Rent Women Behind Bars (1975)

Spoilers ... - Women Behind Bars review by NP

Lina Romay looks stunning in this, possibly more so than in any Franco film I’ve yet seen. Here, she lends her not inconsiderable acting talents to play Shirley Fields, whom we first meet as she kills her thief boyfriend before being sentenced to six year’s imprisonment. Once incarcerated, the prison snitch Martine (Martine Stedil) is given the job of getting close to her and trying to find out about the diamonds missing in the latest robbery.

Martine and Shirley spend most of their time swapping cigarettes and smoking them whilst naked. Jess himself makes one of his regular appearances as thug overlord Bill. Ronald Weiss is another cast-member of note, playing the seedy Carlo de Bries. There’s a moment of prison sex when Martine and Shirley suddenly become lesbians. It takes a special skill to make lesbian love scenes between these two beautiful women entirely un-erotic, but ‘Women Behind Bars’ manages it. As far as torture – something Women In Prison dramas pride themselves in – there is some whipping, and some particularly invasive punishment for our Shirley.

The downside of the production is, unsurprisingly, the dubbing, with lines being spat out staccato style, and often two characters will talk over each other. Daniel White, musician veteran of so many Franco films, turns in a lacklustre score here. Shades of lounge/jazz music, often sounding as if it comes from a single keyboard. The story itself is fairly thin and, although this is only Franco third ‘Women in Prison’ film, his directorship seems only occasionally inspired this time round.

The upside is that Romay carries the film well. Shirley is required to suffer a lot throughout, seemingly at the hands of whomever she meets. It could only be discreetly suggested that she enjoys it. And in a SPOILER, it works out for her in the end, giving the ‘heroine’ (if that is what she is) a refreshingly happy ending. Whilst the ‘prison’ looks a little too much like a hotel, the darkened tunnel leading to and fro (possibly filmed somewhere else entirely) looks suitably drab and austere. More of a crime caper than the more standard WIP piece, this emerges as enjoyable, but pretty mild Franco fare.