The Bamboo House of Dolls (1976)

BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS is the Shaw Brothers response to the wave of women-in-prison films that were doing the international rounds in the early 1970s, mainly spearheaded by Roger Corman's exploitation movies shot in the Philippines. The result is this movie, one which is superficially watchable and contains all of the right ingredients, although one that's also oddly muted in places.The main problem I had with this film is that it does feel like an imitation rather than a work of art. Director Kuei Chih-Hung was well known for creating some of the stronger movies to be released by Shaw but he didn't hit his stride until the early 1980s with his Hong Kong horrors like HEX. Here, he goes through the motions more than anything else.The film opens with a bunch of women, some of them blonde Westerners, being captured by typically sadistic Japanese troops and thrown in prison. There's a full hour of the usual WIP clichés, including a sadistic lesbian guard, plenty of padded sex scenes, torture, and nudity from pretty much every woman in the cast. Later, an escape attempt moves this film into action-adventure territory with the hunt for some stolen gold, and it all ends via stock action which isn't too exciting. The most interesting cast member is Lo Lieh, cast against type as one of the good guys for a change; the rest isn't really much to get too excited about.

During World War II a Red Cross hospital in China is ransacked by the Japanese army and the female nurses are sent to a concentration camp. While there they are beaten, raped and tortured by the guards. However the women have found someone to help them escape and as soon as they get the chance a small group of them make a break for it. Unfortunately, things don't go exactly as planned because a traitor within the group has forewarned the beautiful but sadistic female officer in charge of security named "Mako" (Terry Liu). And now their mistreatment really begins. Anyway, rather than reveal any more of the story and risk ruining the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this turned out to be a fairly good Women-in-Prison movie. I personally liked the luscious blonde prisoner named "Jennifer" (Birte Tove) and the aforementioned Terry Liu although there were quite a few other pretty ladies in this movie as well. Be that as it may I recommend this film to those who enjoy this particular genre and I rate it as slightly above average.

Weisser calls this the 'granddaddy of WIP films' and it is easy to see why. This Shaw Brothers production is non stop sexy, violent action. From the opening credits where the picture frequently freezes to show up the skirt shots of skimpily dressed fighting girls, we know which direction this one's going. In fact the girls are in and out of the same little costumes throughout the film and PC this is not. The first half is real sleazy WIP with very violent scenes of torture and more, with bare female flesh much to the fore. With the second escape we leave the prison camp for good and the movie becomes more a violent kung fu thriller with a little less skin and much more blood. Certainly a considerable tour de force and according to Weiser again, banned in Hong Kong for 10 years! Oh and by the way this is the Japanese in SW China during WW2 and it is they of course who are the baddies.

I bought this film on DVD (from xploitedcinema.com) and expected an over-the-top, Women In Prison exploitation ride that would have me guffawing and slapping my knee as I had a good old time watching the girls get taken advantage of. It's a guy thing. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that BHOD kept me glued to the screen from beginning to end. It's an exploitation film no doubt, but it's done very well!Even if a story is just loaded with plotholes, it's still a good movie if the characters are enjoyable. The female prisoners are very attractive, and the actors portraying the villains are really digging into their roles - you can tell they're having a good time. The sex scenes, when violent, are choreographed very well, and are done tastefully. Many of the erotic scenes have a comedic nature, and are welcome pauses in an otherwise non-stop action fest.Though this film is now 30 years old, it looks like a recently-shot film. Hairstyles look fresh and modern, and there aren't really any props or items that mark this as an early 70's film. Very nice attentions to detail, even if it was unintentional.What makes this film great is that its appeal is a lot broader than one might think. I love exploitation films and tend to watch them by myself, as my friends are into mainstream movies. But House OF Dolls is captivating enough to be watched all kinds of movie buffs. Just warn them of the impending nudity and enjoy the show :)