Product Details

• Actors: Tawny Kitaen, Brent Huff, Zabou Breitman, Bernadette Lafont, Jean Rougerie
• Directors: Just Jaeckin
• Writers: Just Jaeckin, Jean-Luc Voulfow, John Willie
• Producers: Jean-Claude Fleury, Serge Laski
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302034965
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,871 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

So bad it's good, the notorious Gwendoline is one of those outrageously entertaining camp classics that will be enjoyed long after thousands of "better" movies have faded into obscurity. Loosely adapted from John Willie's pioneering 1940s comic strip "The Adventures of Sweet Gwendoline," and directed with good-natured humor by French softcore specialist Just Jaekin (Emmanuelle, The Story of O), this delirious dose of mainstream erotica plays like a sexy parody of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone. In his own audacious fashion, Jaekin was attempting an ambitious, good-looking adventure with above-average production values, but Gwendoline owes its "bad movie" cult status to its cheesy combination of globe-hopping scenery, tacky sets, hopelessly wretched dialogue, laughably awful acting, and a constant parade of beautiful women, either half-naked or scantily clad in outrageous S&M costumes. The film is also notorious for being the screen debut of Tawny Kitaen (shortly before she appeared with Tom Hanks Bachelor Party), who brings a breathtaking lack of talent (and a very hot body) to her title role as Gwendoline, a scrappy stowaway who arrives in China on a quest to find her missing father, who'd ventured into remote jungles in search of a rare and beautiful butterfly.

Joined by hunky mercenary Willard (Brent Huff) and her loopy friend Beth (played by French model/actress Zabou), Gwendoline survives a variety of absurdly amusing obstacles (including one very phony-looking alligator) until they eventually reach the land of the Yik Yak, an Amazonian slave-culture consisting entirely of slim, sexy women! Through it all, Jaekin's image of women is a source of constant fascination: When they're not kicking ass or running around topless, Kitaen and Zabou act like helpless, virginal airheads who need a man to survive, and Gwendoline plays out like an adolescent wet dream. With a climactic chariot chase that must be seen to be believed, it's all so ridiculous that you can't help but be entertained, and Jaekin's 106-minute, French-language director's cut contains several action scenes that were cut for the film's English-dubbed 88-minute American version, released (and available separately) as The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD
Jaekin's original cut has been spectacularly restored for this Severin Films DVD release, with both French and English audio tracks and a delightful commentary by Jaekin with journalist/author Tony Crawley and Frederick Levier, former contributor to Starfix, a French magazine devoted to fantastic films; their unabashed enthusiasm for the film makes this commentary an unexpected treat. Also included: a 24-minute video interview with Jaekin, in which he discusses the production history of Gwendoline; a 10-photo gallery of Tawny Kitaen from the French softcore magazine Lui; and a fascinating vintage audio interview with Sweet Gwendoline creator John Willie, from the archives of sex-research pioneer Dr. Alfred Kinsey. Kudos to Severin Films for including these high-quality bonus features with a film that many consider one of the "worst" of the 1980s! One caveat, however: Why not include the American cut Perils of Gwendoline on a second disc, instead of as a separate DVD release? --Jeff Shannon

Mr. Skin

"FOUR STARS!"

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY!!, October 31, 2006

By 

D. Roberts "Hadrian12" (Battle Creek, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gwendoline - Unrated Director's Cut (aka - The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak) (DVD)

I have been wanting to pick up this obscure movie for years, ever since I first watched it some 12 years ago. Unfortunately, up until now it has been out of print - even on VHS. I was un-willing to pay an obnoxious price for a used version on Video tape. Now there is no reason to fret any more: Gwendoline is here & she's on DVD!!!

The original title of the film was The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak. It is basically a low-budget INDIANA JONES type of adventure movie, only with a whole lot more erotica mixed in. One could say there are elements of Monty Python as well. Brent Huff plays a Harrison Ford wannabe. He has a great physique for an adventure movie, but he's not a particularly good actor. The third major character is Gwendoline's sidekick / friend, Beth (played by French actress Zabou).

