BLUE RITA (1977)
aka DAS FRAUENHAUS
Blu-ray + DVD Combo
Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating; Unrated
Duration: 78 Minutes 34 Seconds
Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Marianne Flety, Sarah Strasberg, Pamela Stanford, Erik Falk, Olivier Mathot, Esther Moser, Dagmar Bürger
Jess Franco returned to the pop-art euro-spy genre with Blue Rita, one of the eighteen films he made with German producer Erwin C. Dietrich during a particularly fertile three year period. The threadbare plot involves the titular Blue Rita (Marianne Flety, Cocktail Porno), a purple-wigged exotic dancer and proprietor of the Blue Rita gentleman's club in Paris, France, which is secretly the base for diabolical communist spy network. Unbeknownst to the horny gentleman who frequent the club Rita and her strippers, a cabal of lesbian spies, are seducing wealthy and well-connected men, then gassing them and imprisoning them in the basement of the nightclub, where they wake up chained to the floor spiked cage and doused with a green-goop that makes them ultra-horny. Then Rita and her band of metallic body painted strippers seduce and erotically torture the wealthy VIP's by withholding sex from them until they are broken and spill vital information that is important to the cause, whatever that may be! The abstinence
torture inflicted on the men is pretty lightweight stuff, but the backstory of Rita's hatred of men is a pretty grim one, she having been subjected to sexual torture with a red-hot metal rod in her past. Also, when Rita discovers that one of her lesbian spies is an Interpol turncoat she punishes her by letting one of the ultra-horny green-goop doused prisoners violently have his way with her.
This flick washes over you like a softcore fever dream, chock full of striking gel-lit sequences with a tasty jazzy score, copious amounts of nudity, and a visually pleasing 70's pop-art aesthetic that while threadbare in story is total kinky eye-candy. There's plenty here to ogle at here too, we have Pipi Longstocking molesting a statue of Michelangelo's David, a stark white apartment with inflatable furniture, sex scenes shot through a fish tank, lots of go-go boots, sweet 70's jumpsuits, metallic body paint, a burlesque show where the dancer fellates the trunk of Ganesh. There's not a whole lot to think about, but there's plenty of gorgeous women who are more often nude than clothed, with hypnotic and psychedelic visuals, vibrant pop-art colors, and cool flourishes that are easy on the eyes. The only thing missing from this sexploitation spy flick is Franco's ultimate muse Lina Romay - who should have played Rita, but otherwise it's quite an entertaining and eye-popping Franco flick. Lots of familiar faces here including Olivier Mathot (Cecilia) as one of the imprisoned men, as is Erik Falk (Barbed Wire Dolls).
Audio/Video: Blue Rita (1977) makes it's North American Blu-ray debut from Full Moon Features in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. The source is in solid shape, blemishes are few and far between, and grain is present throughout, There's a pleasing depth and clarity to the visuals, and colors are look terrific. There; are some dips in depth and clarity, and grain structures waver a bit, but overall a solid HD presentation from Full Moon on Blu-ray. Audio comes by way of lossy English-dub 5.1 Dolby Digital, French-dub Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles. The tracks are clean and well-balanced but otherwise unremarkable, the recycled jazzy score from Walter Baumgartner (Jack the Ripper) are terrific and sound quite nice in the mix.
Special features on the Blu-ray include a 24-min 2013 Interview with Chris Alexander interview with Peter Stickland discussing Jess Franco that first appeared on Full Moon's Barbed Wire Dolls Blu-ray, we also get a 2-min Photo Gallery, a selection of Original Eurocine Trailers, and a Vintage Jess Franco Trailer Reel. On disc two, the DVD, we get the same Vintage Jess Franco Trailer Reel, plus the 8-min Slave in the House of Women - Audio-only Interview with actor Eric Falk.
The 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD arrives in a dual-hub keepcase with a single-sided wrap featuring some nudity, plus a Limited Edition Slipcover with it's own unique illustrated artwork that doesn't really have anything to do with the film.
Special Features:
Disc 1 (Blu-ray):
- 2013 Interview with Chris Alexander interview with Peter Stickland discussing Jess Franco (24:06)
- Photo gallery (1:50)
- Original Eurocine Trailers: Barbed Wire Dolls, Naked Girl Murdered in the Park, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, Sexy Sisters, Voodoo Passion, Women in Cellblock 9.
- Vintage Jess Franco Trailer Reel: Oasis of the Zombies, Demoniac (Exorcism), A Virgin Among the Living Dead, Erotikil, The Screaming Dead, The Invisible Dead
- 2013 Interview with Chris Alexander interview with Peter Stickland discussing Jess Franco (24:06)
- Photo gallery (1:50)
- Original Eurocine Trailers: Barbed Wire Dolls, Naked Girl Murdered in the Park, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, Sexy Sisters, Voodoo Passion, Women in Cellblock 9.
- Vintage Jess Franco Trailer Reel: Oasis of the Zombies, Demoniac (Exorcism), A Virgin Among the Living Dead, Erotikil, The Screaming Dead, The Invisible Dead
Disc 2 (DVD):
- Slave in the House of Women - Audio Interview with actor Eric Falk titled (7:54)
- Limited Edition Slipcover
Screenshots from Full Moon Blu-ray:
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