Gwendoline (The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak)

by Fuggy

Oh Tawny Kitaen!  Even before you were dancing on the hood of David Coverdale's Jag, before Witchboard, before Bachelor Party, before Crystal Heart (name check, anyone?), and long before you went totally batshit crazy, you appeared in Gwendoline, and it was good.

The only film I know that can claim to be based on a French bondage comic book, Gwendoline follows our heroine to the Far East, where she's kidnapped, saved, and then falls in with an cut-rate Indiana Jones wannabe named Willard (Brent Huff). That's just in the first five minutes! Turns out she and her maid Beth (played by Zabou, the French Didi Conn) have come to search for her father, an explorer who has gone lost tracking down a rare butterfly.

Gwendoline, Willard, and Beth go off into the land of the Yik Yak in search of the butterfly in a movie that's equal parts Indiana Jones ripoff, softcore comedy, and by the end of it, bondage and torture video. It's a giant mess, but it's a lot of fun. 

The Yik Yaks turn out to be an all-female, all thong-wearing tribe of women ruled by a stern queen who tortures misbehavers in a number of bondage devises that are straight out of the Marquis de Sade.   There's a lot of impalings in Yik Yak City—it's probably the number one cause of death. Willard is captured and suddenly the tables are turned—Gwendoline has to fight to save him, by battling three other Yik Yaks in leather bras and thongs in a bloody fight to the death.  Will Gwendoline learn how to kick ass in time to save her ornery and perpetually-stubbly lover? Rent the DVD and find out.

There's only T&A on display here, but there's a lot of it. With the exception of all the pervasive bondage aspects of the finale, nothing is too steamy here, except for an amazing scene where they're all captured and tied up (there's a lot of that going on), and Willard attempts to make love to Gwendoline from about a foot away, using only his phone sex techniques. The way it's played is super hot. You know, this is where the softcore genre truly earns its wings—in scenes like this that deliver steam, and yet no one actually takes their clothes off.

What more to say about the young Tawny Kitaen? She was one of the great sex symbols of the 80s, and this is her first movie and probably her sexiest. There were times that I was reminded of another future American softcore star who was also discovered by the French—Krista Allen, in the Emmanuelle movies/series. Based on the two of them alone, you'd have to say that the French definitely have an eye for beauty.

The DVD transfer is gorgeous, complete and in glorious widescreen.  Severin Films is the company re-releasing this, and just like the great Felicity re-release, they've done a remarkable job. The movie itself looks like a million bucks. The design of the sets and the costumes shows that the producers put a lot of money into it, and the director Just Jaeckin clearly knows what he's doing. After all, he directed the original Emmanuelle and the lesser known classic, The Story of O, starring Corinne Cleary. He should know sexy.

But maybe this movie isn't as sexy as those, nor is it nearly as good as the very similar Fruits of Passion (starring Klaus Kinski's hairy ass and balls), but it's still heads above most softcore films, and if you want an action movie thrown in for good measure, then this is for you. Too bad they don't spend this kind of money on softcore these days.

STILLS (click for larger image)