GWENDOLINE (1984) Blu-ray
Director: Just Jaeckin
Severin Films

That EMMANUELLE guy Just Jaeckin and that Whitesnake video girl Tawny Kitaen reveals all (and more) on- and off-screen for Severin Films' Blu-ray of GWENDOLINE.

After a premonition of her professor father in danger while on an expedition looking for a rare butterfly, convent girl Gwendoline (Kitaen) stows away in a steamer to Macao and is kidnapped upon arrival by Chinese thieves who try to sell her to a gambling house owner. She is inadvertently saved by dashing smuggler Willard (Brent Huff, NINE DEATHS OF THE NINJA) who is just after cash owed to him for a job. When Willard refuses to help them search for her father out his own self-interest, Gwendoline and her faithful (and resourceful) lady-in-waiting Beth (Zabou Breitman, LA BOUM 2) use trickery and blackmail to force him to take them to the unexplored land of Yik Yak from which no one has ever returned; but first, they must contend with murderous smugglers, jungle predators, and the primitive tribe of the Kiops who prefer to offer up sacrifices from without their tribe in order to appease the evil spirits who periodically bring a poisonous wind throughout the desert. While seeking out the butterfly for the sake of Gwendoline's father's legacy, the trio discover that the fable of Pikao is true: a city populated by a tribe of warrior women after the god of the mountain killed off all of the men for their greed in plundering the mountain's diamond mine. While Gwendoline and Beth must engage in hand-to-hand combat for their lives against the best fighters for the enjoyment of the sadistic Queen (Bernadette Lafont, VIOLETTE), Willard's extra appendage makes him the object of aggressive affection from the Amazonians who kill their mates after sex.

With the director of EMMANUELLE, THE STORY OF O, and MADAME CLAUDE attached to an adaptation of the John Willie 1930s bondage comic "Sweet Gwendoline," audiences expected a softcore "Perils of Pauline" by way of Indiana Jones and the 1980s FLASH GORDON. What they got was a rollicking comic adventure with some dashes of violence. The nudity and warrior fetish wear is largely decorative while the sexual chemistry between Gwendoline and Willard is only pictorially steamy with more obsessive focus on their faces than their bodies (Kitaen actually showed more in her peekaboo shower scene in the later WITCHBOARD). Jaeckin's eye for pretty images is this time focused on the ambitious large-scale realization of a fantasy world where classic Hollywood-styled foreign intrigue – Jaeckin cites CASABLANCA as an influence but the Macao sequences call to mind the MACAO of Josef Von Sternberg's Marlene Dietrich vehicle – and desert and jungle thrills. Kitaen, Huff, and Zabou are all engaging despite all of their English dialogue being relooped in post-production. Although GWENDOLINE frustrated expectations, and its box office performance suffered in some territories as a result, it cult reputation as home video and HBO nudie fodder for adolescents audiences is well-deserved and viewers come of age have the opportunity to assess it for Jaeckin's actual intentions. The supporting cast includes prominent appearances by Jean Rougerie (A VIEW TO A KILL) and character actor Vernon Dobtcheff (THE SPY WHO LOVED ME).

Shortened by sixteen minutes from its original French version for its American R-rated release through Samuel Goldwyn under the title THE PERILS OF GWENDOLINE IN THE LAND OF THE YIK YAK, it was this version that appeared on VHS and laserdisc from Vestron in a panned and scanned transfer. The short version was also released theatrically in Canada but the VHS release through CIC Home Video was a longer but not completely uncut version running approximately ninety-nine minutes that also appeared in some European territories and in Japan. The uncut version appeared stateside on DVD and in the U.K. through a joint venture between Severin Films and Nucleus Films with 5.1 remixes of the English and French Dolby Stereo soundtracks (Severin also released the shorter version as a separate DVD under the American title). Severin's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Blu-ray includes HD restorations of both the international version (104:32) and U.S. version (88:30). Both are significantly brighter than the earlier DVD transfers – so much so that one can now see the ceiling of the sound stage and lighting rig at the end of the opening extended take tracking shot. Skintones are deliberately skewed towards the warm and the saturated hues of costumes and jungle greenery are healthy. There is a single frame tear at roughly eighty-three minutes into the international version, but no other evident damage or even reel change marks. The international version includes English and French tracks in both 2.0 stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with the electronic scoring of Jaeckin-regular Pierre Bachalet sounding fuller on the English tracks while the dialogue on all four is always clear since it was all re-recorded in post-production. The optional English subtitles for the English track and the English subtitles for the French track both have SDH notations. The included shorter U.S. version is trimmed mainly for pacing with only a few noticeable larger edits, including the "teasing" portion of Willard's "oral" seduction of Gwendoline and a chunk of the chase by the Kiops after the trio make their escape. The shorter version has English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio and optional English subtitles for the Chinese dialogue. A French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track is also included, which was presumably what French Canada got for the theatrical release.

