Product Details

• Actors: Dyanne Thorne
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Surround Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rating: X (Mature Audiences Only)
• Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: April 6, 2004
• Run Time: 283 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001LJCRU
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,831 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Ilsa Collection (She Wolf of the SS/Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks/The Wicked Warden)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Once you've made love with a Gerrrrrrrrrrrrrman woman!, April 27, 2004

By	Roule Duke (the Green Inferno) - See all my reviews

Dyanne Thorne's Ilsa is somewhat of a classic and beloved exploitation character and AnchorBay has put together a solid and extremely good value DVD collection of Ilsa films.

The Nazi exploitation or Naziploitation film genre can be traced back to the early film "The Night Porter" and in typical 70's European film fashion was pushed to limits with films like "Love Camp 7", "Gestapo's Last Orgy", "Beast in Heat" and the epic "Salon Kitty" and various Ilsa clone films like "Desert Foxes" and "Elsa-Fraulien of the SS". These charming films surely offended some people and many of them were banned in some countries.

"Ilsa-She Wolf of the SS" proved that American film makers could come up with an equally political incorrect product. Interestingly "She Wolf" was shot on the set used for tv show "Hogan's Heroes" after the show was cancelled and instead of Col Klink, we have Ilsa as camp commandant. The story is basic: women prisoners are brought in (and stripped for inspection), Ilsa performs experients on them (while they are mostly naked) with her two assistants (hot women who also get naked) later Ilsa helps herself to the male prisoners who are castrated afterwards. Hilariously campy German accents, corny lines (particularly by the male prisoner hero), slightly gorey scenes and of course gratuidous nudity ensure.

"She Wolf" became a classic and three sequels followed, despite the fact Ilsa dies. The second disc is "Ilsa-Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks". Replace the two arian assistants from "She Wolf" with sexy black sisters and the women prisoners with new captives for the Harem and theres not much difference between "She Wolf" and "Harem". Even Sharon Kelly who played a prisoner in the first film returns as a harem recruit, she's the cute woman with red hair and not just on her head ;)

"Ilsa-the Wicked Warden" is the odd film out as it is actually Jess Franco's knock off which was originally called "Greta, the Mad Butcher" and in this one Dyanne Thorne plays the warden of a south American girl's prison?! Of course Franco's wife Lina Romay is featured and it has all the classic women in prison type happenings, shower scenes, torture ect.

The quality of this set is amazing, it is AnchorBay of course, with the superior Audio/Visual quality we've come to expect from the company and even DVD commentaries featuring Dyanne Thorne herself (she is surprisingly witty and charming). The only fault one could possibly fiind with the set is the fact that it doesn't contain "Ilsa-Tigeress of Siberia". Why is that commrade?

Overall a great purchase, Thank You AnchorBay!!!

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ilsa: Sex, sleaze and sadism personified., May 19, 2004

By	B-Movie Nightmares "obsessed with cinematic c... (Sparks, NV United States) - See all my reviews

Let me start by saying that Duke's review is totally accurate, and I really have nothing helpful to add to what he said. This review is written from the point of view of someone who had never seen one of the Ilsa movies before I bought the set, so people who are new to these sleazefests may be able to relate.

From what I've heard and read, these movies are textbook examples of 70's grindhouse cinema the likes of which would play in the crime-infested movie houses of NYC's 42nd Street. Watching these films, you can almost feel yourself in the front row of the theatre smelling the marijuana smoke, hoping you don't get mugged, and wondering what exactly those weird sounds are emanating from the rows behind you. In other words, these movies are gutter sleaze that go directly for the shocks and titillation.

Ilsa is played by Dyanne Thorne. For anyone unfamiliar with this actress (as I was), let me just say I was mighty impressed with her talents, both talents to be exact. This was before breast implants were the norm, which adds on extra points for her being a "natural."

The first in the series, Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS is the best of the three. Talk about sick! Basically I would describe all three films as softcore 70's sex with gore and torture scenes, with She Wolf being the most extreme. The films do have plots, but the storylines are almost incidental to the shocking scenes featured within. She Wolf had the most blood and gore, so as a horror fan I appreciated it the most.

Next up is Ilsa: Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks. It's pretty amusing how the Ilsa character was updated from WW2 times to the oil-starved 1970's without blinking an eye (or aging). There is really no explanation given for this, which adds to the campy fun. Sheik El Sharif is played by Victor Alexander, who is actually Spalding "Swimming to Cambodia" Gray! I was surprised to see that this favorite of the 1980's-90's college spoken word circuit used to play in sleazy softcore films. There's a little more story here than in the first film, weak though it may be. I thought the Kissinger-parody character "Kaiser" was pretty funny myself. Not as much gore and sadism as the first film, but still worth checking out.

Finally, there's Ilsa: The Wicked Warden directed by the legendary Jess Franco. From the little I heard of the audio commentary, it seems that Dyanne Thorne and co-star Howard Maurer were told beforehand that this was definitely NOT an Ilsa movie, but during shooting it became painfully apparent the filmmakers were intending for it to be an (unofficial) part of the series. Maurer theorizes that this may have been for financial reasons, specifically to avoid paying for the use of the name and the character. It ran under many titles, including Greta: The Mad Butcher and Wanda: The Wicked Warden. Conveniently, Thorne's character remains nameless as the head of a "therapeutic" prison-clinic for female sex offenders where the inmates all wear shirts but no pants or underwear (!!!!). Out of the three, this one was the most erotic due to the constant nudity, including two shower scenes and one with a great catfight featuring the luscious Lina Romay. Again, a throwaway storyline but lots of amusing dubbed acting and terrible dialogue. The final scene was similar to the ending of Blood Sucking Freaks; in fact if you liked that movie you will probably dig this box set as well.

