Sexy Sisters (1977)

Very Cool!!!

Some things I liked some I did not.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A different way of telling a story

Eyebrow-less Karine Gambier ('Women in Cellblock 9') plays Milicent Antonia von Stein, or Milly, chained to her bed to help cure her 'condition'. She is a nymphomaniac of course, an affliction brought about by child abuse. If this were not bad enough, she is kept prisoner by her sister, Countess Edna Luise Von Stein played by Pamela Stanford. We shouldn't expect any deep analysis of Milly's appalling situation of course, but even by Spanish 'Eurotrash' Director Jess Franco, this is shocking stuff. Usually, I would say that 'eurotrash' is unnecessarily dismissive of his work, but this fits the bill completely. Bored sounding actors dub the characters' voices (Jack Taylor - or Tyler, as he is billed - plays Dr. Charles Barnes, a thriving hetero-sexual, dubbed with a very fey voice), often talking over each other, and events move along purely to place characters in positions where they can have sex with as many other characters as possible. Unless you find 70's simulated porn enjoyable, much of this film is a drab experience.In one such event, Milly, who is fed a succession of lovers to assuage her desires, kills one of the men brought to her. The character of Joe (Kurt Meinicke) then professes his love for her and vows to free her. These fleeting moments take place between ongoing sex scenes, often culminating with the chained Milly writhing around on her bed.Writer and collaborator Erwin C. Dietrich eschews the traditional isolated prison setting of his usual forays into Franco territory, but also stops short of bothering to intersperse the softcore scenes with much of a narrative. I can't complain about this - after all, who the hell am I? This is not much more than a porn flick and does its job very adequately. Gambier in particular gives a very uninhibited performance. I'm surprised she wasn't in more Franco films, although she had a prolific career in 'skin-flicks'. If you are aware of the trappings before watching - and the title gives the tone away - you won't be disappointed. If you're expecting to be distracted by anything outside of that, I can't really recommend this.As usual with Dietrich collaborations, the budget is such that locations - both interiors and exteriors - look impressive. Walter Baumgartner's music ranges from a background jazzy dirge to light-hearted ragtime. And then it ends with such alarming haste that it seems everyone just lost interest. More likely, the running time (85 minutes) was filled, and Milly's story was brought to an end.

One frequently knows what to expect from a Jess Franco movie made in the 1970's: Several hot women who spend the bulk of their screen time cavorting about in the nude when they aren't engaging in steamy quasi-pornographic sex, a palatial single setting (the mansion full of feline imagery serves as a neat visual metaphor for the sordid narrative's primary emphasis on deception and victimization), Franco regular Jack Taylor portraying some kind of sleazeball (this time Jack's a smarmy and shady doctor), lots of bare breasts and pubic hair, all kinds of sexual depravity (this picture runs the gamut from voyeurism to incestuous lesbianism), a groovy lounge score, colorful cinematography (thankfully Jess keeps his penchant for zoom-in close-ups under control for once), and maybe even some okay semblance of a story to make it all cohere into some kind of meaningful whole. Erwin C. Dietrich's reasonably meaty script offers a bit more plot than the norm for Franco, with the evil and greedy Countess Edna Von Stein (nicely played with infectiously wicked lip-smacking aplomb by enticing brunette Pamela Stafford) devising a clever scheme to make her younger nymphomaniac sister Milicent (a sympathetic portrayal by yummy blonde Karine Gambier) appear crazy so she can have a hefty family inheritance all to herself. Franco surprisingly manages to maintain a quicker than usual pace and, naturally, certainly doesn't skimp on either the tasty gratuitous nudity and sizzling soft-core carnality. Why, we even have a decent twist at the end. Recommended viewing for Jess Franco fans.

After recently talking about another film from auteur film maker "Uncle" Jess Franco,my dad revealed that he had picked up an Uncle Jess DVD due to thinking that it was the type of thing that I would like (I'm still not sure if that is a good or bad thing!)With Easter coming up,I decided that it was time to meet Uncle Jess's sisters.The plot:Diagnosed with nymphomania, Milicent Antonia von Stein gets tied to the bed by her sister Edna von Stein,Since being raped in her childhood,Milicent has experienced strange sexual dreams,which lead to her finding it tough to tell dreams and reality apart.Written out of the family will by her dad,Edna starts making plans to use Milicent's nymphomania to make her dream a reality.View on the film:Backed by a slick Jazz score from Walter Baumgartner,director Uncle Jess & cinematographer Peter Baumgartner bathe the title in groovy hues,as shimmering shadows are cast across to give a fractured view of the sisters relationship.Covering the walls with eye-catching paintings of cats,Uncle Jess unleashes his famous zoom-in button to cross sexploitation with late 70's "happenings",as steamy sex scenes are blended with psychedelic flashbacks to Milicent's childhood.Whilst the movie does focus on the flesh of its stars,the screenplay by Erwin C. Dietrich does help to keep Jess on track,due to the mind games and "troubled" relationship that Edna has with Milicent being gradually revealed with each sexual encounter.Reuniting with Jess,the very pretty Pamela Stanford gives a mischievous lip-curling performance as Edna von Stein,as Uncle Jess meets his sexy sisters.

Following a number of disappointments viewing some highly-regarded Jess Franco movies, I warily approached this Erwin C. Dietrich production - which came none too soon, considering that I'd had the VHS of SEXY SISTERS for six days before I could summon enough courage to try it!It's similar to SINFONIA EROTICA (1979) in that its characters are motivated either by greed or sexual frustration, and in its general depravity. Like SINNER (1972), then, while the film purports to be the character study of a single nymphomaniac, sex is virtually the only thing all the characters - and, by extension, the director himself - think about!; having four women in the brew, for instance, was a bit much, though the nurse's character (torn between her 'boss', Jack Taylor, and her genuine feeling for Karine Gambier) is quite interesting.The formal look of the film (especially interesting is the interior design of the sisters' mansion with its proliferation of feline imagery) extends itself to the trim plot line, the effective but unobtrusive score and the generally balanced performances (though it must be said that no member of the cast is particularly taxed by the level of acting necessitated by the film). Pamela Stanford gives a fine 'bad girl' performance in the style of Britt Nichols from A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD (1971). The predictable 'climax', however, ends the film on a bit of a whimper: a more dramatic conclusion would not have been amiss.It's superficial in comparison with other Franco films, but made in a refreshingly self-mocking way (the early scene involving Stanford and the gear-shift of a car, the 'mannerisms' of the numerous studs who 'visit' Gambier {reminiscent of the campy sex films being made contemporaneously by Russ Meyer in the US}, the unorthodox way in which Taylor takes Gambier's temperature) that it's not really oppressive - despite the extensive nudity involved - as others I've watched had been. The relationship between the two sisters does not convince, however - particularly their age difference (which cannot be great) as revealed in a flashback. Besides Gambier does not display enough charisma to sustain her basically one-dimensional role (unlike Monserrat Prous in SINNER and Lina Romay in SINFONIA EROTICA); in fact, her constant 'whining' becomes fairly annoying - to say nothing of unintentionally funny - after a while! The film really falls to pieces every time the characters open their mouths...to speak, that is; for a sex film, it's got an awful lot of dialogue - and practically all of it's silly, would-be titillating talk!I watched this via a 20-year old VHS: hideously dubbed as always; non-OAR; occasionally fading colors; and, most surprising of all, no credit titles! Even if the film has been released on DVD as part of VIP's "The Jess Franco Collection", it's not substantial enough to merit a purchase from me...