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Women In Cellblock 9 AKA Frauen für Zellenblock 9 (1977)
R0 - Switzerland - V.I.P. Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (16th October 2005). |
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The Film
 Director Jess Franco and “'Women-In-Prison”-films are not a unique combination. With producer Erwin C. Dietrich, Franco made “Women In Cellblock 9 AKA Frauen für Zellenblock 9 (1977)”, “Barbed Wire Dolls AKA Frauengefängnis (1975)” and “Ilsa, The Wicked Warden AKA Greta, Haus Ohne Männer (1977)”, and e.g. “99 Women AKA 99 mujeres (1969)” without Dietrich. The main story of “Women In Cellblock 9” is not very unique either: Four women “freedom fighters” (inc. Karine Gambier, Susan Hemingway, and Esther Studer) get caught right after the opening credits somewhere in the South-American (?) jungle, and they are being brought up to the prison (camp) that´s located there. There these women face a mean-spirited woman warden (obviously) and soon on her side will be the sadistic Dr. Milton Costa (Howard Vernon), who seems to be having some history of torturing the prisoners, so that´s his job in this camp also. What they´re after is some information about the other rebels and leaders of the resistance, and since these women are not willing to give that information, Dr. Costa has to go to work.. The film is a good effort for the fans of the “WIP-genre”, but personally I felt that this was a bit of a rushed job. Cinematography (by Ruedi Küttel) and art direction were solid and actors didn´t fail too much, but it was the pace of the film that was lacking. Some scenes (particularly in the end) were just too long (e.g. the scene where they trick the male warden), while the story itself was simplistic. Then again the running time of the film is slightly under 80 minutes, so tighter editing would´ve probably meant some additional new scenes. I´m very aware of the fact, that you can´t really expect miracles by the low budget exploitation-movie like this and many people are just happy if it includes some nudity and violence, but you can´t stop thinking sometimes, that a few story developments here-and-there, and a few bits of more interesting dialogue could make a difference in these kind of films. These films are exploitation, sure, but they can be also “smart exploitation” (does it exist?). Did I say “nudity and violence”? Oh yes, we have obviously both of those, since this is after all a film about the women in prison. There are not that many sex-scenes in the film this time, but we have a few torture scenes that may offend the more sensitive viewers, although nothing that explicit than in some other films in the same genre (and they´re partly in off-screen). Actor Howard Vernon has some sinister qualities that fit his character (Dr. Costa), but in some scenes he felt kinda “out of place” (and the English dub didn´t do him justice). Vernon is probably the most remembered actor when it comes to films by Jess Franco (he has been in countless Franco-films), so I expected a little more by him. It was also nice to see Karine Gambier (she´s basically the leader of these freedom fighters) at least in a bit of a different role, and not just “blond sex bomb” like in some other films. You can tell that she can act, and has a good support by the other women in the film. Too bad that the story/dubbing is what it is, so there is no room for doing that much (this probably goes with all the actors in the film) when it comes to “acting”. I´m kinda curious to know where they´ve shot this film, since in addition to maybe 6 actors that are in the film, all the others seems to be extras, that look they could come in a place like Thailand etc. Anyway, they fit in quite nicely. I also have to add that the ending is worth seeing in this film, since it´s kinda surprising, in a way, at least.
Video
The film is presented in Anamorphic 1.78:1, and it looks very good. VIP have usually done a great job with their “The Official Jess Franco Collection”, going to the original negatives (or close) and making a full restoration, and that seems to be the case here also. Print is clean, it has very little film artifacts and I spotted only a few scenes with print damage. There are a few scenes in the end that could be from a slightly inferior source (well, and of course the stock footage of crocodiles), but that´s a very minor issue. Like some other Franco-releases by VIP, the colours could be a bit stronger and some exterior-shots looks a bit “pale”, but this could be from the film stock that they´ve used back in the days. Overally, a worthy presentation of the film. Transfer uses German credits, and there are no end credits at all. “Dual Layer” disc is R0/NTSC, and the film runs 77:47 min. It has 11 chapters.
Audio
All 3 audio tracks, English, German, and French (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono) are fine, clear and without any bad technical problems. Dialogue in the English and German-tracks seems to be slightly “louder” than in the French-track though. There are no subtitles at all in the film, which narrowed my choices and I had to choose the English-track. I must say that it´s not very good, and German and French-tracks are probably a better choice to watch this film if you have a chance to do it. Then again most Franco-films (and many other European low budget films) were dubbed in various markets, so definition “original soundtrack” is a bit more tricky.
Extras
This release includes the same "Behind-the-scenes" –featurette as the “Blue Rita”, “Voodoo Passion”, “Sexy Sisters”, and “Love Camp” -discs (and a few others too) from VIP, and it´s actually an interview with producer Erwin C. Dietrich (with some narration). It starts as a PR-featurette of VIP´s “The Official Jess Franco Collection”, but you have also some interesting info about Franco´s other film, “Jack The Ripper AKA Der Dirnenmörder von London”, and also some stories about the actor Klaus Kinski. Dietrich also finds connections between Franco and Dogma-movement, and doesn´t have warm memories of the German censors “FSK” back in the days. Featurette runs 21:22 minutes and is in German (with English subtitles). Then we also have almost 40 minutes worth of trailers, all in German: “Women In Cellblock 9”, “Voodoo Passion”, "Sexy Sisters", "Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun", "Blue Rita", "Barbed Wire Dolls", "Doriana Grey", "Jack The Ripper AKA Der Dirnenmörder von London", "Island Women AKA Gefangene Frauen", "Come Play With Me 2", "Come Play With Me 3", "Fräuleins in Uniforms", "Ilsa, The Wicked Warden", "Rolls-Royce Baby", and “Love Camp”. 2 photo galleries includes 20 “production stills” of “Women In Cellblock 9” (last one has Franco on the set, which is nice addition), and then “original poster gallery”, which includes other (s)exploitation movies by Dietrich. Finally there are bio/filmographies for Franco and Dietrich, and filmographies for Karine Gambier, Susan Hemingway, Esther Studer, and Howard Vernon (there are no bios of the actors). Finally there is some basic info about "The Official Jess Franco Collection" (you can find similar info from the “leaflet” with the case itself), and “DVD credits”, and “DVD Credits”.
Overall
Not the best “WIP-film” that Franco has done, but worthy to see if you like the genre. Production values, visual style and actors are in a fairly good level, but the story is mediocre. The DVD itself includes a very good transfer of the film, but when it comes to extras, they´re mainly “same old same”, at least if you have other VIP-releases already. For more info, please visit the homepage of VIP´s The Official Jess Franco Collection.
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