Review: The Girl From Rio

Secret agent Richard Wyler hooks up with fetching spy Maria Rohm to take on a gangster (George Sanders) and a powerful and ruthless leader (Shirley Eaton) of Amazonian women planning on ruling the entire world!

 

Spanish-born sleaze filmmaker Jesus Franco (“Count Dracula”, “Vampyros Lesbos”, “Eugenie”, “The Bloody Judge”) has quite possibly the largest filmography of any director I can think of, and he made more than just sleazy horror films and women’s prison flicks. This outlandish outing from 1969 sees the prolific filmmaker showing off his Swinging 60s vibe for a mixture of outlandish comic strip (think “Barbarella” meets Christopher Lee’s “Fu Manchu” films, with “Fu Manchu” creator Sax Rohmer having created the characters here too) and James Bond knock-off. It’s actually a fun little film, so long as you’re not expecting anything remotely close to his more sex-and-blood-obsessed films.

 

Scripted by Harry Alan Towers (Franco’s “The Bloody Judge” and “Eugenie”) under his Peter Welbeck pseudonym, it certainly starts in the traditional sexy Franco mould, albeit Franco at a time before he was really able to let loose with the softcore sex and bloody violence and torture stuff in his 70s and 80s films. It’s very Swinging 60s stuff for the most part, and stunningly shot by Franco regular Manuel Merino (“Vampyros Lesbos”, “She Killed in Ecstasy”, “The Bloody Judge”, and “The Vengeance of Dr. Mabuse”). Whatever one can say about Franco’s exploitation films, they’re usually damn good-looking and this is no exception. The production and costume design are particularly choice, with “Goldfinger” co-star Shirley Eaton’s villainess and her army of women all decked out in sexy futuristic garb out of something like “Barbarella” meets Just Jaeckin’s “Gwendoline”. The other big highlight here is the campy villainess performance by “Goldfinger” co-star Shirley Eaton, she’s a real hoot, and she looks stunning and sexy as hell. It’s no surprise that Eaton is the most fun here, because she’s playing the most interesting character in the entire film. She’s a bit reminiscent of Anita Pallenberg in “Barbarella”. By contrast, Richard Wyler is no Sean Connery, hell he’s no Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, or even James Coburn (The Derek Flint films), either. He’s a tedious fourth-rate knock-off in a film that I think otherwise is rather a bit loftier than that, if nowhere near the level of the best Bond films. Wyler and the occasionally incoherent narrative are the only drawbacks to the entire film. Also, in an otherwise pretty stylish film, Wyler is fitted with the most godawful plaid suit you’ll ever see, at one point.

 

Elsewhere, Maria Rohm is absolutely stunning, and somehow Franco managed to rope poor old George Sanders into this thing. At one point I’m pretty sure Sanders is talking on a penis-shaped phone. Sanders is actually rather fine as a nonchalant, “Popeye” comic-reading mobster. It’s just so bizarre to find him in something like this. Then again, Herbert Lom, Dennis Price, Mark Hamill, and Christopher Lee all found themselves working for Mr. Franco at some point in their careers, so perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised. At any rate, Sanders looks to be having fun being sleazy and rotten.

 

This campy, extremely good-looking Jess Franco romp works best if you’re someone who prefers the more outlandish Bond films or James Coburn’s “Flint” films. Don’t expect one of Franco’s more explicit affairs, as the only real indicators of Franco present here are Maria Rohm and the over-use of the zoom lens. Shirley Eaton is terrific as the chief villainess, the cinematography and pop-art production/costume design are to die for, and I’m pretty sure George Sanders has a penis phone. It’s all very watchable, it would’ve been even better if it had a leading man worth a damn. Oh well.

 

Rating: B-