Ilsa: Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976)

Brilliant and touching

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

In this sequel to "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS" we find that the lead character named "Ilsa" (Dyanne Thorne) has somehow miraculously escaped certain death and is now employed as the madam of a harem belonging to an oil sheik by the name of "El Sharif" (Jerry Delony). Besides being cruel and sadistic El Sharif also has a voracious appetite for new women and because of that Ilsa has gone out of her way to satisfy his lust by kidnapping 3 prominent young women from abroad. What neither of them realize is that this action--along with his tampering of the oil supply to the West--has generated a certain amount of attention which isn't necessarily favorable. As a result a diplomat is dispatched to talk to him about the oil disruption along with an undercover agent named "Adam Scott" (Max Thayer) who seeks to investigate his illegal sex trafficking. Now rather than disclose any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie seemed slightly more polished than its predecessor. Along with that I should also add that although these movies are certainly sleazy I don't believe they are meant to be taken seriously. For that reason those with rigid sensibilities might want to consider something else if possible. In any case, while this certainly wasn't a great movie by any means I still found it to be somewhat entertaining and I rate it as slightly above average.

Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks starts somewhere in a Middle Eastern desert as a special delivery of three crates are made to the Palace of Sheik El Sharif (Jerry Delony as Victor Alexander) where he likes to use & abuse various pretty young women before selling them to other rich oil Sheik's in slave auctions, the sadistic Ilsa (Dyanne Thorne) in her own unique way makes sure they obey his every wish without question & are fully trained to please their new owners aided by her two lesbian assistants Satin (Tanya Boyd) & Velvet (Marilyn Joi). The three crates contain kidnapped women, Nora Edward (Sharon Kelly) the daughter & sole heir of a rich American businessman, Inga Lindstrom (Uschi Digard as Elke Von) an actress dubbed the 'new Scandinavian love goddess' & Alina Cordova (Haji as Haji Cat) an equestrian champion from Europe. It's up to Ilsa to convince them to obey the Sheik's every command, Ilsa does pretty much whatever she wants to them to make them comply. Meanwhile the Sheik is expecting visitors, two Americans named Kaiser (Richard Kennedy as Wolfgang Roehm) & Commander Adam Scott (Max Thayer as Michael Thayer) who intend to blackmail the Sheik into making him give up his land which is rich in oil. However their plans don't go as they had hoped...This Canadian American co-production was produced & directed by Don Edmonds & in my opinion is pretty worthless, surely this is the worst of the Ilsa films which lets face it are hardly brilliant anyway. This was the second out of four Ilsa film's following Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975), the fact that Ilsa died at the end of the previous film doesn't seem to matter. The script by Langston Stafford is much lighter & campier in tone than the original, which is most definitely a bad thing. It has been stated that the filmmakers intended to make a much tamer film to obtain a lower rating & appeal to a larger audience, well that's fine but the finished product ended up being very disappointing as far as I'm concerned. There is no attempt at any sort of characterisation, all the women in this film are one dimensional, are given no background, personality or feelings & are simply there to be used, abused, treated like dirt & are nothing more than objects to please men. This is simply not an attitude that I can condone or take any enjoyment from. The exception is obviously Ilsa herself, but she is little more than the comic book villain & is there only to cash in on the Ilsa name. The sleaze & violence has little impact because of the overall tone & feel of the film, there is plenty of female nudity & (very) softcore sex scenes, there are a few lame torture sequences too like pouring flesh eating ants (?!) over someones foot, a thief has his hand chopped off, an exploding stomach & in the films most brutal scene someone is set on fire. The rest of the blood & gore consists of joke shop quality fake blood & stick on rubber scars. There is a few minutes of unexciting action towards the end when the prisoners fight back but like the rest of the film director Edmonds fails to create any sort of pace or tension. I was surprised at just how well made Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks is, the costumes, locations, sets, cinematography & general production values are much better than I would have expected. The acting was OK for this sort of thing I suppose but you have to be a bit suspicious when so many of the cast hide behind pseudonym's. In my opinion the worst & tamest of the Ilsa films that barely qualifies as exploitation, even Jess Franco's Ilsa, The Wicked Warden (1977) is better than this. Not even an exploding electric dildo can save it, one to avoid.

Dianne Thorne returns as the (not so) desirable Ilsa, this time making the wealthy Arabian world to her playground. Ilsa is in control of Sheik El Sharif's harem and she arranges the kidnappings of new sex-slaves. The most remarkable difference with the previous `She Wolf of the SS' is the more lightheaded character of this film and the constant presence of humor. Of course, the subject matter is a little less sensitive (Nazi's aren't that funny, you know) and the makers indented to reach a larger audience this time. This resulted in less cruelty, less nudity and a lot less perversion. Yet, this film is still warmly recommended to cult fans and admirers of occult cinema! There are a few slick and ingenious aspects to discover, like the introduction of Ilsa's assistants! Satin and Velvet look like identical twins performing lesbian action, while their uniforms simply exist out of pink thongs! No shocking and nauseating images this time, but a goofy black comedy with a couple of bloody highlights.up to you whether it's an improvement or not.

The best of the three principal ILSA films, this one's got Dyanne Thorne, Haji Cat and the impossibly pulchritudinous Uschi Digart -- scenes such as the fight with the guards, the various audiences with El Sharif, and the tortures of Haji are just beyond belief! And you don't even want to know about the Love Machine... if you get the DVD, be sure to listen to the Director's Commentary, it's hilarious!