the audience applauded

Excellent but underrated film

A Masterpiece!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

What an absolute delight this movie is, and another masterpiece by director Just Jaeckin (Emmanuelle, Story of O). Based on a cult comic strip, the movie is well photographed and made in hilarious comic strip style. The story chugs along at a cracking pace with charming performances by the cute female leads (Tawny Kitaen & Zabou), and delightfully over-the-top turns by Brent Huff as the hunky can't-be-arsed hero, and the delicious Bernadette Lafont as the deranged Queen.More female breasts on show here than you can shake a stick at, great sets and locations, superb fight scenes, some comic violence, and a great soundtrack which shifts effortlessly between dreamy romantic music and 1980's disco, all add up to make this an enjoyable watch. The story is complete tosh, but this is superior tosh!

From the director of Emmanuelle (who has the best name a softcore pornographer could possibly have) comes this bizarre, nonsensical fantasy/adventure/comedy starring a nubile Tawny Kitaen. She ships herself to China in a crate so she can find her father, who disappeared looking for a rare butterfly. Accompanied by partner Zabou and hunky adventurer Brent Huff, they journey through a bunch of cheap-looking locations until they arrive at the lost city of Cheops, which is populated by an Amazonian tribe of women known as the Yik Yak. This is the mentally disabled descendant of Barbarella. It barely makes sense from one minute to the next. Yet I could not look away. Well, I mean, Tawny Kitaen, meow. And, Hell, I might like the Olive Oyl-ish Zabou even better. The production design is majestic in its moronic cheapness. If it weren't so dull up front, I'd give it a higher recommendation, but I ultimately enjoyed it.

80's metal band Whitesnake's sultry siren Tawny Kitaen is extremely lucky in some ways (ie. she dated OJ Simpson and lived to tell the tale). but decidedly unlucky in deciding this as her first feature film. Kitaen plays the titular role of Gwendoline who, with some help, is trying to find her father and a rare butterfly. While the first half of this film is so bad, it's good in a campy culty way, humorously enough the second half, when they actually find the girl tribe of the Yik Yak is when it takes a nosedive and becomes tedious. You'd think it would only get better by injecting a truckload of topless women, but you'd be wrong. As it's definitely not. But as I said up to around that point the movie is pretty damn enjoyable. And as bad as the second part of this film got (and trust me it gets pretty awful). I'd STILL watch it a million times more than that "Avacado Women in the Jungle of Death" crap fest. Tawny's next film, Bachelor Party, however, was and still is a bonifide classic no matter how you slice it (not really because of her, mind you) My Grade: D+ DVD Extras: Commentary by Director Just Jaeckin; Interview with Jaeckin; Audio interview with comic creator John Willie; Tawny Kitean photo-spread for Lui Magazine; and both US & international theatrical trailers

The plot is pedestrian (Think "Wizard of Oz" meets "Story of O"), the acting no better than High School and the dubbing flat, but the visuals on this are very artistic. Not only the large amount of female nudity, but the sets and some of the camera angles, especially where Gwendolyn and Beth are being held back-to-back in the dungeon. There were more than a few scenes I wish would have been given more screen time. None of it is great cinema, but the artwork makes for great entertainment. The copy I saw seemed to have been hacked more than edited, perhaps to bring it in line with an "R" rating. I saw it on HBO shortly after it came out, and eagerly awaited a chance to purchase the video. I managed to get an ex-rental copy.