Die Insel der tausend Freuden

The film contains lots of elements of exploitation cinema: girls are abducted and traded, some dodgy gambling is going on, a bit of rape and torture is thrown in for good measure, some exotic locations complete with bare-bosomed natives - the list goes on.

The trouble is: the stuff just does not fit together, not in the slightest. It is just as messy as anything filmed by Jess Franco or produced by Eurociné, and this impression is helped by Yul Sanders look-a-like Otto Retzer playing the kind of role Yul Sanders would typically play.

One example for the imbalance of the picture: we see private dick Olivia Pascal being bound and tortured by Art Brauss and Otto Retzer, threatening to burn her nipples with a light-bulb, and this gives very much the impression of a nasty S&M flick. But her escape from captivity (after a failed rape attempt by Otto) is filmed like a slapstick chase from one of the many German sex comedies of the era - these chases invariably go through the bedrooms of other people (while they make love, of course) and this is no exception. To top things off, we later find Olivia speaking to Art at a party - admittedly in a hostile tone, but they are still socializing! This rather relaxed attitude towards prosecution of crime is also evident in the conclusion of the film, but I leave it at that hint.