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Title: Franco: most alternate versions?


Mike Mariano - January 13, 2005 04:59 PM (GMT)
Which Jess Franco film has the largest number of alternate versions? (The various versions don't have to all be available on home video.)

Piotr Penderecki - January 14, 2005 12:02 AM (GMT)
I'm guessing that LOVES OF IRINA has the most alternate versions?
Bare Breasted Countess (cut version)
Comtesse aux seins nus, La
Comtesse noire, La (cut version)
Erotic Kill (USA)
Female Vampire
Insatiable Lust (France) (X-rated version)
Jacula
Sicarius - the Midnight Party
The Black Countess
The Last Thrill
The Loves of Irina (racier version)
Yacula

Some are 82 minutes long, some are 105 minutes long, and some of them would seem to be completely different films. I know that nobody has released a completely combined version, yet, but a two discer of the longest hardcore version as well as the longest horror version would be nice. People expecting both were left gravely disappointed by the Image disc of FEMALE VAMPIRE. This is probably a question for Franco-phile Tim Lucas, though.

Tim Lucas - January 14, 2005 12:37 AM (GMT)
There are many different titles for THE BARE BREASTED COUNTESS, but not nearly so many versions. Should FEMALE VAMPIRE be counted as a "version" of the movie, when it's just THE LOVES OF IRINA minus a few seconds of blurry fellatio? I don't think so. To me, a "version" should reflect two or more editions of the same film that take different approaches or reach different conclusions. Also, THE MIDNIGHT PARTY is a different movie than BARE BREASTED COUNTESS altogether. To the best of my knowledge, this particular movie exists in three basic editions: blood-drinking and sexless (LA COMTESSE NOIRE) , "hormone"-drinking and soft (LA COMTESSE AUX SEINS NUS) and "hormone"-drinking hardcore (LES AVALEUSES).

Then there is EXORCISMS/SEXORCISM/THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME (three different versions of the same film shot several years apart) and the aforementioned MIDNIGHT PARTY, which was shot as a comedy but plays less humorously in English, and also exists as LADY PORNO (credited to JP Tabernero) and, I think, in at least one other form. I'm rusty on MIDNIGHT PARTY, but I think it may exist in the most different editions.

Francesco Cesari - January 14, 2005 01:42 AM (GMT)
MIDNIGHT PARTY (France), LA COCCOLONA (Italy), HEISSE BERUHRUNGEN (Swiss) and LADY PORNO (Spain) are all different versions. It seems that none of them includes footage shot by other directors, like it happens with many so-called Franco versions. The Spanish version was reedited by Julio Perez Tabernero, so it's the less faithful. The French seems to be the most faithful, but one must remember that producers usually cut Franco films, and sometimes reedited them.

I agree with Tim's concept of version. Also, it's true that one mustn't mix real versions and video/DVD-editions. One of the basic points while studying Jess Franco is to understand what HIS OWN version of each film is .... if one exists! If it doesn't exist anymore, because producers changed it before the film was theatrically released, one should figure it.
Robert De Nesle, for example, completely destroyed LES EXPLOITS EROTIQUES DE MACISTE DANS L'ATLANTIDE and LA COMTESSE PERVERSE, which became LES GLOUTONNES and LES CROCQUEUSES. Eurociné did the same with DE SADE'S JULIETTE. I don't know if we'll ever succeed in seeing the original of these three Franco films.

Sometimes else, the original film does exist, but almost nobody has seen it. For example, the Franco cuts of the two "red lips" films with Rossana Yanni and Janine Reynaud are the Spanish, not the much better known English and German.

Two very problematic films are THE GIRL FROM RIO and THE BLOODY JUDGE, since it seems that Franco created very different versions for different markets: UK, Spain, Italy, Germany. Probably, none of them can be considered the real Franco film.

In other cases, Franco had to accept so many conditions from his producers that, also when one only version exists, it can be hardly considered his version.
(If one wants to see a 100% Jess Franco film, give a look to his early 1980s Spanish films, like MACUMBA SEXUAL, MIL SEXOS TIENE LA NOCHE, BAHIA BLANCA, GEMIDOS DE PLACER. The budgets were low, but he was absolutely free and had the final cut. This is why all these films have such a beautiful and harmonious form, whereas high-budget films like THE GIRL FROM RIO look so chaotic.)




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