Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: Women Behind Bars Part V: Nightmares, Hell Holes, and Jungles

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Let's All Go To The Movies: 

Women Behind Bars Part V: 

Nightmares, Hell Holes, and Jungles

Today's Let's All Go To The Movies selections are all one part exploitation to every three parts terror.

Yes, our ladies behind bars are indeed in peril, trapped in nightmares, hell holes and jungles, but nothing so treacherous that they need bother with clothing.

Their need to escape, eminent. Their safety, jeopardized Their desire to run about in panties an bras, a commercial necessity.

So, let's strip it down to the bare facts, and take a look at these scandalous, scanty-of-panties films.   

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Love Camp 7

(1969)

"All the youthful beauties of Europe enslaved for the pleasure of the 3rd Reich."

"We guarantee you that you will not live long enough to forget the things you witness and experience inside."

(A Nazi prison camp holds a famous female Jewish scientist prisoner at a concentration camp, where the female inmates serve as sex slaves and are subjected to humiliating treatment, torture and rape. Two brave female Army agents, put their lives at risk, going undercover in order to infiltrate the camp and get needed information from the scientist.)

(Regarded as a cult classic, it represents the start of exploitation films about women in prison, popularized during the 1970's. It is also marks the beginning of the genre known as  Nazisploitation films.) 

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Hell House Girls

(1969)

AKA: The Smashing Bird I Used To Know/School For Unclaimed Girls

(While it contains bits of social commentary and psychological drama, the film is chiefly remembered as a sexploitation picture with lots of nudity augmented by an occasional attempted rape and bouts of lesbianism.)

"A schoolgirl trapped in a nightmare of sex, violence, lesbianism and guilt."

"Nicki was a nice girl. And that was quite the most disturbing thing about her."

(Released in the US in 1973, it was initially retitled by American International Pictures as School for Unclaimed Girls. A year later they reissued it as as Hell House for Girls.)

A perfumed zoo for teenage she-cats!

"One step up from the gutter and one kiss away from jail!"

(Features the screen debut of Lesley-Anne Down who was 15 years old at the time.)

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The Hot Box

(1972)

AKA: Amazon Hot Box/Woman Hunt

"Ravaged... Savaged... licked by the fiery tongues of..."

"A tropical torture chamber where anything can happen."

"Their guns are hot and their bodies are hard."

(Inmates break out of a women's prison and start a local revolution, resulting in hot, lusty action in a steamy tropical jungle.)

(Co-written by Jonathan Demme of Silence Of The Lambs fame, the movie features Laurie Rose, AKA: adult film performer Misty Dawn, who was once the wife of porn superstud John Holmes.)

"Women are made for man... to hunt!"

"Set your sights on the tastiest game of all."

(Actress Andrea Cagan went on to become a popular ghostwriter, co-authoring and editing biographies and books for Diana Ross, Marianne Williamson, Joan Lunden, Victoria Jackson, Grace Slick. Three of her books hit the #1 slot on the New York Times Bestsellers list.)

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Female Prisoner 101: Hell Of Sexual Emotion

(1976)

(Explores the eccentricities and oddities of a group of female prisoners. A popular cult film in Japan.)

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Nightmare In Badham County

(1976)

"Two young girls on holiday are terrorized at a women's prison farm."

(This is actually an American television movie which became so popular in China that actress Deborah Raffin was invited to tour the country. She went on to become a sort of Hollywood ambassador to China, helping to broker entertainment contracts between the US and China.)

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Human Experiments

(1979)

AKA: Beyond The Gate

"A journey into terror and madness!"

(Inmates at this women's prison are subjected to gruesome shock therapy experiments at the hands of a demented doctor. This features quite the cast: Geoffrey Lewis - father of Juliette Lewis - as the mad doctor, plus Ellen Travolta, Jackie Coogan, and Aldo Ray!) 

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Escape From Hell 

(1980)

AKA: Hell Prison/I'm Coming Your Way/Femmine Infernali

(A women's prison camp, located deep in the tropical rain forest, where sadistic guards make life hell for the inmates. The camp doctor, traumatized by what he sees, drinks the horror away. The inmates eventually rise up and enlist the sympathetic doctors help in order to escape.)

(The film features Ajita Wilson, a transsexual actress who starred in exploitation and hardcore porn films throughout the 1970's and 80's. She died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 37.)

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The Concrete Jungle

(1982)

"Behind these bars everybody belongs to someone."

"...a true prison story!"

