Based upon today's standards, the Cane series may seem quite dated. But when I was in high school, these were cult films and considered quite unique and groundbreaking. While the reaction wasn't anything like that of Rocky Horror Picture Show, many teens enjoyed going to these movies over and over. We had never seen anything quite like it. These were the days long before the internet and cable TV. Married people were still sleeping in twin beds on TV, so the times were VERY different. The Cane series just opened up a whole new world. My two favorites were Mondo Cane and Women of the World. Some of the scenes are rather gory. Pictures of face lifts and other beauty treatments can be seen today 24/7 on cable TV, but this was heavy for the time. The award winning song, "More" came from Mando Cane. Its melody is haunting and all of you have heard it, even though you might not be aware that it came from that movie. Peter Ustinov was definitely ahead of his time and these movies are worth seeing, if for no other reason than to find out what your parents or grandparents found fascinating during their adolescence!
8 Reviews
Mondo Woman
haildevilman11 February 2007
This was made with leftovers from the great 'Mondo Cane.' As was Mondo Pazzo. (aka Mondo Cane II) Checking out the female form and activity all over the world, you get everything. Soldiers, strippers, hookers, and the multiple wives of some warrior types.
Some would see this as a bit sexist due to its obsession with the subservient roles. But that's how it was then.
Seeing the Geisha bit was interesting. I live in Japan. It's great to see a dying art get its due.
However, the plastic surgery scenes were not easy to watch.
If you like Mondo, see this one.
Some would see this as a bit sexist due to its obsession with the subservient roles. But that's how it was then.
Seeing the Geisha bit was interesting. I live in Japan. It's great to see a dying art get its due.
However, the plastic surgery scenes were not easy to watch.
If you like Mondo, see this one.
Excellent addition to the mondo genre
DVD_Connoisseur19 February 2007
"Women of the World" is an entertaining mondo movie from Paolo ("Mondo Cane") Cavara and Gualtiero ("Mondo Cane" 1 & 2, "Farewell Africa", "Goodbye Uncle Tom") Jacopetti.
Ably narrated by the legendary Peter Ustinov, this has an overall lighter tone than the other mondo movies from Cavara and Jacopetti, concentrating on the fairer of the species and their activities around the world. Cue some scenes of very lovely ladies as well as some less attractive females!
As always, some of the content does have a disturbing edge and there are some genuinely moving scenes.
The film's imagery and narration are accompanied by an excellent score by Nino Oliviero and Riz Ortolani.
7 out of 10. A memorable film experience and an interesting glimpse into the past. They don't make 'em like this anymore!
Ably narrated by the legendary Peter Ustinov, this has an overall lighter tone than the other mondo movies from Cavara and Jacopetti, concentrating on the fairer of the species and their activities around the world. Cue some scenes of very lovely ladies as well as some less attractive females!
As always, some of the content does have a disturbing edge and there are some genuinely moving scenes.
The film's imagery and narration are accompanied by an excellent score by Nino Oliviero and Riz Ortolani.
7 out of 10. A memorable film experience and an interesting glimpse into the past. They don't make 'em like this anymore!
Worth a look.
youroldpaljim3 October 2001
This "Mondo" movie is centered around women. The film takes us around the world and we are shown a lot of pretty bizarre stuff. Female coed hitchhikers in Sweden, mothers of thalidomide babies, stone age drag queens, sexy polynesian dancers, and the bizarre "women of the window" of Hamburg are among the attractions. The sequence I found the most incredible was the village in Algeria where all the working age men were killed in civil war. The widows support the children by sneaking up during Algerian Army artillery practice and rush in between rounds to gather the shrapnel from the shells to sell to scrap metal dealers! Not the best "mondo" movie, but worth a look.
WOMEN OF THE WORLD (Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi and Paolo Cavara, 1963) **
Bunuel197619 January 2009
After a little over 5 years from its release, Blue Underground's "The Mondo Cane Collection" is still, for my money, the biggest scam in the history of DVD. It's not because the films themselves were not as "shocking" as they had been played up to be (I had watched most of them on Italian TV already) or because the discs were shoddily presented but for the reason that, after hyping their "10,000 Limited Edition" status which doubtlessly duped many a serious film collector (myself included) into springing for the $120 set these same films (indeed discs) have subsequently, in 2005 and 2008, been variously reissued by the same company under different combinations for half the price they were originally being offered for! This deceit perhaps explains why it has taken me all this time to pop any of the 8 discs included in the original set into my DVD player for the first time although, as I said before, only 2 of them (the title under review and the feature-length documentary on the duo of controversial film-makers) had been completely unfamiliar to me. As it turned out, WOMEN OF THE WORLD was pretty blah as well
which kind of increased my despondency about the whole bloody affair! Anyway, what we have here is a disparate depiction of the plight of women around the world circa 1962: from Israeli freedom fighters to Japanese pearl divers, from mature Hamburg whores to Swiss pain-free birth clinics, etc. Actually, watching the women from the exotic regions going about their strenuous daily work routine (carrying heavy loads and so on) while their lethargic husbands look impassively on, laze about or, worse still, put on make up and act queer, did provoke the occasional heckle from the undersigned but, I regret to say, it was mostly a rather dull ride. At least, the music (by Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliveiro) is, typically for like product, quite good. While on the Italian version, the occasionally witty narration is provided by one of the film-makers himself (Jacopetti), the English translation (which is also present on the disc and, inexplicably, it reverted to while I was watching) is read by Peter Ustinov!
