The Bamboo House of Dolls (1976)

That was an excellent one.

Powerful

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Hong Kong's legendary Shaw Brothers studio, best known for its classic martial arts movies, jumps on board the women-in-prison bandwagon with Bamboo House of Dolls, an entertaining exploitation effort that, although not as sleazy as a Franco, as sadistic as an 'Ilsa', or as stylish as a Female Prisoner #701, still offers fans of dubious film everything they could ask for from one of cinema's most disreputable sub-genres.Set during WWII, the film opens in typically tasteless WIP style with a group of sexy nurses being violently accosted by the evil Japanese army (in a cool slow motion credits sequence, the action freezes whenever a bare breast or panty gusset is exposed); these women are taken to a concentration camp where they are abused, raped, tortured and occasionally killed by the camp's sadistic guards and the sexy, lesbian head of security, Mako (Terry Liu).After loads of delightfully depraved action, including girl-on-girl shower sex, forced strap-on-action, cat-fights, and sadistic punishment, a small band of plucky prisoners make a bid for freedom, led by Hong Yu Long, the wife of a Chinese partisan (and the only person who knows the whereabouts of a secret stash of war gold) and the camp's interpretor (played by Lo Lieh), who has fallen for tasty blonde prisoner Jennifer (Danish softcore sex star Birte Tove).Once the action moves from the camp to the countryside, Bamboo House of Dolls becomes a far less sleazy affair, with the concentration being on bloody sword and gun battles between the nasty Japanese and brave Chinese guerillas, and unimpressive martial arts fights on barren hill-tops.Rather surprisingly, the whole film has a very polished look that suggests rather a lot of money was spent by Shaw studios, and the cinematography is quite beautiful at times (although I wish director Chih-Hung Kuei hadn't used his 'starburst' filter on EVERY shot!); it also benefits from a pretty snazzy soundtrack, which adds immensely to the overall 'coolness' of the film. If only Bamboo House of Dolls had managed to maintain the amazingly trashy vibe of its first half for the entire running time, then it would have easily have ranked as one of the best of the genre (but even though it loses some momentum towards the end, it is still well worth checking out).

Big budget exploitation effort from Shaw Brothers is a little too sloppy to be praised, but it's a decent time waster. It is bizarre to see softcore Scandinavian sex siren Birte Tove ("Bedroom Mazurka", "Bedside Dentist") in a key role as prisoner/Red Cross envoy Jennifer. Ms. Tove gets beaten around a lot in this violent WIP (Women In Prison) flick and reveals more than her fine legs.In fact, director Chin Hung Kuei appears to be obsessed with women's legs and underthings. Hardly a moment goes by that we aren't looking up a fallen prisoner's dress or watching another poor soul have have clothing torn off by an evil Japanese officer.There is a confusing plot concerning hidden gold and some anti-Japanese propaganda, but the main focus of this exploitation epic is rape, beatings, catfights, escape attempts and torture. It's all done with tongue in cheese at times and is usually too extreme to be taken seriously. Though the film does have a TF Mous vibe at times (reminding this viewer of "Lost Souls" in particular), Mous's shocking exploitation classic didn't hit cinemas until 1980, six years after this was produced.The film's scope is quite wide and events in the third act move to rural and coastal locations outside the central prison set. The climax is rather ludicrous and totally illogical, but by then, exploitation fans will have gotten their money's worth, if not any food for the brain.

Weisser calls this the 'granddaddy of WIP films' and it is easy to see why. This Shaw Brothers production is non stop sexy, violent action. From the opening credits where the picture frequently freezes to show up the skirt shots of skimpily dressed fighting girls, we know which direction this one's going. In fact the girls are in and out of the same little costumes throughout the film and PC this is not. The first half is real sleazy WIP with very violent scenes of torture and more, with bare female flesh much to the fore. With the second escape we leave the prison camp for good and the movie becomes more a violent kung fu thriller with a little less skin and much more blood. Certainly a considerable tour de force and according to Weiser again, banned in Hong Kong for 10 years! Oh and by the way this is the Japanese in SW China during WW2 and it is they of course who are the baddies.

I bought this film on DVD (from xploitedcinema.com) and expected an over-the-top, Women In Prison exploitation ride that would have me guffawing and slapping my knee as I had a good old time watching the girls get taken advantage of. It's a guy thing. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that BHOD kept me glued to the screen from beginning to end. It's an exploitation film no doubt, but it's done very well!Even if a story is just loaded with plotholes, it's still a good movie if the characters are enjoyable. The female prisoners are very attractive, and the actors portraying the villains are really digging into their roles - you can tell they're having a good time. The sex scenes, when violent, are choreographed very well, and are done tastefully. Many of the erotic scenes have a comedic nature, and are welcome pauses in an otherwise non-stop action fest.Though this film is now 30 years old, it looks like a recently-shot film. Hairstyles look fresh and modern, and there aren't really any props or items that mark this as an early 70's film. Very nice attentions to detail, even if it was unintentional.What makes this film great is that its appeal is a lot broader than one might think. I love exploitation films and tend to watch them by myself, as my friends are into mainstream movies. But House OF Dolls is captivating enough to be watched all kinds of movie buffs. Just warn them of the impending nudity and enjoy the show :)