David F. (Blood Feast) Friedman wrote this English version of Adrian (Mark of the Devil Part 2) Hoven’s Swedish sexploitation swashbuckler. The Swedes have always been known for their skin flicks and speaking in terms of spectacle, this one is hard to beat. In fact, the lavish production values look more sophisticated than some of Hollywood’s “A” pictures from the same era.
Siegfried (Raimund Harmstorf) is a daring knight who plans to retire and take a wife. He has his sights set on Kriemhild, and since she’s played by a young Sybil Danning, who can blame him? Of course, he won’t make any rash decisions until he beds down a bevy of other beauties first. Since Kriemhild is the sister of King Gunther (Carlheinz Heitman), he won’t betroth her to Siegfried unless he helps him score with the witch Brunhild (Heidy Bohlen) with the help of his magic invisible cap. When Brunhild realizes she’s been hoodwinked, she sets out to get revenge on Siegfried.
Even though this is primarily a skin flick, the scale of the production remains impressive. The special effects are quite good (like the queen’s burning “purgatory”) and the whole thing plays like a bawdy version of a ‘60s kiddie matinee movie. (Think The Sword and the Dragon, but with boobs.) You can see why Friedman would want to release it as it’s basically a higher budgeted and more sophisticated version of the same kind of costume softcore films he was making at the same time.
While the film has considerable production values for this sort of thing, I still say the real reason to see it is for Sybil Danning. Throughout the movie she is seen receiving sponge baths from her naked handmaidens, engaging in lesbian trysts, having gratuitous disrobing scenes, and of course, getting it on with Siegfried. Even the sex scenes that do not feature Sybil are fairly steamy, and some contain a few near hardcore moments.
The anticlimactic ending is really the only issue I have with the film. It’s almost as if they wanted to end things on a cliffhanger, but got cold feet at the last second, so they just cut to an on-screen narrator wrapping up the story for us. Up until then, it’s pretty much a rollicking good time.
Brunhild gets the best line when she feels Siegfried’s invisible member and exclaims, “It’s like an iron salami!”
AKA: Maiden Quest. AKA: The Erotic Adventures of Siegfried. AKA: The Lustful Barbarian. AKA: The Terrible, Swift, Sword of Siegfried.
You can order my latest book, The Video Vacuum Strikes Back! HERE: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mitch+lovell&crid=2349LP809O62V&sprefix=mitch+lovell%2Caps%2C599&ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-expert-pd-ops-ranker_1_12
And if here’s a handy link to order more of my books: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mitch+lovell&crid=1N559CKWVCAQ&sprefix=mitch+love%2Caps%2C438&ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-expert-pd-ops-ranker_1_10
No comments:
Post a Comment