Reviews

I just watched this movie under the title "Triangle of Lust", from Czech auteur of 60's and 70's exotica Hurbert Frank. It was Friday night, pizza and a movie, except this week a baseball game was being aired. By the time the pie was hot my team's pitcher was cold, haven given up 3 home runs and it was only the 4th ending. And all to the same player! So it was back to the movie plan , one English dubbed exotic action adventure of some rarity.

Filmed in the enchanting Canary Islands, Spain,a young dark beauty has to bailout of a small plane; the angel. She washes up on the lush island that is being used by a couple of guys and their women as a hide-out, they're on the mean and nasty side; the beast. Back in the big city, the plot thickens and turns but never builds any suspense. I won't detail the plot any further, it's already forgotten. It's a routine action adventure story and predictable with the customary mix of escape attempts and love scenes, which are rather tame considering this was rated X originally. With the 78 minute run time and several abrupt scene jumps, it may have lost more then the German dialect when it was dubbed in English.

But it does boost several memorable scenes that save it. That is if you count a fistfight between two of the bad guys being joined by one of the women doing a modern dance around them in a clearing outside the house and some interesting horse play on the beach.

Putting things into perspective, this movie will be much more fun to watch then seeing your team down 9-1 in the 7th ending and it too throws things at you out of left field right up to the last out.

From the strange sepia toned opening; a rally-march for peace, equality, justice for a African country, presented in a news real feel and backed by a slow turn of the century sounding band music, one gets the warning that this is a off kilter story. Not always obvious, each element of the film scores a caustic note and by the end you are aware of the over all tone. This is most likely imparted by the director, Adriano Bolozoni. He also wrote the screenplay. His career was as a writer of many Italian genre classic's such as the spaghetti western "Sonny and Jed" 1972, the giallo "Gently Before She Dies" 1972, scfi "The Humanoid" 1975, and my favorite " The Man with the Icy Eyes" 1971, the only Italian giallo filmed in the land of the spaghetti western- New Mexico. "Walls of Sin" was one of the few he directed.

What it's all about is Marco's return to his well to do family in Italy. He's just finished his four years of higher learning in England. His father "Papa Baroni" is a successful industrialist played to a tee by Peter Lawford, bringing his Cape Cod life style to good use. His sister, several years younger and a rising glamour model, is heavily swayed by fame. She has photos of herself on the walls in her room, some with her nude. Is this the source of the title? She likes to quote her photographers favorite line, "Sin exists, taking pictures of it changes nothing".

The rest of the family is equality living life to the max and all seems to be one big happy household. Should be, could be but Marco got that education abroad and came home with a bit of an idealistic view.

Nice color cinematography, colorful 60's mod decor and this "The Graduate"1967, inspired Italian film moves along at a brisk pace. It even has Simon and Garfunkel sounding songs that go well with the visuals. However, some of the music tracks were off base and I kept expecting a cowboy to ride over a sand dune at any minute with the very spaghetti western music. But you know, peace marches and spaghetti westerns where both products of the 1960's. Plastics!

What does it all mean!

The DVD box that I have has a blurb about the worlds worst gorilla suit, but that's easily out-done by Tarz's dumb wig. But the dumb wig and the ape suit do set the tone of this unlicensed literary character spoof!

It's director Hans Johnsons only film, while Tarz, Patrick Wright is a well known face, the wig disguise didn't work, from TV's Dukes of Hazzard show to film, several early Russ Meyer products. He worked regularly with Jane, Tally Cochrane. She had staring roles in Joe Sarno's Erotic Young Fanny Hill and Sassy Sue. Georgina Spelvin must have been signed for her name, ha, as her role was rather sedate for a well known porn star in mid-career. Boy is anything but, appearing to be in mid 20's.

Being a long time fan of rumble in the jungle films, I had to give it a swing and it gave me the level of entertainment I expected. Witty dialog, corny puns and semi-interesting T & A. And sometimes the scenes actuality seem to be in a jungle, of sorts!