Blue Underground disc, exhibits a touching fondness for Sanders, who according to him was a far warmer person than, say, Christopher Lee. ("The poor soul was always a victim," says Franco, in French, of Sanders. "Everyone took advantage of him.  He was completely ruined.")

I'm acquiring a growing affection for Maria Rohm, whose eyes tell of hurts and a history of sexual acquiescence. I won't go into the rumors here, but let's just say, I'm viewing Ms. Rohm/Mrs. Harry Alan Towers, who is showing up a lot on DVDs these days, in an appreciative warm light.

Whatever its obvious shortcomings, THE GIRL FROM RIO is at least hip and, in many places, fun, unlike the artificial and very square but far, far bigger-budgeted American super spy film IN LIKE FLINT, which shares a plot line with the Franco film of the female of the species wishing to take over the world.  A more interesting and personal film from Franco than the two Fu Manchus he directed for Towers, THE GIRL FROM RIO spreads a bit of sunshine into the gloom of a rainy or melancholic day if it finds you in a receptive mood.

Flavorful location shooting in Rio de Janeiro and its Copacabana Beach convey the warmth and thrill of actually being there, though scenes for the city of Femina seem to have been filmed in Spain, as the helicopters which attack the female world of Femina at the end of the film have Spanish flags labeling them. La Manga Del Mar Menor, a beach resort on the Spanish Mediterranean, doubled well for Brazilian locations, as did, I suspect, nearby San Javier Airport.  If you study the film, it becomes apparent that George Sanders never left Spain. You would never be able to tell at first viewing, however, as his scenes are skillfully edited into the Brazil locale and Rio atmosphere.

Curiously, Shirley Eaton's "Sumuru" character is called Sunanda in the film. I've watched and rewatched some of the scenes in which this name is spoken and noticed that the actors were actually saying "Sumuru" during filming, but in post-dubbing this name was changed to Sunanda.  Compounding the mystery, the end credits read neither Sunanda or Sumuru but "Sumitra," and Shirley Eaton, in an interview presented in the DVD, seems oblivious to the fact that this film was a sequel to THE MILLION EYES OF SUMURU.  Rumors of a then-law suit instigated or threatened by the Rohmer Estate attempt to explain the change in the character's name, but if Towers knows the truth, he isn't telling because he still considers the Sumuru and Fu Manchu properties as his ownership in terms of film rights. Indeed, he recently produced a new Sumuru film, which dispenses with the world of Sax Rohmer to embrace a science fiction other-planetary milieu and will undoubtedly be seen by only small-time investors and the acquisition people at lower-grade DVD companies.

While Blue Underground's back copy reads that THE GIRL FROM RIO is "now presented totally uncut and uncensored," we are not seeing everything we should be. The OBSESSION book details the differences between the American and German prints of this film. In the English-language version there's a the lack of scenes with Walter Rilla and the absence of a heist sequence in Barcelona. From OBSESSION: "All scenes with Walter Rilla and the hold-up of a bank truck in Barcelona disappeared from the American print."  They have disappeared from this "uncut" presentation, too, which is unfortunate because a dose of Spanish scenes would have given a welcome international ambience to the film, aside from setting up the important "mission statement," a standard feature of the Bond films and their imitators. One cannot help but wonder if the Spanish version, LA CIUDAD SIN HOMBRES, has elements not contained in either English or German versions.

Blue Underground could have used a supplement that's of importance to the history of the film: the snippet that Franco shot of Eaton, in her Sumuru funereal attire, for THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU (without her knowledge that this would be used for the Fu Manchu film).  As Blue Underground has the DVD rights to this scene, it's inclusion as a supplement, even as an easter egg, would have been easy and have made the film a bit more complete.  You can find the scene in Blue Underground's THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU disc.

