Jungfrauen-Report (1972)

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writers:

Paul Alexander (writer)
Artur Brauner (story)

Release Date:

28 April 1972 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Horror

Plot Keywords:

Semi Documentary | Priest | Inquisition | Defloration | Virgin

Cast

Hans Hass Jr.	...	Adam
Eva Garden	...	Anna
Ingeborg Steinbach	...	Blonde Bride (as Ingrid Steinbach)
Diane Winter	...	Virgin
Howard Vernon	...	Anna's Father / The Inquisitor
Herbert Weissbach	...	Padre
Christina von Blanc	...	Eva (as Christine Werner)
Robert Costor
Friedrich Quandt
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Antonio de Cabo
Victor Mendés
Britt Nichols

Also Known As:

Defloration (West Germany) (working title)
Virgin Report

Runtime:

82 min | Germany:62 min (cut)

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:(Banned)

Company:

CCC Telecine

Not very erotic, but certainly interesting Franco film

This is one of Franco's strangest films (which is saying A LOT) in that he seems to be combining various genres, each of which he had previously only dabbled in. Most obviously this is a take off of the popular German "Schulmadchen Report" films. Franco uses at least two of the same nubile actresses from the series and the same "man (and woman) on the street"-style interview filler. The interviews are even more obviously fake and (intentionally?) comical than usual--the interviewer goes around asking young women if they are virgins, for instance.

Franco also pays homage to (i.e. rips-off) the Italian "mondo" films, however, by purporting to show "sexual practices" around the world. These are even more obviously fake than in the mondo movies--one "tribe" he films is surprisingly racially integrated, no doubt because Franco couldn't find enough black actors. Strangely enough, the "rituals" he films all involve "do-it-yourself" de-virginizing by the "virgins" themselves while the "tribe" all watches. I'm no anthropologist, but it seems unlikely that any real primitive tribe would treat such a thing so frivolously (more likely Franco is exploring some bizarre personal fetish). Then Franco gives up all pretense of documentary verite by going back in time to show scenes from the "Garden of Eden", and a random scene from the Middle Ages where a corrupt priest exacts "tribute" from a virgin the night before she is to be wed. This last scene in particular evokes the Italian religious sexploitation films of the era (i.e, the decamerotici, the "nunsploitation" films) with its combination of catholicized perversion and supposedly serious moral commentary on the real historical abuses of the Church.

While this movie is entertaining in a warped way, what it really isn't is erotic. The virgin bride from the medieval tales is very attractive, but she goes to bed with a disgusting old man (who comically proves impotent). The ONLY real potentially erotic scene is a modern "schulmadchen report"-type vignette where a young virgin comes home from an unsatisfactory encounter with her inexperienced boyfriend to find her mother has locked her out, and ends up losing her virginity in a much more satisfying manner to her experienced next door neighbor. These two vignettes both feature very appealing frauleins recognizable from the German series. Also, in the cast are Franco regulars like Christina Von Blanc and Britt Nichols. Leave it to Franco though to take such mouth-watering beauties and such salacious material and make something so uniquely bizarre and (generally) unerotic. It's definitely interesting though.