chow913 A simple rain shower signals the cast to strip naked. An S&M tribute to 'Ben-Hur's chariot race with human horses. And Chinese bar fights with midgets being impaled. If loving this is wrong I don't want to be right."'Barbarella' Meets 'Indiana Jones'" boasts the posters. NOT A SINGLE element of either film exists in 'Gwendoline'!!! And I challenge anyone to name one!!! (other than Indy's whip) This certainly has to go down along with 'Dune', 'Blade Runner', 'The Crow' and 'Alien 3' as one of the most visually stunning pictures ever made. The production quality is so high it just drags you right in and never lets go! It creates its own special universe where nothing else exists outside of it. The trailer is very accurate as to what you'll be experiencing, eye candy with an S&M storyline.If not for the visual masterpiece 'Gwendoline' would easily be relegated to just another sexploitation film.First off, I watched this film only in French without English subtitles. This is a true test of any truly epic story. Can the audience understand the plot and characters even without understanding the words? The answer here is a major yes. The visual actions and emotions of the characters are so compelling we know them heart and soul even without knowing their names.It reminds me a lot of 'Land of the Deaf' and 'Quest for Fire.' Bold films which intentionally created the challenge of having no dialogue what so ever. It worked for them and it works for 'Gwendoline.' This is actually how anime was originally screened is the US. Producers would show American kids anime only in Japanese. And if the kids could describe the plot and characters correctly they knew the anime film or series was worthy of an English language adaptation.I'd accuse the story of being a plagiarized from an Anne Rice novel but her books like the 'Sleeping Beauty' trilogy were written after 'Gwendoline.' The plot is not complex beyond Westerners getting into bar fights in Chinese nightclubs, journeying into the Gobi Desert and discovering to lost S&M fantasy kingdom of Yik Yak. Not too complex but very compelling and exciting. And I'm not talking about just talking about sexual excitement.'Gwendoline' isn't just another sexploitation film. In fact there's far to little sex or graphic nudity to really even be considered a sexploitation film.This film also stars American Tawny Kitaen, the girl who "shook her ass on the head of White Snake's car." SPOILER WARNING!!! My only criticism is that they didn't do more with this film. Gwendoline and Willard never consummate their relationship! I was expecting the story to climax literally with a threesome between Gwendoline, Willard, and Beth.There ending in the Gobi Desert could have at least been better with some implications that Yik Yak had entirely been a dream. This is what I was expecting as it's very odd how all three of them are able to get dressed in the few seconds they have to flee the collapsing Yik Yak.

rosscinema This film has grown into a real cult classic and one of the reasons is the difficulty finding a copy to view. Story is about a young and beautiful damsel in distress named Gwendoline (Tawny Kitaen) who along with her maid Beth (Zabou) ships herself in a crate to China in search of her Professor father who has disappeared. She gets into trouble with the local Chinese mafia but is saved by the sweaty sailor named Willard (Brent Huff) and she convinces him with $2,000 to help her find her father who was last scene going to the legendary land of "Yik-Yak" chasing after a rare black butterfly.*****SPOILER ALERT*****Gwendoline learns that her father was killed but she is determined to find the butterfly which she wants to name after him. The three of them travel by boat and after encountering pirates they head down river and end up hacking their way through a jungle on foot and finally they are forced to trek through the desert. They are almost killed by some natives but escape and reach "Yik-Yak" but find an underground civilization run by Amazonian women in leather. They get caught and the Queen (Bernadette Lafont) has plans for them which will result in their deaths so they must figure out how they can escape.This film was written and directed by Just Jaeckin who was also responsible for the first "Emmanuelle" film and "The Story of O" and here he creates one of the cheesiest adventure films ever and it's loaded with images of B&D. This is based on the illustrated stories by John Willie in the 1940's and that also had Gwendoline frequently being tied up. Those of you into the B&D scene will especially enjoy the chariot scene where they are being pulled by topless female slaves adorned with leather! Part of this film was made in the Philippines and maybe Morocco but the scenes that are suppose to be China are easily shot on a soundstage. This film presents the worst job of dubbing since those "Godzilla" movies came out in the 50's and 60's. Most of the time their mouths are saying one thing but the words being spoken don't match. There isn't much acting going on and Huff sweats continuously from his appearance until the very end. In fact, all the actors sweat through this film and I'm sure they could all tell stories about the horrid working conditions. As much as I love Kitaen (And I do) she isn't given much to do here except find herself in various states of being topless (Thank you God!) but from an exploitation level this is part of the charm of this low budget and sleazy film. At one point in the film it starts to rain and Huff yells "It's raining, take your clothes off". Is this terrible? Of course. Is it watchable? Yep, And for the reasons I just mentioned and one can't help but be fascinated by something like this. If your into cheesy exploitation films than you probably already know about this cult classic.

frankfob A beautiful woman hires an intrepid adventurer to help find her father, who has disappeared in the jungle while searching for a rare and priceless butterfly. Along the way they run into cannibals, a race of Amazon warriors and all the usual attractions one would expect to find in a lost jungle. That's pretty much all you have to know of the plot, which is mainly an excuse to show off scads of beautiful naked women, gorgeous Filipino scenery, some almost competent action scenes, and Tawny Kitaen. That about covers it. Director Just Jaeckin apparently put a fair chunk of the tons of money he made off his "Emanuelle" movies into this one, and it shows; the film doesn't look cheap, at least, and Jaeckin's photography shows off the film's best assets--including Tawny Kitaen's--to their best advantage. Go at it with the right attitude and this film can be a lot of fun.

thomas998 Movie excess at its best. Ever imagined chariot races that were pulled by nude women? Well you can see it here. Directed by the same twisted mind that created Emmanuelle and The Story of O, he now makes a movie which is pure camp. From my opinion it was the perfect sendup of Raiders of the Lost Ark - only this time Indiana is woman and all the villans are large breasted women that romp around naked.