 (Facing three years in prison, after being set up by her cocaine smuggling boyfriend, a young woman must fight to survive in a hell hole ruled by a corrupt warden and vicious inmates.)

(Another genre film by director Tom DeSimone who made a name for himself directing gay porn, this one features the lovely Jill St. John, soap actress Tracey E. Bregman, and Star Trek fave, the multi-talented BarBara Luna. Luna has a long list of movie, television and Broadway credits.)  

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Hell Penitentiary

(1984)

(Her search for a witness to her sister's murder leads a medical student to a women's prison which she manages to infiltrate. Once inside, she begins asking questions - too many questions for the comfort of the warden and the guards. With violent inmates and corrupt official all around her, her life grows more at risk with each passing day.) 

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Jungle Warriors

(1984)

AKA: The Czar of Brazil

"A drug empire in the amazon jungle. An army guards it. The Mafia wants it. And seven beautiful models are held prisoner inside it."

(While scouting locations for a photo shoot, a group of models' plane is shot down in the jungles of South America. They're captured by a local drug baron's private army and kept prisoner. Then, a representative of the Mafia arrives to negotiate future business dealings with the drug baron... and all hell breaks loose.) 

(Starring B-movie queen Sybil Danning, whose career came to an abrupt halt in 1990 when she injured her back while practicing a stunt for a film. She removed herself from the industry and stayed away until 2004, when she agreed to appear at a fan convention, where she was so overwhelmed by the public's desire that she return to acting that she did just that - appearing in a number of films and television shows before retiring again, in 2010.)

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Hellhole

(1985)

"They had to get out of hellhole..."

(After being attacked by a hired killer, a young woman loses her memory. Admitted to a mental asylum, she finds herself at the mercy of a cruel female doctor who performs lobotomies on her patients. Circumstances grow even grimmer when the man who attacked her is hired as part of the staff.)

"Captives... stripped naked, forced to submit to the ultimate experiment!"

"Pray they don't succeed!"

(I must see this one. It stars one of my favorite personalities, Judy Landers. She and her sister, Audrey made quite the splash in the 1970's. It was hard to say which one was more talented. They even appeared on the cover of Playboy! The sisters remain one of my guiltiest pleasures from late 1970's to mid 1980's show biz.)

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And that's all for today!

Tune in next week.

Same time, same channel.

Hell Hole - Spinal Tap

Who Did It Better? I Feel For You

Who Did It Better? 

I Feel For You

Some songs are born before their time. Take today's Who Did It Better? selection, for example. It took five years for sound and song to sync up, creating a megahit for one lucky vocalist. In the five years that preceded her interpretation, three other artists, one of them the song's writer, all took a swing at it. 

But only one of the four had what it took to make it an international bestseller.

Let's take a look at a how they all compare.

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I Feel for You is a song written by Prince which originally appeared on his 1979 self-titled second album. 

He originally wrote it, along with what was to become his first major hit single, I Wanna Be Your Lover, for musician Patrice Rushen (Forget Me Nots.) However, she declined to record either of the songs, so, Prince recorded them for his own album, which was released in October of 1979.

In 1982, The Pointer Sisters were still working toward creating their breakout album. Now a trio, they'd been working with arranger/producer Richard Perry, successfully honing their sound, for a number albums, relying, in part, on his taste in music. Perry felt I Feel For You was a good fit for the ladies, so they recorded a version for their I'm So Excited! album. 

Rebbie Jackson, the eldest child in that fabled musical family, was in the process of putting together her debut album. I Feel For You was on the list and made the cut. Produced by Wayne Henderson, it was included on her 1984 album, Centipede. 

Enter Chaka Khan.

With Melle Mel, from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five laying down rhymes, Stevie Wonder on harmonica, and legendary producer Arif Mardin on board this recorded moment almost seemed too good to be true. Add to that a sample lifted from Wonder's 1963 hit Fingertips - and how could they possibly miss?

Included on Khan's 1984 album of the same name and released as a single, her version sold more than one million copies in the US and UK, helping to reestablish Khan as a certified hitmaker. It peaked at #3 in the US for three weeks - kept from the #1 slot by Prince's own Purple Rain and Wham!'s debut single, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. It did, however,  manage to snag the #1 spot on both the US Dance and R&B charts. In the UK, it held down the #1 slot for three weeks in November of 1984. 

Khan's version of the song went on to win two Grammy Awards; for Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Oh, and that distinctive signature opening?  Where Melle Mel repeats Khan's name over and over? Yeah. That was an accident, one committed by producer Arif Mardin. But he was so happy with the result? 