The overwhelming reason to buy this DVD may be summed up in 3 words: Tawny Kitaen topless! While she has stripped down in a few other movies (such as WITCHBOARD), one needs to have the pause button on the DVD remote handy to get a good look. Not so with this film. She is topless throughout most of the 2nd half of the film - and that's a very good thing!!!

I can't for the life of me understand why Tawny has not had a more robust acting career or why she didn't make many more movies. For one thing, there have not been too many female redhead movie stars. Tawny is gorgeous and there are a few scenes in this film where she is absolutely ravishing - to the extent that she took my breath away. She is also a better actress than a great many women in Hollywood.

To be sure, this is a very corny movie. Tawny and Zabou are good actors; the rest of the cast are all a bit stilted. I believe it was originally in French as the people all suffer from dubbing-man's disease. However, it is also a very fun movie, and I had forgotten just how cute Zabou is.

So, if you are even a remote fan of Tawny Kitaen you need to JUMP at the opportunity to buy this one. It's a feel good movie and Tawny is the one who will making you feel good!

89 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ADAPTATION OF EROTIC ADVENTURE COMIC MISSES THE POINT, April 27, 2001

By 

Zorikh Lequidre "Zorikh" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Despite what Leonalrd Maltin says, this film, though a French production, is based on a comic strip created in America by an English-Australian, John Coutts (aka John Willie), which first appeared in his amusingly erotic fetish publication "Bizarre" in the late '40's-early'50's. The title was "The Adventures of Sweet Gwendoline" and has recently been released in a deluxe hardcover collection. The original story involved the heroine constantly getting captured by the villains trying to prevent a horse from being run in a race to save the family farm, and a mysterious bob-cut agent keeps on helping her out. The whole point of the comic and its sequels appears to be showing impossibly sexy women in bondage and sexy clothing. This film keeps the names of some of the characters, borrows some concepts from "Bizarre," and does put the heroine in perilous predicaments, but basically goes its own way in theme and story.

In the film, our 1930's heroine, along with her faithful French maid (who wears the bob-cut), are seeking a rare butterfly that her late entymologist father disappeared trying to find. Their adventures take them to a steamy, slimy, decadent Asian port city where they meet a tough, world weary, cynical mercenary who rescues them from an unscrupulous gangster. They travel through jungles and deserts meeting cannibals, river pirates, and other dangers, until they find a hidden civilization of women. To say what happens next would give away too much and besides, the shock of the bizzarre is half the fun of the movie. Suffice it to say that there is much nudity and various forms of imprisonment, bondage, restraint, and gladiatorial combat (even a human-powered chariot race). It is all very French it its creation of scenes, locations, and cultures. It's as if certain elements of old movies that were done but not considered very important really caught the imagination of French fimakers and now they were trying to create their own version.

Many of the actors obviously were not speaking English during filming, and its pretty obvious that the film was completely dubbed. This does get a little distracting.

This movie plays occasionally on TV, where every bare breast must be edited out. This makes the end of the film very choppy. To make up for this lost time, the TV version includes some extra dialogue that makes the character development slightly more believable, and some extra footage that adds some comedy. The video tape lacks this dialogue and footage.

Old fans of the comic probably already know this film exists, it having recieved a lot of attention from the bondage and fetish community. New fans of the comic curious about this film should be warned that the style and frequency of the bondage and restraint is very different from the comic; focused a lot more on the wierd sci-fi dungeon aesthetic and mostly in the last quarter of the movie, rather than the traditional damsel-in-distress style. This was one of Tawney Kitaen's first movies and the filmakers wanted her so much they were willing to scale down the sex and bondage to please her.

Few people would call this a "good" movie, though many people would enjoy it. If you want an actual "good" movie, subtract one star from this review. However, ther is plenty of stuff that will make an audience react: nudity, violence, blood, corny dialogue, bad dubbing, great production value, etc. If you enjoy this sort of thing, add a star.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a hoot, February 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak [VHS] (VHS Tape)

About 20 years ago my friend and i went to see this, we had no idea what to expect. It was rated R. But judging from the audience of 10 people, no one had noticed. A family of 4 with 2 young kids and a old couple are what I remember. Well, the film was not for them and they were awfully quiet, but we were laughing ourselves silly since it's such a goof. I think that it would help to get lit before watching it. I just bought it and await my trip down memory lane.