Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia (1977)

Pretty Good

Let's be realistic.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This was an excellent film. Later I saw the others, and I still like this one the best. It was different. You end up clapping and cheering for the KGB when they come in like the cavalry in an old western. That was different. Saw this as a second feature, we went to see the other movie, and ended up seeing this one too. This was far better than the other movie, "It's not the size that counts", which had James Bond's M, Bernard Lee.This movie has action, shoot outs, chases, gory deaths, sex, and some tense situations. Watching it again, 20 years later on VHS, was not as good as in the theater. But it is still a good movie.

The Ilsa series apparently has something of a cult following, which is unsurprising as sleazy stuff like this is often well liked. I can't say I'm a part of that following and in fact have only seen one Ilsa film (Jess Franco's Ilsa, The Wicked Warden) and dint like it much. I can't profess to be a big fan of this entry either, although I do have to say that I enjoyed it more than my first taste of Ilsa. The thing I liked most about this film is the way that it doesn't follow the familiar sleaze plot line. Initially it feels like it might do as we focus on a Russian prison camp in which the prisoners are treated badly and often killed at the hands of it's warden. Things go wrong for Russia in the war and the wardens flee to Canada, where Ilsa starts up her own brothel and later comes back in contact with one of her rivals during the 1976 Olympics. The film is hardly genius, but I get fed up of seeing people brutalised in sleazy prison camps so the change of setting seen in this film is certainly very welcome. Director Jean LaFleur does not exactly go easy on the sleaze, however, and the film does feature some really gory moments - including several scenes of death and torture, most of which are quite inventive and the fact that the film features actual Siberian tigers is to its benefit also. There's nothing included in this film that hardened sleaze buffs won't have seen many times before; but this is better than a lot of similar films at least.

Well, in comparison to its predecessors "She Wolf of the SS", "Harem Keepers of the Oil Sheiks" and "The Wicked Warden" this third sequel really lacks! Watched as an independent film however "Tigeress" can be quite funny - provided that you like this silly mixture of (harmless) torture scenes, pseudo-sadism, cheesy directed action sequences and a really dumb James Bond-like secret agent story! The best possibility to enjoy this film is his sexy and charismatic main actress Dyanne Thorne! Everyone of her appearances improve the whole movie, although her role as a sadistic chief of Russian prison camp Gulag 14 is way better than the one twenty years later as the leader of a Canadian brothel! My special advise: enjoy the (unfortunately quite short...) sex scenes in this film - Ilsa always needs to be satisfied by TWO men! - where this voluminous woman is always in full action! The rest of the film is only recommended when you´re a fan of the Ilsa-series!

Good is of course a relative term when it comes to the (in)famous Ilsa-trilogy. But ILSA - TIGRESS OF SIBERIA is the best of a fairly rotten lot and has plenty of entertainment: graphic gore, softcore sex and cheesy action. Far less disgusting than the first film and better produced (and scripted) than the second. The ending is hilarious.