He kept it.

And that's the whole story.

Now? On to the competition.

The Song: I Feel For You

The Competitors: Prince vs. The Pointer Sisters vs. Jackson vs. Khan

I Feel For You - Prince

I Feel For You - The Pointer Sisters

I Feel For You - Rebbie Jackson

I Feel For You - Chaka Khan

Prince

So... that intro? 

Nothing I expected. 

It sounds like the morning theme for Wake Up, Cincinnati!

Yes, that is some cheesy stuff. 

And in comes Prince with his signature falsetto, multi-tracked, sounding... very much like Prince. The hand claps are fun.

That cheesy synth is killing this for me. I would love to hear a mix without it. And there is actually an acoustic mix that he recorded that was found in the vault and released (see below.)

Prince is in fine form. But between that cheesy synth and the one that sounds like an accordion taking focus on the chorus? 

By the way... if it sounds 'slight,' there are a number of reasons for that. 

First - it's 1979. Recording technology had only come so far. 

Second - everything you hear is Prince; he wrote, produced, and played all the instruments with a tiny bit of assistance from Bobby Z and Andre' Cymone.

Third - it was sort of a rush job! You see, Prince had spent twice what he was supposed to recording his debut album, For You. It failed to spin off a sizeable hit, so Warner Bros. wanted new product, quickly. This whole album was recorded in a couple of weeks time.

Now that I've equated that synth sound to a television show theme - that's all I hear. Especially on that instrumental bridge. It's a great song, though.

I love the 'whoah-a-whoah-a-whoah' build up. But then we get a flatulent sounding solo? I think it's an actual trumpet. Love the bass work. 

At the 2:30 mark? I'm done.

Oh, but then he goes and starts getting all creative. Very fun play out. 

Never doubt Prince.

Rather surprised this was not released as a single. It would have worked in 1979. 

Limited. A bit cheesy. But tasty.

Did you know that Chaka and Prince toured together at one point and would perform this as a duet?

You do now.

The Pointer Sisters

Well, the cheesiness factor has been kept in place. I was hoping for something with more bite. 

WOW. Who cares about that intro. Those ladies kill. Man, that is a gorgeous sound. LOVE the harmonies. So damn tight. 

Ruth is holding down the bottom. 

I have to say, I'm surprised by how common the arrangement sounds. Richard Perry typically brings a great deal of personal style to the proceedings. The ladies are carrying this on their own - and very well, I might add. 

I like the horn chart, but there's something about the mix that's not right. There's too much occasional conflict, too much competition. I think some elements in the arrangement need to excised and others knobbed a tad lower, so they support rather than overwhelm. 

And the instrumental break is just as cheesy as Prince's; yet another Top Of The Morning, Ohio theme song.

Considering the ladies can sing the phone book in three part harmony... why is there so much instrumental nonsense taking center stage? 

I'd rather hear them vocalize these instrumental parts than listen to these flat-ass synths. Perry, who is typically better than this, has relegated our dynamic trio to the role of back-up singers on their own damn album. 

Once again, the play out is fun - out of balance, but fun. I would have brought the ladies back into focus rather than that annoying synth. 

A missed opportunity.

Rebbie Jackson

Best intro so far... that's not saying much.

Way up tempo. Strips all the soulful R&B vibe out of it. It's too damn peppy.

So, Rebbie. Not much of a voice. Not a great deal of color to it, or shading. She doesn't purr. More like a squawk. 

She's cute on the chorus though. 'I think I love you.' 

I like the faux hand claps. The tempo is a bit breathless. The arrangement sure is bright. 

I do appreciate the cleanliness. But Rebbie does not possess the pipes to dig into this song.

Interesting vocal choices on the ramp up to the...

Guitar solo? Blink. Blink.

And boom. It's Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

Well, Rebbie will stand it for only so long. In she comes. All sorts of fun ideas. I'm not saying this is not without its charms. 

She reminds me very much of Vanity, of Vanity 6, Prince's girl group. Vanity was also his girlfriend and was supposed to be his co-star in Purple Rain, but... they had a fight, or something... maybe drugs? Anyway, she, too, had a very limited vocal range, with little color to her voice... so it makes sense that Wayne Henderson went this route.

It's cute. It sort of satisfies. 

Chaka Khan

Nope. Not breaking this one down. Sorry... it is such a classic. 

Like we didn't know how this was gonna go from the get go?

This sucker just rips.

