I wanted to like "La Pretora" more than I did. Lucio Fulci, known as the Maestro of Gore, was an underrated auteur who made some superb films in the early part of his career before heading straight for bargain basement horror garbage in the '80s. He was also remarkably versatile; his film "The Eroticist", far from being typical commedia sexy d'italliana fare, is actually a razor sharp satire that was condemned in Italy not for its sex or violence but its depiction of the Catholic Church.
Being that "La Pretora" came after that one, I was hoping for something similar, but I was a bit disappointed. It doesn't have to be as potent a satire, but it's also not as enjoyable or interesting. The movie features the "queen" of Italian sex comedies, Edwige Fenech, playing a dual role. She is an icy and aloof judge in a small Italian town, and the judge's sister - a ditzy porn starlet who will gladly sleep with anyone who asks.
Fenech the judge is liable to condemn a conman to a lengthy incarceration, so he heads off to some resort or other where he meets Fenech the porn starlet. Seeing his chance, he procures photographs of her porn career - after making love with her, of course - with the aim of misleading people into thinking that the judge is the porn star.
We see footage - though no sex - from the set of the porn movie, in which Fenech plays Snow White, and a group of g-string clad dwarves hang around the set waiting for their "cue". I'm actually kind of glad that we didn't see too much of the action from that one.
I didn't pay attention for much of the flick, because it was muddled and confusing and I didn't care about it. Fenech gets topless quite a lot and even fully naked a few times. She wasn't crowned the queen for nothing - she is a sight to behold.
I didn't really get the ending - or the movie. It's doubtful I'll remember much about this one.
I will say that it is much better made than the average Italian sex comedy. These were generally so bad as to be unwatchable. Fulci was an artisan. And Fenech wasn't too bad of an actress - she uses a totally different voice for each role, but I admit she was more believable as the porn star than the judge.