Unfortunately there's no Ilsa: Tigress of Siberia included here to round out the series. From what I've heard that film is by far the weakest of the four. Like the Wicked Warden, Thorne's character was never referred to as Ilsa, so it was another attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the first two films. Maybe Anchor Bay could release a DVD edition of Tigress with a bonus disc of a Dyanne Thorne biography/scrapbook, for all us collector nerds out there? Wishful thinking, I know.

To sum it up, if you're considering buying any of the Ilsa films you might as well go for the box set. All three are worth seeing, and if you compare the price of buying the movies separately versus the set price, it's a no-brainer.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ilsa's outrages, times three, August 25, 2005

By	Jeffrey Leach (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The first film in the Ilsa series, "Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS," stands as one of the most horrific exploitation films ever made. Even I blanched over the atrocities depicted in the movie. Moreover, it's a rare bird as far as films go because it never loses its power to shock. In fact, I think the first Ilsa movie becomes even more disgusting with each subsequent viewing. Apparently, audiences flipped their cookies after seeing the movie at the drive-in. Word of mouth led to bigger ticket sales, which in turn led to thoughts about a sequel. If you've seen "She-Wolf," you know the idea of a sequel is laughable since Ilsa took a header at the end of the movie. But the wacky world of cinema knows no bounds when the scent of money is in the air, and even the demise of a primary character won't prevent Hollywood hacks from revisiting old ground. Remember the Bobby Ewing dream sequence imbroglio? If they can get away with something that outrageous, resurrecting the deceased Ilsa presents no problem at all. Thus a sequel to the first "Ilsa" film arrived on the scene in 1976. Two other films would follow before the series ground to an ignominious end. Thanks to Anchor Bay and the DVD revolution, Ilsa has returned from the grave to haunt us once again.

Set in the waning days of the Second World War, "Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS" unfolds in a medical camp where the brutal commander Ilsa (Dyanne Thorne) and her busty minions wreak havoc on a bevy of female prisoners. There are a few guys around too, mostly to act as boy toys for Ilsa's ravenous appetites. Ilsa's supposed to be conducting experiments on helpless prisoners that will benefit the German military effort, but she's got disturbing side project going on as well. According to the She-Wolf, women possess certain biological characteristics that make them more resistant to pain then men. You can almost guess what happens next: Ilsa sets aside a hidden little laboratory in the basement of her office to test out her personal theories while the approved experiments take place in another building. Both sets of trials are excruciating to watch. The Germans test the effects of high pressure, boiling temperatures, and diseases on the female inmates of the prison. Down in the basement, Ilsa and her two blonde goons strip down to the waist in order to administer severe beatings to selected troublemakers. There's a lot more I could detail, but believe it or not these are the least offensive scenes in the movie. "Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS" is sick, sick stuff.

"Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks" takes place in the Middle East many years after World War II. This time around Dyanne Thorne isn't strutting around in a German uniform. Instead, she wears khaki garb in the service of the wealthy but morally depraved Sheik El Sharif (Victor Alexander). The oil wealth in this little kingdom gives the monarch plenty of time to indulge in decidedly unsavory activities, and it is Ilsa who serves as his main honcho. She procures the girls, develops the torture implements, and helps run a tight ship around the palace with the help of Velvet (Marilyn Joi) and Satin (Tanya Boyd), two scantily clad thugettes with some mean karate skills. The latest scheme cooked up by Ilsa and the sheik involves kidnapping several wealthy white women (one played by Uschi Digard) in order to make money in a slavery racket. They figure they can sell these women to some of the powerful local sheiks and thus keep El Sharif's enemies pacified. But just as Ilsa's powerful appetites for men undid her in the first film, the same thing happens here when a spy named Commander Adam (Mark Thayer) of the U.S. Navy pops in to say hello. What follows is sleazy sickness, exploitation style.

Dyanne Thorne again reprises her role as a sadistic torturer of young women in Jess Franco's "Ilsa, the Wicked Warden," but this time she's hamming it up somewhere in South America as the head kook at a clinic for female degenerates. The plot is the equivalent of crayon scribbling by a three year old: a young woman escapes from this clinic, receives mortal wounds during the escape attempt, and manages to tell her story to a local physician before dying (Or does she?). This man, Dr. Milton Arcos (Jess Franco himself!) tries to goad the authorities into launching an investigation into the clinic. Nothing much happens at a public committee meeting, but a young woman named Abbie Phillips (Tania Busselier) accosts Arcos in the parking lot afterwards. She's the sister of the aforementioned victim, also a journalist, and she wants Arcos to help her infiltrate the clinic in order to bring the evildoers to justice. Like I said, a three year old with a box of crayons likely crafted the script. It's not like the plot is all that important; it serves merely as the most tenuous of threads with which Franco can tie together his usual penchant for nudity, depraved violence, and ham fisted dialogue. One thing is for certain: "Ilsa, the Wicked Warden" easily maintains the sleaze factor established in the first two films.

Sick films, all of them, although the law of diminishing returns is apparent in these three pictures. Anchor Bay treats them all with respect, however, by giving us commentary tracks on each disc. It's well worth your time to listen to these insights on the films, as all three are full of humor and intriguing remarks about the agony and ecstasy of low budget filmmaking. My only quibble with the set is the absence of the fourth Ilsa film, called "Ilsa, Tigress of Siberia." To my knowledge, this entry in the series has yet to appear on DVD. Anyway, give these a shot if you love sleaze cinema; they're practically required viewing for exploitation lovers.