Modern Pulp

August 29 2021

SERIOUSLY, GUY?

That sound you hear is a great author spinning in his grave.

Guy de Maupassant? Really? We had no idea the master of the short story form and leader of the Naturalist school also wrote smut. Shows what we know. When we looked around for Folli piaceri delle porno prigioniere we learned it was originally made in West Germany in 1980 as Gefangene Frauen, but known in English as Caged Women. And instead of the highbrow rumination we expected from a movie based on de Maupassant, what we got was director Edwin C. Dietrich pushing the far bounds of sexploitation in ways that are crude, stupid, and unrepentant. Perhaps as compensation or apology, he also offers up more nudity per screen minute than a Jesús Franco film—and that’s saying something.

Karine Gambier and Brigitte Lahaie headline a cast of bare blonde women and just-as-bare hairy eurostuds, as plotwise, a tinpot dictator worried about a U.N. sex trafficking investigation into his country’s brothels hides his trafficked European prosties in a godforsaken island prison. You get every trope of women in prison flicks, but stretched to the max. There are showers, medical exams, naked whippings, naked manual labor, naked skeet shooting, naked arena wrestling, a naked prison break (but with comfortable shoes), and more. Notice how that went from standard sexploitation fare to waaay out there? Is it satire? Edwin Dietrich doubtless would have claimed it was. But merely turning the volume up to eleven is the dumbest kind of satire.

And as far as Guy de Maupassant goes, it’s more like Guy de wishful thinking. We found no evidence the acclaimed author influenced this production in any way, regardless of what its writer (also Edwin Dietrich) said. It wasn’t the only time Dietrich claimed he was inspired by classic literature. No surprise—when you make something like forty of these flicks you intellectualize them any way you can. De Maupassant’s influence, we suspect, was merely to lend a veneer of credibility to the promo poster. If you watch Folli piaceri delle porno prigioniere, don’t be a pretender like Dietrich. Just embrace your inner horndog and admit you’re watching it for the skin.

Italy, Guy de Maupassant, Folli piaceri delle porno prigioniere, Gefangene Frauen, Caged Women, Erwin C. Dietrich, Karine Gambier, Brigitte Lahaie, France Lomay, Nadine Pascal, Christa Free, poster art, cinema, women in prison, sexploitation, nudity, movie review

Vintage Pulp

April 19 2017

SEX FEVER

They were so delirious they forgot their own names.

Pornodelirio was originally made in France as Les grandes jouisseuses and premiered today in 1978. The title literally means “the great enjoyers,” but Pornodelirio is a lot snappier, don’t you think? As usual with these Italian smut posters, the names are all pseudonyms made especially for the movie’s run in Italy. We don’t know why, but if if any of the stars ever needed to go there at least their hotels weren’t overrun by adoring, pornodelirious fans.

In any case, Annick Fougery, Anne Sand, Michele Perelo, and Pierre Forget are actually Brigitte Lahaie, Ursula White, Jean-Louis Vattier, and Dominique Aveline. It’s weird that two of the pseudonyms are Fougery like “forgery” and Forget. And it’s even weirder that Annick Fougery and Pierre Forget were actual French stars. But they certainly weren’t in this movie. Did they ever know their names had been borrowed? Did Europe have trademark infringement laws in 1978? When they checked into hotels were they beseiged by pornodelirious fans?

This is all a bit of a mystery, but the only name in which we’re really interested is Mafé. He or she painted the promo poster you see above and it’s another example of his/her great work on an x-rated promo, along with this, these, and these, one of which you’ll notice is an alternate poster for Pornodelirio. We still have no idea who Mafé is/was, but as always, we’ll keep up the research. Soon as our delirium subsides. You wanna watch the film? The English dubbed version (with correct credits) is online right here.

Italy, France, Pornodelirio, Les grandes jouisseuses, Mafé, Annick Fougery, Anne Sand, Michele Perelo, Pierre Forget, Brigitte Lahaie, Ursula White, Jean-Louis Vattier, Dominique Aveline poster art, cinema, xxx

Vintage Pulp

June 28 2014

THE NOT SO GREAT ESCAPE

There is no escape from Hell thanks to the internet.

