Liana (a very young looking Joan Virly) meets Johnstone (Olivier Mathot, who had starred as Morpho in Jess Franco's 'Revenge in the House of Usher' three years earlier, amongst other things), an elderly gent who always takes care to speak v-e-r-y -s-l-o-w-l-y to the scantily-clad, 80s perm-sporting young Tarzan-esque outcast. Virly - real name Analía Ivars - returned to the crazy world of Jess Franco ten years later, for various One Shot Productions. Back to the story, and Johnstone relates to Lianna the story of how her father (Jean-René Gossart) came to these unchartered lands in search of gold, only to come a cropper courtesy of the blond Amazonian tribe that dwell there.
If you never tire of topless young females riding on horses and elephants, often in slow motion and accompanied by the plastic soundtrack of 1980s synth-pop, then you will find lots of enjoy in Alain Payet and Franco's Eurocine jungle romp. We are treated to the sight of the inevitable death of Liana's parents twice before the first twenty minutes are up, in order to show how the (then) little girl was taken and raised by tribesmen. On hearing this story, Liana vows to take revenge on those ruthless Amazonians.
In true jarring style, scenes of tension are followed by delightful images of Liana's comfortable relationship with various jungle animals, particularly Rocky the chimpanzee. The plot, the locations and the ethnicity of various characters soon become ever more muggy. But would you really expect anything else? One of the highlights, apart from the nudity, is the performance of Stanley Capoul as KouKou the shaman, which enlivens proceedings a great deal. He becomes a friend to Liana, and the two of them develop a genuinely delightful relationship for a time. Antonio Mayans also shows up as 'Bud', and lends the small role his customary gravitas. Prolific actress and Jean Rollin's 'Living Dead Girl' Françoise Blanchard is on hand as a blond Amazon woman.
This could be viewed as 'Franco does Indiana Jones', and various tricks are undertaken to give the impression of a bigger budget (see if you can sport them), but this is of course, cheap and cheerful stuff. Liana has a punishing time, especially towards the end, and there is a sadistic whipping scene identical to that employed in Franco's 'Erotic Rites of Frankenstein' ten years earlier. Some of the dubbed dialogue here is interesting. Try this one: "Women's liberation even in the jungle, eh? To me, you're just a female and very pretty."
I enjoyed this in all its scatty, occasionally brutal glory. If you're a Franco fan, you probably will too.
If you never tire of topless young females riding on horses and elephants, often in slow motion and accompanied by the plastic soundtrack of 1980s synth-pop, then you will find lots of enjoy in Alain Payet and Franco's Eurocine jungle romp. We are treated to the sight of the inevitable death of Liana's parents twice before the first twenty minutes are up, in order to show how the (then) little girl was taken and raised by tribesmen. On hearing this story, Liana vows to take revenge on those ruthless Amazonians.
In true jarring style, scenes of tension are followed by delightful images of Liana's comfortable relationship with various jungle animals, particularly Rocky the chimpanzee. The plot, the locations and the ethnicity of various characters soon become ever more muggy. But would you really expect anything else? One of the highlights, apart from the nudity, is the performance of Stanley Capoul as KouKou the shaman, which enlivens proceedings a great deal. He becomes a friend to Liana, and the two of them develop a genuinely delightful relationship for a time. Antonio Mayans also shows up as 'Bud', and lends the small role his customary gravitas. Prolific actress and Jean Rollin's 'Living Dead Girl' Françoise Blanchard is on hand as a blond Amazon woman.
This could be viewed as 'Franco does Indiana Jones', and various tricks are undertaken to give the impression of a bigger budget (see if you can sport them), but this is of course, cheap and cheerful stuff. Liana has a punishing time, especially towards the end, and there is a sadistic whipping scene identical to that employed in Franco's 'Erotic Rites of Frankenstein' ten years earlier. Some of the dubbed dialogue here is interesting. Try this one: "Women's liberation even in the jungle, eh? To me, you're just a female and very pretty."
I enjoyed this in all its scatty, occasionally brutal glory. If you're a Franco fan, you probably will too.