But Who Raped Linda? (1973)
*** (out of 4)
Yet another bizarre one from director Jess Franco. This one involves a woman (Alice Arno) in desperate need of money who accepts a job from an eccentric man (Paul Muller). The main job is to take care of his strange daughter including one (Lina Romay) who just happens to be a nymphomaniac. As with many of Franco's films, this here is out there in at least two different versions. The first one I watched was the French version, which is known under many titles including LES NUITS BRULANTES DE LINDA. Having seen this version first I thought it was a good little film that managed to be quite disturbing at times and the hardcore scenes, while very ugly shot, just added to the rather disturbing nature of the film. A couple years after watching this version I caught up with an English dubbed version of the director's cut, under the title BUT WHO RAPED LINDA? This version here is certainly the better of the two, although if you're not a fan of Franco then this certainly isn't going to make you change your mind. I thought both version of the film were good but the softcore one works the best because it does add a little more atmosphere and I also thought the performances managed to be somewhat better. I say somewhat better because we don't get any of the hardcore scenes, which include one performance by Romay but the others just seem to be from a completely different movie. I thought Arno, Romay and Muller were all good in their parts and of course there's just something special about them in a Franco picture. Seeing the director's cut also allows one to view the film in its original aspect ratio, which is another plus. At just 80-minutes the film is thankfully short enough to where it doesn't wear out its welcome. Fans of the director should enjoy either version.