This amazing Italian poster is for a cuddly little piece of nazisploitation called Perversion, which was originally made in France as Nathalie rescapée de l’enfer, and known in the English speaking world as Nathalie: Escape from Hell. A poster like this cries out for us to watch the film, and luckily we were able to track it down and screen it. The art pretty much nails it. A French farmer’s daughter is captured by the Nazis and sent to a castle brothel, where she endures the usual sexploitation degradations—gropings, whippings, and uninvited advances from a domineering, leather-clad queen bee named Helga Hortz. A love connection develops between Nathalie and a German officer, and when the affair comes to light Helga decides it’s time to hortz poor Nathalie. This is a really bad movie. It’s the type of flick that includes lengthy sequences of the villains going Mwah hah hah hah hah hah! All it needed was Monty Burns rubbing his gnarled hands together and intoning, “Smithers, release the hounds.” On the plus side, star Patrizia Gori gives it her all, and the supporting cast includes Barbara Moose and Brigitte Lahaie. Perversion aka Nathalie rescapée de l’enfer premiered in France today in 1978.

Sigh. How on Earth did I end up in this clusterfuck of a movie?

I once did Molière at the Comédie-Française. That was a great summer.

Oh God, who am I kidding? That was the best summer of my life.

This is my agent’s fault. I’m going to push him off the top of the Sacré-Cœur.

Shit—did I remember to put cat food in the bowl this morning?

Well, it’ll have a short, deeply embarrassing run in cinemas, and then maybe I’ll spend a few years in Canada, and when I get back this abomination will have been forgotten forever.

Wait—so this internet thing you’re talking about will be globally available and filled with every shitty old movie ever made?

Italy, France, Perversion, Nathalie rescapée de l'enfer, Nathalie: Escape from Hell, Patrizia Gori, Barbara Moose, Brigitte Lahaie, poster art, cinema, sexploitation, nazis, movie review

Vintage Pulp

July 25 2011

DAMES & THE GIANT PEACH

How can so little be known about an artist so great?

Above is a fantastic poster from the illustrator Mafé for Piaceri Folli, a 1977 French porn movie originally entitled Suprêmes jouissances, released in English as Exquisite Pleasure, then later as Supreme Delights. Mafé painted two posters for the production, and though the other one is great, this effort is on a different level entirely. In fact, in our opinion this is one of the most successful posters we’ve ever seen. If the mission was to create something both provocative and striking while still being classy, this is a grand slam. Moving on to the artist himself, we promised we’d dig for more info, but when we search in Italy nothing comes up but a few auction houses, sans bios of any sort. And when we search internationally it’s our website that sorts to the top, amusingly. So we’re the online experts on this guy and we don’t know squat. A very good library might be helpful at a time like this but where we live there isn’t one. Oh well. If we’ve learned one thing it’s that the information always appears eventually. We’ll just have to wait.

Italy, France, Piaceri folli, Suprêmes jouissances, Exquisite Pleasure, Supreme Delights, Mafé, Brigitte Lahaie, poster art, cinema, xxx

Vintage Pulp

March 11 2010

DESIGNING WOMEN

Italian illustrator Mafé shows his genius again.

We found two more Mafé one-sheets, and we’re now going to just go ahead and declare him the greatest illustrator of x-rated posters ever. He did non x-rated work too, but he flourished in porn, bringing a real elegance to the material, as you can see for yourself. He’s still a bit of a mystery to us, but we’re digging for more info. These two posters are circa mid-seventies, and you can see the other two Mafé pieces we posted here.

Italy, Eccessi porno, Piaceri folli, Mafé, Brigitte Lahaie, poster art, cinema, xxx

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 4

1957—Sputnik Circles Earth

The Soviet Union launches the satellite Sputnik I, which becomes the first artificial object to orbit the Earth. It orbits for two months and provides valuable information about the density of the upper atmosphere. It also panics the United States into a space race that eventually culminates in the U.S. moon landing.

October 4

1970—Janis Joplin Overdoses

American blues singer Janis Joplin is found dead on the floor of her motel room in Los Angeles. The cause of death is determined to be an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

October 3

1908—Pravda Founded

The newspaper Pravda is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles living in Vienna. The name means “truth” and the paper serves as an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991.

October 3

1957—Ferlinghetti Wins Obscenity Case

An obscenity trial brought against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of the counterculture City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, reaches its conclusion when Judge Clayton Horn rules that Allen Ginsberg’s poetry collection Howl is not obscene.

October 3

1995—Simpson Acquitted

After a long trial watched by millions of people worldwide, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson subsequently loses a civil suit and is ordered to pay millions in damages.

October 2

1919—Wilson Suffers Stroke

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed. He is confined to bed for weeks, but eventually resumes his duties, though his participation is little more than perfunctory. Wilson remains disabled throughout the remainder of his term in office, and the rest of his life.

October 2

1968—Massacre in Mexico

Ten days before the opening of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, a peaceful student demonstration ends in the Tlatelolco Massacre. 200 to 300 students are gunned down, and to this day there is no consensus about how or why the shooting began.