Midnight Party (1976)

Directors:

Jesus Franco
Julio Pérez Tabernero

Writers:

Jesus Franco (story)
Erwin C. Dietrich (swiss version)
(more)

Release Date:

23 January 1976 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy | Crime

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Sex Orgy | Nudity | Sex | Secret Agent

Cast

Lina Romay	...	Sylvia
Monica Swinn	...	Linda
Olivier Mathot	...	Al Pereira
Evelyne Scott	...	Marylin
Claude Boisson	...	Joe Loggia (as Yull Sanders)
Nadine Focarde
Alain Petit	...	Red Nicholas (as Charlie Christian)
C.L. Fartier
Pierre Taylou	...	Pierre
Isabel Gargano	...	Martha
Ilona Kunesova	...	Girl at bar
Raymond Hardy	...	Radeck's Assistant
Jesus Franco	...	Janos Radeck
Madeleine Quiquandon	...	Madeleine
Simon Berger
Nicole Guettard		(as Nicole Franco)
Gerald Cazal

Directed by
Jesus Franco		(as James Gardner in French version)
Julio Pérez Tabernero		(1983 Spanish version only) (as Tawer Nero)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Erwin C. Dietrich		swiss version
Jesus Franco		story
Pierre-Claude Garnier		(as Charles Lecocq)
Marius Lesoeur		(as H.L. Rostaine)
Julio Pérez Tabernero		1983 Spanish version only

Produced by
Erwin C. Dietrich	....	co-producer (uncredited in spanish version)

Original Music by
Daniel White
Alain Petit		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Peter Baumgartner		(Swiss version)
Christian Bollinger
Philippe Vandaele

Film Editing by
C. Lecoque

Production Companies

• BelFilm
• Eurociné
• Elite Film (1976) (German language version)
• Titanic Films (1983) (Spanish language version)

Distributors

• France-Inter Cinéma (1977) (France) (theatrical)
• Ese Films Columbia Films S.A.
• Video Search of Miami (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Belgium:75 min | Germany:63 min | Spain:76 min

Country:

Belgium | Spain | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Gevacolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-16

Filming Locations:

Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Company:

BelFilm

Movie Connections:

Edited into Justine and the Whip (1979)

Decent

Midnight Party (1976)

** (out of 4)

Strange tale of a dancer (Lina Romay) who leaves her husband and rock star boyfriend at home when two playboys invite her to a midnight party. Once at the party she has a threesome with a couple and then wakes up the next morning to find both of them dead in bed with a knife in their back. Soon Romay finds herself kidnapped and on a strange voyage where she keeps showing up at various locations. This is a rather strange film because a lot of the time it has Romay looking at the camera and talking to the viewer as well as telling them jokes. There's no doubt this was meant as a comedy or even a spoof of sex films because there are a lot of jokes running throughout. Some of these jokes work but the majority of them don't. The film starts off pretty fast and loose but quickly wears out its welcome and in the end it really starts to drag going on for 90-minutes. Romay is charming as ever and the fact that she runs around naked for the entire movie is only a good thing. Monica Swinn is good in her role and Franco himself appears with a wooden leg. The best joke in the movie deals with Romay being a working woman while her husband sits out home and does housework. This leads to some pretty funny scenes where the husband plays what would normally be played by a woman. In the end this film certainly isn't among Franco's best but it's not nearly one of his worst.