The Blu-ray ports over the 2009 DVD audio commentary by director Just Jaeckin who recalls being approached with the project and liking the basic idea but disliking the bondage aspect, pitching to the producers a more fantasy-oriented film that could appeal to wider and younger audiences. He speaks highly of Kitaen, Huff, and Zabou, and of the design crew who he claims were able to realize the sets and costumes with little money (although the moderators note that the film was the highest budgeted French film of the year). He admits to destroying his own butterfly collection for the opening credits, criticizes the look of the film in retrospect as "too clean" but also marvels that he and his crew were able to realize many of the action sequences and fights with a single camera. Having worked in television commercials between productions, he reveals that he was friends with Ridley Scott and had designed some concepts with him but rejects the idea of any BLADE RUNNER influence. Severin has also commissioned a brand new audio commentary by stars Kitaen and Huff that is quite a hoot of a listen. Kitaen admits that she had avoided the film for a long time due to her discomfort during the shoot with doing the nudity, while also revealing that Jaeckin compromised a lot from what he wanted, so she is both relating her memories of the film but is also now watching it "as a fan" and enjoying the experience. Huff also reveals that he had issues with the film's nudity and some of Jaeckin initially wanted him to do but he and Kitaen both find much humor in the compromise reached in regards to his exposure; and both are ultimately thankful that Jaeckin took a chance on them with so few credits and little experience behind them at the time.

“The Butterfly Effect” (13:44) is a brand new interview with director Jaeckin who notes that EMMANUELLE has overshadowed his entire career, not just as a director but also as a fashion photographer and director of television commercials; and that he wanted to show with GWENDOLINE that he was not "just an erotic director." He also mentions that Zabou (now a director) refuses to talk about the film, not because of its content but due to a falling out with the producers. “Bondage Paradise” (33:56) is a pair of intercut interviews with costume & concept designers & comic book artists François Schuiten and Claude Renard who were initially student and teacher at the only Belgian art school with a comic book department. They recall Jaeckin contacting them about doing conceptual drawings for the film and the learning process for them of designing what was only going to be seen on the screen and the realization of props and sets in three dimensions. “The Perils of Production” (18:08) is an interview with executive production Jean-Claude Fleury who recalls the difficulties of financing the film, initially with director Gérard Zingg whose concept was more modest and lacked the international reputation to attract funding, and then getting four million francs from French cinema financers and twenty-one million francs from international presales when he signed Jaeckin. Unfortunately, the collapse of producer/distributor Parafrance meant that he had to refund all of this money and raise funding again (although he lost the rights to GWENDOLINE in Parafrance's liquidation, he retained it as a calling card film). He recalls the dangerous situation of filming in the Philippines and having to smuggle money into the country because of a foreign exchange restriction in France. He is critical of the film as being more pulp and fantasy than erotic, describing it as "almost like a family film."

“Gwendoline’s Travels” (14:09) is an English-language interview with production designer Françoise Deleu who had worked as a set decorator on film but only as a production designer on television commercials, and found it difficult to get a union card in the male-dominated profession until Jaeckin contacted her because he did not like any of the designers proposed to him. She recalls collaborating with Schuiten and Renard, as well as supervising a crew of up to a hundred and sixty technicians in the four locations including the Philippines and two French sound stages. The disc also has four Blu-Ray promos with Kitaen and Huff (6:26) which reveal that this was initially an October release title. Also included are the Severin DVD extras, starting with “The Last Temptation of Just” (24:21), a 2006 interview with director Jaeckin, Dr. Kinsey's audio interview with John Willie, creator of “Sweet Gwendoline” (43:20) – in which he recalls his childhood sexual reactions to fairy tale princesses in peril (particularly bound) and his desire to rescue them – and the Tawny Kitaen Photospread for LUI magazine (0:25) for the film. There are also a U.S. theatrical trailer (1:31) and French theatrical trailer (2:12). The standard edition comes with a reversible cover. The Blu-ray is also available directly from Severin Films with a limited edition slipcover (and set of six lobby cards while supplies last) The Yik Yak Bundle with slipcover, six lobby cards, T-shirt, and enamel pins, the 100 copy SIGNED Yik Yak Bundle, the 200 copy The Perils Of Gwendoline & The Boys Bundle with slipcover, lobby cards, T-shirt, enamel pins, and Blu-ray of THE BOYS NEXT DOOR, or the GWENDOLINE/THE BOYS NEXT DOOR Blu-ray Bundle. (Eric Cotenas)

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