Chaka is in such fine form here. And not so much a singer as... a force of nature.

The woman is the element of fire. She's an instrument, filling all space and time. 

Everything about this is jaw-droppingly amazing. The timing. The cuts. The beats. The mix

It's masterful, Arif Mardin at his best. A perfect marriage of of all the various elements. 

And so much fun. It's ageless. 

The Verdict

So, this was fun.

It was nice to trace this song's path.

I think The Pointer Sister's version is a missed opportunity. Those ladies are so deep and tight. With a funkier, sparser arrangement, and allowed to vocalize themselves into a frenzy, I think they could have had something there. I blame Perry, who played it too close to the original and didn't think outside the box. Prince had already moved on to far funkier sounds by 1982, so why Perry didn't pick up on that? Well, I have no clue. 

Prince's version sounds like something concocted in a bedroom studio. His one-man-band approach may have saved time and money, but it did not do justice to this song. His version sounds like a padded out demo.

And Rebbie? It's cute. Like Anita Ward's Ring My Bell is cute... until it becomes annoying and wears out its welcome. 

Chaka got the hit because Chaka's got 'it.' 

The woman, at that point in her career, simply blew other vocalists out of the water. Given the right material, arrangement and mix? Ain't nothin' she couldn't do. 

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And that's enough of me.

Okay, your turn. Leave your thoughts and choice in the comments section. Love to hear what you hear.

Until next time...

Thanks for reading... and listening!

I Feel For You - Chaka Khan

I Feel For You - Prince

(Acoustic Demo)

Wonderland Burlesque's Back To School, Fool Quiz - Part I

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Back To School, Fool Quiz

Part I

Yay! All the screaming children are back in classrooms where they belong and I, for one (along with their parents) couldn't be happier.

For today's quiz, we look back on our own illustrious school careers, hitting every topic I could think of - which is why there are two parts - as I am feeling lazy and only want to answer six questions at a time.

Today? You get to grade yourself. College? High School? Grade School?

How did you do? What are your current skills?

Did you have a favorite teacher in that given subject? Perhaps one who inspired/one who frightened?

Let's take it one topic at a time!

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1/ English/Grammar/Punctuation/Writing

My current approach to punctuation is... creative! I don't know how else to describe it. 

I never really bothered to pay attention to any of it. Sentence structure? If I can make sense of it, it's good enough for me. I really am very envious of those who know all the bits and pieces when it comes to sentence structure. I have a great deal of guilt regarding my ignorance and my willingness to remain so. At this point in life, I'm too lazy to actually learn anything. 

Not that it's ever hurt me. You see, I rely on 'the writer's voice' to get me through and guide me. If it sounds proper in my head, in the voice it's being written in, then I accept it as is. Of course, I break all kinds of rules. Yet, even during my last turn in college, I somehow managed to receive top grades for all the papers I wrote. My submission for Summa Cum Laude about the need for ethics in business was even picked by the department for presentation and discussion at their next full-faculty meeting.

So, fooled them?

I do remember taking a creative writing course in high school and floundering. Or it felt that way. We had to write a short story and I never felt mine had any focus. The instructor was one of the best teachers in the school - he also oversaw the school newspaper for which I served as editor. He was very kind, but generous with the big red pen. 

I never thought of myself as a writer, really. 

But that is now my goal. To write. I don't know to what ends.

I simply feel compelled. 

Though I do carry a bit of shame regarding my lack of technical knowledge. 

2/ Literature/Reading

There was a time I couldn't be bothered to read a script all the way through before signing on to something. I just said 'yes.' 

And I had a terrible habit of claiming to have read something when I had not, going so far as to fill entire blue books during final exams prattling on about a novel I'd never bothered to read, save for the chapter titles. 

That's certainly not true today. 

I read. Really read. It takes me forever to get through a book because I re-read things over and over. I also go slow enough to digest the author's intent. No longer a skimmer, I truly want to discover what it is a publisher saw in a given manuscript. My favorite part it listening to the author's voice. The good ones all have one. 

My current favorite is Toni Morrison. I'm reading her book, Paradise - a messy, messy novel in which her poetry still manages to float forth effortlessly. I found her The Bluest Eye to be a rather remarkable accomplishment. 

I'm also reading classics. I find them all fascinating.

I read in bits and pieces. And I'm not sure who taught me to value books, but I always have. More so, now, of course, than when I was young. I've always had a love for mythology, fables, and storytelling. Novels are merely an extension of that. 

