LES GLOUTONNES (1973, Clifford Brown)

a.k.a. LES EXPLOITS EROTIQUES DE MACISTE DANS L'ATLANTIDE/ Sexes Au Soleli. Video title  (AMERICAN VIDEO) Maciste et les Gloutonnes.  France 1973 Portugal (When I interviewed actor Robert Woods he remembered that this film was shot partially on the island of  Madiera, around the same time as AL OTRO LADO DE ESPEJO, during the Summer of 1973.) Directed under his French nom de plume Clifford Brown, this is a fascinating melange due to the fact that  Robert de Nesle, or somebody, took a supposedly "serious" film and made it into a delirous collage of  peplum, adventure, comedy, erotic and fantasy motifs. It's Waldemar Wohlfaartd as Maciste vs. Robert Woods  as the evil Caronte, who attempts to overthrow and kill the Queen of Atlantis, played by Alice Arno. Arno also  appears in what appear to be added footage of her from another (?) film lying in bed and pleasuring herself.  Maciste prevails with the help of " Gobblers", the women of  Atlantis. Howard Vernon makes an appearance as Cagliostro (cf. LA MALDICION DES FRANKENSTEIN),  observes the antics through a homemade portal with his horny attendant, played by the puckish  Rick Deconninck/Bigitoni. Kali Hansa gives perhaps the most memorable performance as the vicious Parka,  the consort of Caronte. A very interesting, electic score by Robert Viger [?] is a bonus. There's even a hardcore sex scene thrown in the mix. This scene features a naked, longhaired man walking slowly down a spiral staircase in what appears to be a theater  as Alice Arno lies on the floor below. The man then hovers over he as she excites him into ejaculating on her.  Another actress, who looks something like Montserrat Prous (LOS OJOS DE DOCTOR ORLOFF) is also involved, but it's hard to tell who it is due to the poor quality VHS dupe I've had to consult.  Prous does appear in other non-sexual scenes. Scenes of cult members covered in white sheets as they wander through a misty forest seem to be outtakes from similar scenes in LA MALDICION DE FRANKENSTEIN, the Spanish  version of EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN (1972).   Mark Forest (THE LION OF THEBES) was supposed to play Maciste, according to Franco. The opening shot of  Caronte wandering down a misty valley and the first view of the stormy coast of "Atlantis" are outstanding images  but unless you are a Franco completist you may hate this film. Franco also made YUKA  (also 1973) with Davis/Waldemar Wohlfaart and Robert Woodsagain  playing the leads in another erotic  "peplum" set in the Middle Ages..  (C) Robert Monell