Women of Devil's Island

"Martine Foucher" (Michele Mercier) just happens to belong to an aristocratic family in France which is opposed to the monarchy during the French Revolution. Even though she is innocent of any crime she is sentenced as a political prisoner to hard labor for life on Devil's Island. We then learn that two years earlier her sister "Jeanette" (Federica Ranchi) had also been sent there and once they meet she helps Martine escape with her into the jungle. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned as Jeanette is killed and the other women who escaped with her are tortured. However, a new governor named "Henri Valliere" (Guy Madison) just happens to arrive at this particular time and is revolted by the way the women are treated. It turns out however that things aren't necessarily as they seem. Now, rather than disclose some of the surprises and risk spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this is a curious "Women in Prison" film that sometimes seemed almost like a matinée. Neither the acting nor the action scenes are that great but it's still entertaining to a degree. There are also some attractive ladies on hand with a beautiful blonde by the name of "Rosy" (Margaret Rose Kiel) as probably the best of the bunch in my opinion. Be that as it may, this is an okay movie and overall I give it an average rating.

According to the IMDB, this was American star Guy Madison's second European film, after SLAVE OF ROME and before SWORD OF THE CONQUEROR and EXECUTIONER OF VENICE. Madison went on to have a successful and prolific "second career" in Europe throughout the 1960's. This film plays very much like an old pulp men's magazine story come to life. A boatload of scantilly clad and sweaty female convicts from France are on their way to Devil's Island, the infamous French penal colony on the coast of South America. One of them is also looking for her sister. We are treated to various abusive policies by the corrupt prison-camp management and guards, along with sexual exploitation of the women by officials looking to trade favors for attention (don't get excited here--you could show this film to an eight-year-old!). Thirty minutes into the film, handsome, rugged Guy Madison arrives to take over administration of the penal colony, and he's something of a reformer, stopping the abuse and punishing those who do not respect the human rights of the prisoners. That doesn't win him any popularity among the old guard. Madison also falls in love with one of the prisoners, but Madison's character is not exactly what he seems to be, and there's also a question of a cache of hidden gold... Unfortunately, Mr. Madison does not dub his own voice, although the voice assigned to him is not too distracting. He plays the role with class and authority. The rest of the cast, with exaggerated gestures and exaggerated dubbing, along with the period costumes and the low-budget historical settings, give the whole thing a pulp-magazine-illustration feel. Collectors of women-in-prison films may want to seek this out as an early (and tame) example of the genre, and Guy Madison fans should be satisfied (even though he doesn't appear for 30 minutes into the film), but overall I'd rate it only "average" among early 60s Italian costume dramas.

Director Domenico Paolella directed many excellent costume adventures and peplum films, and later the intense Eurowestern HATE FOR HATE, and worked with many American actors in the 60s.

A review I read of this film classified it as 'Women In Prison' and 'Pirate Adventure'. As far as I'm concerned, you can classify this as 'Sci-Fi/Fantasy'. Slave women that pan for gold in 19th century aristocratic formal wear - clothing that never gets dirty on bodies that never sweat. This is the only 'women in prison' film I have ever seen with no nudity or sex. Also, no implied lesbianism. Basically, this might be the most unrealistic and boring 'women in prison' film of all time.

RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1 Casting - 1/1 Directing - 0/1 Story - 1/1 Writing/Screenplay - 0.5/1

Total Base Score = 3.5

Modifiers (+ or -): Believability/Consistency: -1;

Total RealReview Rating: 2.5 (rounded up to 3 for IMDB)

Italian costume drama about convicted women in France being sent to the penal colony on Devil's Island where they must wade through alligator-infested waters and find gold. Life on the island is tough for these buxom, beautifully-swept coiffed maidens - virtually none who look like they had even the slightest knowledge of crimes worthy of such a punishment. Here, if the girls want to get a day of rest they must work the night with the guards and/or warden of the island, but some changes come when Guy Madison arrives as the new warden out to change the horrible lives led by these playmate-wannabes. The acting despite the hokey storyline is rather decent and despite the horrible production values, the film is oddly entertaining(or maybe I just have a soft spot in my heart for beautiful, scantily-clad women in peril).

Entertaining adventure movie with prisoners , intrepid pirates and exotic scenarios . The movie is set in XVIII century during Louis XVI-Maria Antonieta kingdom , previously French Revolution . Female prisoners are shipped to Devil's Island penal colony , in French Guayana , one of them is the beautiful Martine Foucher (Michèle Mercier) . They are indoctrinated into the prison life from abusive guards and then a new prison commander called Henri Vallière (Richard Harrison) replacing former named Lefevre (Paul Muller) arrives with planned reforms . There then takes place riots , fights and escapes .

This thrilling picture results a be a mixture of Pirate movie and Women in prison (WIP) sub-genre in Jesus Franco style . The film is a nice pirate-adventure movie , though average , being produced in mediocre budget . Amusing adventures with valiant pirates and spectacular scenarios on jungles and marshes plenty of crocodiles . This classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by Eastmancolor cinematography in charge of Carlo Bellero , though a perfect remastering being necessary . This release has some nice and even quite exciting moments here and there , though isn't always interesting , sometimes is diverting and fresh and on a couple of sympathetic occasions is frankly delicious . The picture is full of struggles , sword-play , villainy , romance , ambushes , swashbuckler and heroism . As for the cast, as was also usual, at the top, we found an American actor decided to try his luck in European cinema . In this case the character brought to life , was rightly played by Guy Madison . He is cool as the governor/pirate hero who encounters dangerous situations while trying to retrieve his love . He was an actor who had his first major role in "Until the End of Time" a drama directed by Edward Dmytryk, 1946 to then changed in action roles , mainly series B westerns , get some success with the series "Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" and ends up traveling in Europe in the sixties where he made many Euro-westerns . Madison starred in Italy several adventure movies such as Last King of Incas , The adventurer of Tortuga , Il Vendicatore Mascherato , I Misteri Della Giungla Nera , Leopardo of Sarawak and Vengeance of Sandokan . The female role was performed by Michèle Mercier, unforgettable starring in the role of Angélique, "the Marquise of the Angels", was both a blessing and a curse. It catapulted her to almost instant stardom, rivalling Brigitte Bardot in her celebrity and popularity, but ruined her acting career. By the end of the 1960s, the names Angélique and Michèle Mercier were synonymous, and to escape type-casting, Mercier was compelled to leave France and try to re-start her career in United States, unfortunately without any success. The rest of the cast , we find a negative character to which the director gives a special treatment : the nasty Paul Muller , a secondary actor who interpreted various roles for Jess Frank .

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Domenico Paolella . He was a director and writer, known for filming all kind of genres such as Nunexploitation : ¨The nun and the devil¨, ¨Unholy Convent¨ , Peplum : ¨Maciste Nell'inferno Di Gengis Khan¨, ¨Il Gladiatore Che Sfidò L'Impero¨ , ¨Golia Conquista Di Bagdad¨ , ¨Ercole Contro Tiranni Babilonia¨ , ¨Maciste Contro Mongoli¨ , ¨Samson Against the Sheik¨ , ¨Ursus¨ and Eurospy genre : ¨Agent 003: Operation Atlantis¨ , among others .