At times the print used for the DVD shows a sign of weakness, which could be due to the film stock used in Brazil or lighting difficulties, but primarily this is a rich color brew gloriously evident in digital remastering, though not as stunning as Blue Underground's Fu Manchu transfers. The accompanying featurette, "Rolling in Rio," containing interviews with Franco, Towers and Eaten, is as exemplary as all other such featurettes from Blue Underground.  Fine textual entries are found in the extras: an intelligent and authoritative look at Rohmer and Sumuru by Dr. Lawrence Knapp, webmaster of THE PAGE OF FU MANCHU, and a brief but well-synthesized overview of Franco's career from Perry Martin.  A trailer and still/poster gallery round out the presentation.

Review by Mirek Lipinski, copyright 2004

Robert Monell reviews the Blue Underground DVD.

"The safest thing to steal is stolen money." Maria Rohm in THE GIRL FROM RIO

Criminals stealing from criminals. Spy vs spy. Lying film reviewers. Yes, here I am back reviewing yet another Jess Franco DVD after promising late last year to cease and desist for a period. You can't trust anyone anymore! Ask Jeff Sutton (Richard Wyler), a thief on the lam in Rio who is pursued by crime lord Masius (George Sanders) and the slaves of Sumuru (Shirley Eaton). But, as usual in the fly-by-night world of Harry Alan Towers and especially Jess Franco, all is not as it appears. Francesco Cesari and the Webmaster can read between the lines, and I'll be posting an eye opening interview with star Richard Wyler on the making of this film on another thread.

This sparkling, high definition transfer from BU gives us all the hot pink beach umbrellas, emerald martini glasses and aquamarine environments a student of Eurospy delirium circa 1968 could wish.

"What kind of a space age sorceress are you?" asks our plaid jacketed hero once captured in Femina, the city of women. Sumanda, once Sumuru in the Sax Rohmer material and the German alternate version, DIE SIEBEN MANNER DER SU-MURU, answers by wrapping her long lingerie clad legs around his neck. This was the era of Mario Bava's DIABOLIK, KRIMINAL, SATANIK, THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN, SUPERARGO, ARGOMAN, Francis Coplan, Lemmy Caution and hundreds of low rent Bond imitations. THE GIRL FROM RIO is not the best, but far from the worst of the lot. It's never boring, always eye catchingly designed and shot, amusing, ironic, erotic in a way that now looks naive, but what a wonderful naivete. For some the most important aspect will be that it features wall to wall outrageously clad Eurostarlets worshipping at the feet of the awesome Shirley Eaton in her last feature film to date.

Since I had only been able to see the very different German language variant (courtesy of grey market) it was a pleasure to finally be able to hear the voices of Ms Eaton, Richard Wyler and the late, great, bored-with-it-all, George Sanders. There's also a lot more nudity, sleaze and several complete scenes not in either the German version or the censored US TV print, FUTURE WOMEN, now available on this DVD. One such scene is particularly amusing, showing Sumanda's slaves being taught how to make a man into a boy-toy with a nude male mannequin as a prop. What would Jess Franco do without mannequins (cf NECRONOMICON)? Other restored scenes include a topless Maria Rohm in the shower, full frontal nudity in the scene of a woman writhing in a smoke filled glass cage/prison (cf the love drug sequence in Franco's NAKED SUPERWITCHES OF THE RIO AMORE {1980}. Also included are a much longer and more explicit precredits sequence involving a spy being erotically tortured by Sunanda's henchwomen and the complete final scene which was severely truncated in the German version. There are other bits and pieces (a number of much longer glimpses of the Rio Carnival celebrations) not seen in either the German or censored US prints which jack up the final runtime of the DVD to nearly 94 minutes, about 15 minutes longer than most previously available versions.

Pan up to a striking brunette (Beni Cardoso), a bizarrely clad soldier of Femina staring us down from beyond a glass enclosure as the camera searches for tender flesh to consider beneath her see-through body covering underneath a phosphorescent red cape and black leather collar. We get a glimpse of her naked breasts as the camera continues to a close up of her outstretched hand on the glass. It's a tease and a challenge. The Woman as fetish object and Other. Welcome to the parallel universe of Jess Franco.

