Blue Rita runs a nightclub and gases and kidnaps men there for her pleasure and torture.

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christopher-underwood from Greenwich - London
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Say what you like about old Jess, but he knew what he wanted from a film, and very often got it. Like with Blue Rita, barely enough budget to cover all the doors in tin foil or make the night club look very different from a waiting room, he got the girls, he got them to take off their clothes and he used lights and what props he had to make a ravishingly attractive piece of nonsense. Here is the most elegant of soft core movies that also includes the torture (albeit with green paint and promise/denial of sex) of gents in chains. Whole scenes are shot through fish tanks and although there is some sort of spy plot-line,it makes no sense so can be completely ignored.

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pikhal020 from United States
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This film seems very much like a largely improvised affair to get from one soft-core nudity scene to the next. Some of the dialogue scenes, as one example, have the characters' mouths intentionally obscured, undoubtedly to maximize flexibility in dubbing in lines when that part of the script was actually written later on! The FX are also quite laughable, even for the time. Yet the whole experience has a strange allure to it partly due to the surreality of the semi comprehensible plot and partly due to some truly dazzling psychedelic visuals. The scenes in the jazzy strip club are just amazing, as is the costume design! The naked flesh on display is sumptuous.

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tiemewoudstra from Netherlands
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During the 70' Jess Franco made lots of exploitation films with different success. Blue Rita is one of Jess Frano's finest efforts, because of Franco's great cinematography with many colorful scenes and carefully created atmospheric sets. Many of the scenes have a psychedelic touch and the music score is great.

The storyline is kind of absurd, which should be expected by fans of Jesus Franco, involving soft erotic club performances combined with secret agency's and creative torture methods. Somehow the style feels like a combination of Succubus and Ilsa and the Wicked Warden, without the pseudo philosophy of Succubus, focusing on the atmosphere.

For me this feels like one of Franco's most inspired movies and belongs to his best efforts. The overall rating may be lowered because of the many soft erotic scenes and the hard-to-follow / incoherent storyline, but for those who seek great original atmosphere like only Jess Franco could, this is a must see. The German spoken version should be preferred.

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MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta
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After a four-month hiatus, I returned to Jess Franco territory once more with a DVD rental of BLUE RITA (1977). In fact, the owner of my local DVD outlet recently purchased Anchor Bay UK's 8-Disc Franco collection while in London and, needless to say, I was immediately attracted by these titles – despite the censor-imposed cuts on a number of them – since I had only previously watched two films from that set, namely uncut (albeit dubbed and full-frame) versions of LOVE LETTERS OF A Portuguese NUN (1977) and SEXY SISTERS (1977).

I must say that I was pretty surprised by the fact that BLUE RITA – and, I assume, the other titles as well – sports English subtitles on the original German-language version, which is obviously the preferred way to watch it! This fact, however, has angered me quite a bit as I had ordered the discounted R1 edition of JACK THE RIPPER (1976; from Image, and whose German version is not subtitled) only recently…and, unfortunately, this shipped just a couple of days before I rented the BLUE RITA disc!!

As for the film itself, I was rather let down by it: in all probability, a Franco title from his Swiss period was not the ideal way to reacquaint myself with the director's work, especially since the last film I watched had been the rather experimental NIGHTMARES COME AT NIGHT (1970)! Most reviews I've encountered mention the film's bizarre decor and garish color scheme – not to mention the wacky plot – among its assets but, really, I found the film's overall style thoroughly flat and the situations so repetitive and uninvolving (as if the director's heart wasn't quite in it) that it hardly matters that it is actually good to look at! The cast, apart from Pamela Stanford (who, disappointingly, is given little to do here), is rather second-rate on this occasion – especially Martine Flety, who didn't make much of an impression as the title figure – and, in fact, only Dagmar Burger (!) as the counter-agent Sun emerged with some measure of dignity! Of course, similarly to SEXY SISTERS, the film obviously doesn't take itself at all seriously and the numerous would-be torture sequences and an awkwardly-staged brawl provide nonstop hilarity throughout!! As for the nudity, well, there's plenty of it (from both sexes!) but it's never really erotic…but then this IS an exploitation piece after all!

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gridoon
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"Blue Rita" is more or less what you'd expect from a Jess Franco film: very explicit - very kinky - very strange - very incoherent - very bad. The plot, as far as I could say, is about some Parisian strippers who double as secret agents: they kidnap enemy (whose enemy? Never mind) spies and use sexual torture methods to make them "talk". To give Franco credit, the production design is colorful and the cinematography is often striking. But the editing is incompetent and the pace is deadly. What puzzles me is how Franco convinced so many young women in his films to bare everything and be treated as pieces of meat by the camera, but I guess the men don't come off much better either. Still, if you just want to stare at naked women on the screen "Blue Rita" will do the job....but so will many other AND better films. (*1/2)

spy|rape|double agent|strip club|gas|kidnapping|blood|torture|

AKAs Titles:


Certifications:
Germany:BPjM Restricted / UK:18 / West Germany:18