And that's the nature of a gifted writer - one who is able to create their own mythology. 

3/ Languages

I took German in high school. Paid lip service to it and parroted back what I was given because at the time I had no concept of the world and thought it was a make believe language that I'd never have any use for. 

I tried French in college. Never went to class. Never took the final. Never learned a stitch.

Last time around, I took two courses of Spanish. Was teacher's pet. I had a blast. I found the language's structure to be easy to grasp. I had learned quite a bit of Latin, thanks to Catholicism and theatre, so it felt familiar on my tongue. Then I started to watch Spanish soap operas while cooking dinner each night. That spiced things up. I still have my boxes of homemade flash cards and think about pulling them out and brushing up my skills. I aced both courses. 

But I wouldn't say I speak Spanish. 

Languages must be used in order to live. 

4/ Math

In third grade I was told that math was not for me. I didn't care about it. It made no sense to me.

And so it remained. I sat through high school algebra and was yelled at constantly - two different male instructors, both yelling at me like I was in the military. It was awful. 

Which is why, the first time in college, when it came time for the final exam? I bailed. I couldn't face it. 

And it haunted me for years. And then I went to Minneapolis Community College and had the best instructor ever. I don't know what happened, but I aced it. It came easy. What clicked? I suddenly realized it operated on the same principals as a video game and that is how I began to look at it... like a game. 

I'm not an intelligent person, but I can be clever. And that is the key to learning math. Be clever. 

Later, in my final year at college, as I worked toward finishing a BA in Business, I had to navigate several financial classes that required me to learn formulas that made my head spin. I've never used any of it, nor do I remember any of it. But I aced those classes by sheer determination. And that took a lot, as I, to this day, still have a great deal of anxiety when it comes to math. 

No doubt, thanks to all that yelling.

Yelling. 

That'll learn ya!

5/ Science

I loved science. And I was in love with one of my science teachers. He was the coach for the varsity basketball team and despised by his players and the other coaches because he'd never had a winning season. I played basketball and happened to get to see him naked on occasion. 

He was beautiful. Blonde, curly hair and Botticelli features. He looked like he should have been carved out of marble. 

I even adored the way his excess saliva would build up in the corners of his pouty lips... lips I so wanted to become acquainted with. 

Anyhoo - back to science. 

So, I listened to every word that fell from those pursed lips and participated in class like I was a contestant on The Dating Game. 

Science always came very easy for me. It's memorization, and I used to be quite good at it. 

In college, my lab partner floundered when it came to dissecting our poor little stillborn piglet, but I could name every part and aced that class. 

Yet I never saw it as my calling. It was more about meeting requirements. 

My love of nature comes from being in nature.

I remember collecting leaves in fall; identifying and cataloging them. I adored it. I've always loved the smell of the earth. 

I believe in science. I'm alive, thanks to it. 

Those that put their faith in anything else? Well...

They're just not paying attention.

6/ History/Religion

Have always loved history. Again, memorization. But I also liked the stories told. Sadly, we rarely got the whole story back then. Nor were we given much of a sense of how it all inter-related. 

So much of the history I now know, I had to work to uncover for myself. 

Same with religion. 

I used to accept it at face value. 

Then, I remember a turning point in 9th grade. I still had to attend a Wednesday night Catechism class in order be confirmed. It was taught by an English teacher who was very sweet. I gave him the devil, questioning everything he uttered. I threw him off his game for sure. 

The nature of faith made no sense to me. I believed a lot of things... but that didn't make them so. 

So, I poked a lot of holes in whatever story he told the class. 

Finally, he pulled me out of class and told me that he would sign off on my attendance if I would simply not come back to the class. I agreed. 

Fast forward, I ended up graduating from a private Lutheran College where one had to take a couple of classes in religion. Fortunately, they counted the courses I'd taken on mythology at other colleges for credit and I only had to suffer through one such course. It was a sort of world religion class, the highlight of which was that we had to visit a religious institution not of our own faith and write a paper on it.

I visited a synagogue where I used to do childcare during high holidays. I loved the experience and have much respect for the Jewish religion, which is about community building. It's very smart and useful. 

I'm an atheist, these days. Oh, I tried...

But common sense won out.

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And that's enough of me.

Your turn. Leave your answers in the comments section. I love learning a bit more about you with each passing quiz. 

Next week, part two of this quiz will touch upon any remaining subjects not covered today. 

Until then...

Thanks for reading... and participating!

Don't Stay In School - Boyinaband

Rock N' Roll High School - The Ramones