What a honeymoon! Results to be a peculiar adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story ¨The Beetle¨ passed through the hilarious filter of Jesús Franco . "Vaya Luna de Miel" begins with the young Simón, played by the still rather pubescent-looking Simón (Emilio Álvarez) . Simón is a bookworm sheltered by a wealthy family and he meets the lively Yolanda (Lina Romay) who asks him for on the beach if he could help her open her bikini top while she licked her ice cream, and later on , they get married . Yolanda randomly chooses any point in the world for her honeymoon, namely the Banana Islands (Sierra Leone , actually shot in Benidorm , Alicánte and Málaga). As Simon and Yolanda row for six hours on a river, then continue on foot through the dense jungle, while Greta (Susy Boulois) drives them to a marvellous cave , wondering why the young couple make it so difficult . Because everything on the Banana Islands has long been developed for tourism , which the young couple, caught up in their fantasies of a wild adventure , don't even realize. Once there, she confesses that she was only looking for a rich man to marry , but she really loves him. But it doesn't matter, the couple will soon complement each other perfectly. And finally the film ends in a gold mine, or a room covered in gold foil , probably someone's Benidorm hotel lobby .
Produced by Manacoa Productions , Jesús Franco's owner , containing jungle adventures , action , thrills , humor with tongue-in-cheek , plot twists and brief nudism . The film has nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe , being loosely based or inspired on his short story , taking parts here and there . The picture was recently discovered and soonly restored by Filmoteca Española , it was then screened at a festivals , and briefly shared online for national and international audiences with English subtitles. The treasure hunt in "What a Honeymoon" deals withan exotic honeymoon of a dysfunctional newlywed couple, when it coincides with a treasure hunt , and like the entire movie, staged and flavored with fun dialogue . Franco dares to play an early game with his world and the real world in a unique adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Gold-Bug. This film breaks with reality being comically integrated to Franco's personal world . Franco did this most convincingly in some brief moments , remembering the adventurous ¨Viaje a Bangkok, ataúd incluido¨ (1985) and the bizarre "The Blues of Pop Street" (1983).
"What a Honeymoon" is a hilarious farce about a treasure hunt that can spend a few minutes to take off , but is otherwise highly amusing and entertaining. But that's how Franco's illusions work. Stars the always gorgeous Lina Romay , Franco's wife , who seems much more mature than her partenaire and Emilio Alvarez who appeared in a few sex comedies in the early 1980s, including Amando de Ossorio's "Pasión prohibida" alongside Susana Estrada . While Antonio Mayans has brief appearance towards the end as the real Simón , who he plays affected .In addition to Lina Romay, Antonio Mayans , the usual Francoist actors do not show up . Rather, at least some of them seem to belong in the exotic entourage . And Max H. Boulois , one wonders where Franco got to him , providing a special appearance from the dark-skinned giant Boulois, himself a director and lead actor in his own films. He directed three action films, "Deadly Force" (1980), "Casino Robbery" (1981) alongside Peter Cushing, Claudine Auger and Hugo Stiglitz, and "Black Platoon" (Othello, 1982) with Tony Curtis and Joanna Pettet . Of course , brief appearance by Jess Frank himself as an early killed spy , who gives to the starring couple sn essential paper to discover the keys to find the treasure.
But apart from being an outandish and absurd comedy, it must serve as the vindication of a unique filmmaker at a national and international level . The simple fact that the film had remained forgotten for almost forty years in the basement of the film library clearly indicates that we have not even come to caress all the immense creative world that surrounds this director . Let us hope that this type of projections does not go unnoticed and helps to promote the investigation and recovery hidden works. The motion picture was regularly directed by Jess Frank. It is by no means a good film that strays from his style or that can stand out among the dense filmography of the director from Málaga. Jess was a Stajanovist, restless writer, producer, director who realized 200 pictures approx . His career spans over 50 years with a few successes and lots of flops, making all kind of genres : thrillers, adventures, action and with penchant for Terror and erotic genre . Jesus used to sigb under pseudonym, among the aliases he used apart from Jess Frank or Franco Manera, were the following ones : Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune, James P. Johnson, David Though, among others. Franco used to use ordinary trademarks, such as : zooms , nudism, foreground on objects , filmmaking in DIY style and managing to work extraordinarily quick in very low budget, as well as frequently releasing various titles at the same time. He was a prolific filmmaker, directing a lot of lousy movies. However, making some acceptable fiñms , such as : We are 18 years old, The awful Dr Orloff, The Bloody Judge , Count Dracula, 99 women, The Blood of Fumanchu, Faceless and a few others. And many of them were heavily cut and with double versions . Rating Vaya luna de miel ! : 4.5/10 .
