The Arena (1974)

Exploitation film legend Roger Corman had had great success with his women in prison pictures ("The Big Doll House", "The Big Bird Cage", etc.) and was looking for a fresh spin to put on the formula. It was his head of development Frances Doel who came up with the idea to transplant it to ancient Rome, and the screenplay was written by John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington, whose other credits include "The Omega Man", "Boxcar Bertha", "Battle for the Planet of the Apes", and Corman's own "Von Richthofen and Brown". The result is an engagingly trashy variation on the classic gladiator film. Stars Margaret Markov and Pam Grier had previously been paired in "Black Mama, White Mama", and they re-team in a story about a disparate group of women, taken from their homes around the globe by the Romans, thrown together, and graduating from slaves to full blown gladiator women. As befitting Corman's style, there is undeniable exploitation here - the attractive female cast go full frontal for us in one memorable and enticing scene - yet at the same time it's also empowerment, featuring strong female characters who ultimately are going to stand up for themselves and rebel against their sleazy male captors. Debuting director Steve Carver, who went on to direct "Big Bad Mama", "Capone", and "Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider" for Corman, keeps this well staged, visually impressive movie humming along nicely. The widescreen cinematography is courtesy of Aristide Massaccesi, better known as Joe D'Amato, and the credited editor (on American prints) is Joe Dante, another of Corman's many successful alumni (the movie was actually cut in Italy; Dante merely did a final bit of trimming). Francesco De Masi supplies the wonderful, rousing music. And former actor Mark Damon, who went on to marry co-star Markov, is the producer. What makes "The Arena" so enjoyable is the fact that the actresses are so fun to watch. The cast also includes cult performers Paul Muller (as Lucilius) and Rosalba Neri (as Cornelia), who can be seen together in "Lady Frankenstein" as well. The final 20 minutes or so feature a great deal of action, and the movie begins with a bang as well, with an efficient, straightforward story with moments both comical and dramatic. It definitely comes recommended. Seven out of 10.

Steve Carver's "The Arena" aka. "Naked Warriors" of 1974 is a highly entertaining piece of 70s exploitation that should not be missed by a B-movie fan. Produced by the almighty Roger Corman, co-directed by the king of exploitation himself, Joe D'Amato, and starring the sexiest duo of 70s cult heroines, the wonderful Pam Grier and Margaret Markov, this is pure Grindhouse cinema for lovers, and should not leave anybody bored.Abducted from their homelands and enslaved by Romans, two young women, the Nubian Mamawi (Pam Grier) and Bodicia (Margaret Markov) from the Brittany, are, along with other female slaves purchased by the Roman owner of an arena, where they are to do domestic work and serve as mistresses/sex slaves to the gladiators. After a fight at the dinner table, however, one of their unscrupulous slaveholders suggests to have the women fight for their lives in the arena, in order to offer something fresh to the blood-thirsty audiences...Both stunningly beautiful, charismatic, sexy and cool, Pam Grier and Margaret Markov are a true dream team in exploitation cinema (something they already proved in "Black Mama, White Mama" of 1972). Apart from Grier and Markov, the cast furthermore contains Lucretia Love ("Battle Of The Amazons", "The Sexorcist") and Rosalba Neri ("Lady Frankenstein", "Johnny Yuma"). Another cool role is that of Paul Mueller, a huge, ugly and bald Tor Johnson-lookalike, who plays an invincible gladiator. I personally also found the score pretty cool, although it is certainly not too original. The sleaze and violence are not quite as extreme as in many other exploitation flicks of the kind, but there's enough of both to entertain. Being a fan of exploitation flicks (or not) is a matter of taste, of course, and "The Arena" may therefore not be everybody's type of film. I personally love this kind of films however, and I therefore recommend this to all my fellow exploitation-enthusiasts. Especially Pam-Grier fans should give it a try!

After being captured by Roman soldiers, a group of women are sold off as slaves. After a continuous poor showing with the men gladiators. Soon enough, these women servants become the showpieces and now they're fighting each other to the death in front of the bloodthirsty Rome crowd and its powerful oppressors. But these ladies don't plan on living like that and do their best to organise an all-out revolt.What we get from this Corman production is a boldly, sound drive-in exploitation that follows quite a straightforward formula, which seems to work all the time. On this occasion, chuck in a bunch of female beauties in skimpy outfits in a Colosseum backdrop and watch them go toe-to-toe! It's basically a WIP story within a different era. When you got the likes of the fierily titillating Pam Grier and the ravishingly magnetic Margaret Markov sporting it out. You know you're in for a fulfilling appetizer! This gladiatorial stout supplies plenty of fleshy impulses and gets its hands dirty to invoke the gritty thrills and slimly sleaze. The barbaric attitude within the story superbly captures the gropingly seedy underbelly of the Roman Empire and that viscous instinct for survival to get on top. Simply what you see here is what you get. The women are the main centrepieces and director Steve Carver knew that by exploiting every opportunity. It does have its moments when some ponderous stretches creep in, but when the ladies get their gear on, it finally kicks into gear. The script is extremely leaden (with some corn riddled hokum) and there's not much in the way of character progression, while the performances on the other-hand go down rather well and trump in with a crackling rapport. The very capable Rosalba Neri pops in as the tantalizing ice-queen Cordelia. Lucretia Love and Paul Muller chip in with enjoyably campy performances.The glorious cycle of action is very well organised in some frenetic spurts and spanking scenes. The kinetically compact cinematography and a triumphantly heart-pounding music score demonstrated this energy. The atmosphere is paved on very convincingly and truly bait's the audience.You can't take any of it very seriously, as it can get rather goofy. Although for what it is, it's a well-made and acted piece that entertains.

This an interesting mixture of two very different kinds of exploitation film. On one hand, it's basically a Roger Corman women-in-prison film (complete with lots of showers, catfights, and a big bust-out at the end)featuring WIP regulars Pam Greir and Margaret Markhof. On the other hand, it is an Italian "peplum" that was reputedly largely directed by its Italian cinematographer Joe D'Amato and which also stars the luscious Italian actress Rosalba Neri (aka Sarah Bay) as the villianess making her return to the peplum dramas that had made her (semi)famous in the 1960's.As a Corman film it's not too bad. It has his usual trademark of faux feminism and gratuitous female nudity (by Grier, Markhof, and some of the other slave/prisoners)and it's very formulaic right down to the death of likable innocent(s) and the revenge plot at the end. Unfortunately, it's also a little too tame--it's certainly nowhere near as sleazy as what we've come to expect from the notorious Joe D. I was also personally disappointed at how much they wasted Neri. Not only does she not get naked (a lesbian scene with her and Grier or Markhof would certainly have been memorable), but as a villain she comes off kind of bland--not nearly what she showed she's capable of in films like "Amuck", "Top Sensation", and "Lady Frankenstein".I guess whether you like this or not will depend on whether you're more of a Corman and Grier fan (in which case it's pretty OK) or whether you're a D'Amato and Neri fan (in which case you'll probably be a little disappointed).