Wow
BandSAboutMovies6 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
La Donna nel Mondo hustled its way into theaters months after the success of Gualtiero Jacopetti, Paolo Cavara and Franco Prosperi's Mondo Cane. Where the first film was unfocused and just shows, quite literally, a dog's life, the sequel lives up to its name: you are going to see women all of the world.
We start in Israel, where we see women start training for their military service, which is soon juxtaposed with the island of Roger Hopkins, who has 84 wives and 52 children.
That difference between women is the highlight of much of the footage, showing women longing for statues and their mates, who instead parade about in full regalia in New Guinea ritual.
There's a trip to Cannes - this happens in so many mondos that I've lost track by this point - as well as a camera club (that's where Bettie Page got her start, allowing men to pay her to take photos of her as she posed; incel weirdos did not get their start via the internet, dear friends), dude ranches where divorcees get the marital bliss they were missing, prostitution, Japanese women diving for pearls and getting their eyes more Westernized, plastic surgery, forced tattoos, Thalidomide babies and women screaming at God in Lourdes. There's all that and so much more, all concentrating on, yes, the women of the world, but mostly wanting to show you plenty of flesh along the way.
This movie is dedicated to Italian exploitation films Belinda Lee, who died in a car crash that also injured her boyfriend Jacopetti: "To Belinda Lee, who throughout this long journey accompanied and helped us with love" appears on screen with ten seconds of silence. Jacopetti would be buried next to her thirty years later, never falling out of love with her, despite a lifetime mired in the sheer muck and grime of the mondo.
We start in Israel, where we see women start training for their military service, which is soon juxtaposed with the island of Roger Hopkins, who has 84 wives and 52 children.
That difference between women is the highlight of much of the footage, showing women longing for statues and their mates, who instead parade about in full regalia in New Guinea ritual.
There's a trip to Cannes - this happens in so many mondos that I've lost track by this point - as well as a camera club (that's where Bettie Page got her start, allowing men to pay her to take photos of her as she posed; incel weirdos did not get their start via the internet, dear friends), dude ranches where divorcees get the marital bliss they were missing, prostitution, Japanese women diving for pearls and getting their eyes more Westernized, plastic surgery, forced tattoos, Thalidomide babies and women screaming at God in Lourdes. There's all that and so much more, all concentrating on, yes, the women of the world, but mostly wanting to show you plenty of flesh along the way.
This movie is dedicated to Italian exploitation films Belinda Lee, who died in a car crash that also injured her boyfriend Jacopetti: "To Belinda Lee, who throughout this long journey accompanied and helped us with love" appears on screen with ten seconds of silence. Jacopetti would be buried next to her thirty years later, never falling out of love with her, despite a lifetime mired in the sheer muck and grime of the mondo.
A wonderful, lost 60's Mondo movie
popgun96 March 2002
Women of the World felt like a direct sequel to Mondo Cane. It did fairly well in art houses -- considered a little too edgy for early 60's sentimentality to open very wide. Regrettably, it seems to be a lost film, at least in the U.S. The Riz Ortolani score is terrific. The main theme is a rousing twist number with a delightful montage of a variety of women. The rest of the score is a real treat for soundtrack aficianados. Look for this great movie score in vinyl bins.
not the best Mondo movie
movieman_kev5 November 2003
I recently picked up the "Mondo Cane collection" from Blue Underground. The second of the official Mondo films is "Women of the World", feels more like a spin-off then an actual sequel to "Mondo Cane" as in was made in between the previous original Mondo, but before the sequel for that "shockumentary". "Women of the World" is just that, showing women from around the globe, from Israeli officers to Hamburg hookers, from Swedish co-ed hitch-hikers to gay drag queens. All in the name of enlightenment, i suppose. Like the previous film it saves the more risque parts for the latter area of the film (childbirth, army widows, etc...) Not as good as the previous film, but still worth a look.
My Grade: C
DVD Extras: 2 theatrical trailers (Usa and International); Poster and still gallery
My Grade: C
DVD Extras: 2 theatrical trailers (Usa and International); Poster and still gallery
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