★★ WOMEN BEHIND BARS

Des diamants pour l'enfer
a.k.a. Female Guard in a Women's Prison, Punition Cell, The Whip

Hey, Ma! Cook up some crystal meth we're going to sludge through another Euro snoozefest with Captain Franco at the helm. After (maybe even during) the filming ofBARBED WIRE DOLLS for producer Erwin C. Dietrich, Jess Franco cast half the actors in his fourth genre installment WOMEN BEHIND BARS. Franco admits to selling his soul to the devil by making women in prison films and considers this low budget quickie to be his best. Far from the erotic masterpiece he claims it to be, WOMEN BEHIND BARS feels like sleep deprivation torture.

Perry Mendoza, a smalltime hood, orders a raid on the yacht of millionaire Rufus Hackerman. His men escape with a cache of diamonds. Mendoza eliminates his associates and keeps the diamonds for himself. When he returns to his club, girlfriend, Shirley Fields (Lina Romay), executes him and immediately turns herself in to the police. Once in prison, she is treated to all sorts of torture in order to get her to spill the beans about the location of the jewels. Prison warden, Colonel de Bries(Ronald Weiss), also has his lover and inmate stoolie, Martine (Martine Stedil), gain Shirley's confidence with some lesbian licking to further mine clues. On the outside, you have Insurance investigator, Milton Warren (Roger Darton), on the case and Hackerman's hitman, Bill (Jess Franco billed as Clifford Brown), trying to sneak Shirley a gun so she will escape and he can track her to the goods.

Instead of the atmospheric castle location from BARBED WIRE DOLLS, this bare prison set consists of one room with a light bulb (used for most of the interior shots) and what looks to be a warehouse surrounded by chain linked fence for exteriors! Even the interrogation equipment is Community Theater cheap. Tortures are inflicted by a prop whip and two wires hooked to a four track inserted in the vagina for make believe electrocution. The malnourished budget can't even afford make-up to cover the nasty blue bruise on Lina Romay's ass that she sustained while sliding naked down the authentic prison wall in BARBED WIRE DOLLS.

Copious amounts of bare flesh can't save this poo from the lethargic pacing, wooden acting, perturbing use of zoom lens and ludicrous revelatory twist that a third grader would find moronic. Dunce caps should be handed out to everyone involved. Bad movie! Bad movie! Now go sit in the corner. Blue Underground's DVD contains an anamorphic widescreen print, Jess Franco interview and trailer. Despite Erwin C. Dietrich’s insistence that Franco stole leftover footage from BARBED WIRE DOLLS and inserted it into WOMEN BEHIND BARS, the pair would reunite forWOMEN IN CELL BLOCK 9.