It all begins with tourist agency shots of the beach at Rio, a windsurfer pulled above the waves by a speedboat, then a Varig jetliner landing with Jeff Sutton aboard as a cute, campy, sub Bondian theme song, "The Girl From Rio", is breathlessly delivered by an uncredited female vocalist over the opening credits:

"The girl from Rio...
Dangerously cold as ice,
She plays with men
Like a cat with mice"

Oh well, it's not Shirley Bassey doing "Goldfinger" (Eaton was the golden girl in that Bond classic), but it will do. Some may be additionally dismayed that Eaton's character, based on Sax Rohmer's Sumuru, is called "Sunanda" throughout but is identified as "Sumitra" in the closing credits!

What's missing from this version is the scene introducing the hero in financier Walter Rilla's office flirting with a secretary before being briefed that Rilla's daughter (Marta Reves) has been kidnapped by Sumuru and is being held in her secret Brazilian city, Femina. That scene is followed by a witty and rather dynamically edited armoured car hold up engineered by Wyler to establish his cover. Besides setting up the plot and introducing the main character these scenes are important because they indicate the winking Franco is doing at the larger budgeted Bond phenomenon and the Euro-bis action style he indulges in so cleverly. One wonders if BU was aware of the existence of this alternate or just didn't manage to acquire these elements when they made their deal with Towers. It would have been nice to have them subtitled and included as part of an even longer composite or just as part of the extras in an alternate scenes folder (cf BU's THE BLOODY JUDGE DVD). The actual extras here include ROLLING IN RIO, interviews with Shirley Eaton (amusingly amused after all these years at the "naughty" Franco), producer Towers, who tells us all went smoothly during production (Wyler informed me that things went anything BUT smoothly) and Franco himself who telegraphs his pleasure in working with stars like Sanders and doing the Eurospy thing.

BU also gives us an illustration of Franco's practice of duping his actors as we see how Ms Eaton ending up "doing" a lesbian nude scene as the real Ms Eaton explains she never did any such thing. But that's the Uncle Jess we all know and love. A folder of international posters, admats and production stills contains about 75 separate elements including a shot of Franco directing Wyler and Ms Rohm. An informative text "The Facts of Sumuru" illustrated with Sax Rohmer covers is also included along with the requisite Jess Franco bio.

This DVD package, featuring the longest yet uncensored English language version of THE GIRL FROM RIO, a film with a confusing array of international variants and titles, will be a prize for Eurospy enthusiasts, Jess Franco completists and those desirous of a fun 90 or so minutes of Eurotrash action-adventure Jess Franco style. Watching beautiful, buxom women wearing little more than glittering, multi colored plastic and leather dominatrix/superwomen outfits torturing men as DP Manuel Merino and Franco fire up the colored gels and relentlessly zoom into the revealing mesh blouses may not be everyone's cup of tea but it sure is mine.

On the other hand there are just maybe one too many camera shadows on the floor of the futurist sets instantly destroying the illusion but another costume change by Shirely Eaton (she changes from scene to scene, sometimes shot to shot) makes things right again. My favorite was the bright green tights with the S on the front which he proudly shows off as she stands in her treasury amidst the gold bars just before pushing the proverbial button which will destroy Femina. It's as fun to listen to Daniel White's odd, tinkling, quite indescribable score as it is to watch this unique effort. Franco sort of remade this in 1977 with the deliciously kinky DAS FRAUENHAUS, which will be available on DVD from VIP hopefully very soon.

Alternate titles:
RIO 70 (SUMURU)-Alt SP
FUTURE WOMEN-US TV
SUMURU REGINA DI FEMINA-IT
SUMURU-GB
DIE SIEBEN MANNER DER SU-MURU-WG
LA CIUDAD SIN HOMBRES-SP

Thanks to Mirek Lipinski and Francesco Cesari for inspiration.

Reviewed by Robert Monell (C) 2004

Screen Capture Gallery (60s' Pop Fetish Charms/Jess' Fascinations)