Search - Golden Temple Amazons on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 9/18/2022...

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Not a Franco film!

Francesco Cesari | Venezia, VE Italy | 04/07/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I highly recommend this film to Franco detractors. Like OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES, REVENGE IN THE HOUSE OF USHER, DIAMONDS OF KILIMANJARO and other Eurociné productions, this is a composite of Franco scenes and scenes shot by some Eurociné regular (in this case Alain Payet). The whole thing was edited by Eurociné's men, who are also responsible for an incredibly stupid music score, giving the "coup of grâce" to an already disastrous movie.
Shriek Show presents this adventure film in a good DVD edition. The trasfer is decent and the film is framed 1.66:1 (not the correct ratio, by the way, like the framing of Lina Romay's cameo shows). The extras include an interview to producer Daniel Lesoeur by Lucas Balbo, the main author of the book "Obsession - The Films of Jess Franco". In this interview, Lesoeur mainly talks about Eurociné and two of the actors casted in GOLDEN TEMPLE AMAZONS: Stanley Kapoul and Eurociné's regular Françoise Blanchard, who appears in the film just a few seconds.
Balbo and Leseour carefully avoid talking Jess Franco, which would have meant to ask and answer the basic questions: «Who did actually film and edit GOLDEN TEMPLE AMAZONS? Why Franco did not complete this film?».
No doubt that all the precredit sequences wasn't shot by Franco, as well as all the scenes with Olivier Mathot and Françoise Blanchard. I agree with Balbo ("Obsession") that he probably shot the interiors inside the golden temple, and surely he shot also the exteriors with his regular Spanish actors: Antonio Mayans, Emilio Linder and the beautiful Alicia Principe (the protagonist of one of Franco's more beautiful and stylish films, HISTORIA SEXUAL DE "O"). The best actors of a not that bad cast are William Berger and the chimpanzee, even if their characters (well... at least Berger's) are silly. Eva León has good moments, as the evil Amazons queen, and the young Analia Ivars is, as always, delighfully spontaneous. Both these actress, on the other hand, appear really wasted, if one thinks to the fantastic performance they did, the same year, in BAHIA BLANCA. Franco's direction has few good moments - in particular a beautifully shot scene between Berger and León - but in its whole is absent-minded and hasty, which thing cannot surprise if one considers how stupid the plot is. The most laughable elements of the film are the ridicolous amazons and the fight scenes.
If you aren't a Franco detractor ..... AVOID THIS!"