Prisoner of Paradise | |
---|---|
Directed by | Gail Palmer Bob Chinn |
Written by | Gail Palmer Jeff Fairbanks |
Starring | John C. Holmes Seka Elmo Lavino Sue Carol Jade Wong Nikki Anderson |
Release date |
|
Running time | 75 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Prisoner of Paradise (also known as Nazi Love Island) [1] is a 1980 American pornographic exploitation film directed by Gail Palmer and Bob Chinn. The film takes place during World War II, and stars John C. Holmes as Joe Murrey, a shipwrecked sailor who comes to the rescue of two American nurses who are being held captive by a Nazi officer and his three assistants on an island in the South Pacific. The other members of the cast include Seka, Elmo Lavino, Sue Carol, Jade Wong, and Nikki Anderson. The film was released in the United States in 1980, and received an X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America.
The film has been classified as an example of Nazisploitation, a subgenre of exploitation and sexploitation films in which Nazi characters are prominent. [2] [3]
A reviewer in Cinema Retro wrote: "What sets Prisoner of Paradise apart from most of the porn drivel of this era is the better-than-average direction coupled with a relatively lavish budget. There are some impressive special effects in the finale and the directors even manage to squeeze in an original love song". [4] Brian Orndorf of Blu-ray.com called the film "an uncomfortable mix of tonal speeds", and criticized it for "trying to pass itself off as reflective cinema when it should be focusing exclusively on salacious encounters." [5]
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome. [4] [6]
The Man in the Glass Booth is a 1975 American drama film directed by Arthur Hiller. The film was produced and released as part of the American Film Theatre, which adapted theatrical works for a subscription cinema series. The screenplay was adapted from Robert Shaw's 1967 novel and 1968 stage play, both of the same name. The novel was the second in a trilogy of novels, preceded by The Flag (1965), and followed by A Card from Morocco (1969).
Seka also known as Dorothea Hundley Patton, is an entrepreneur and retired American pornographic actress who performed full-time from 1977 to 1982, and on a limited basis in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. She was known as the Platinum Princess of Porn. In 2013, she released her autobiography about her life and career, titled Inside Seka.
No wave cinema was an underground filmmaking movement that flourished on the Lower East Side of New York City from about 1976 to 1985. Sponsored by the artists group Collaborative Projects, no wave cinema was a stripped-down style of guerrilla filmmaking that emphasized dark edgy mood and unrehearsed immediacy above many other artistic concerns – similar to the parallel no wave music movement in its raw and rapid style.
Nunsploitation is a subgenre of exploitation film which had its peak in Europe in the 1970s. These films typically involve Christian nuns living in convents during the Middle Ages. The main conflict of the story is usually of a religious or sexual nature, such as religious oppression or sexual suppression due to living in celibacy. The Inquisition is another common theme. These films, although often seen as pure exploitation films, often contain criticism against religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular. Indeed, some protagonist dialogue voiced feminist consciousness and rejection of their subordinated social role. Many of these films were made in countries where the Catholic Church is influential, such as Italy and Spain. One atypical example of the genre, Killer Nun, was set in then present-day Italy (1978).
Nazi exploitation is a subgenre of exploitation film and sexploitation film that involves Nazis committing sex crimes, often as camp or prison overseers during World War II. Most follow the women in prison formula, only relocated to a concentration camp, extermination camp, or Nazi brothel, and with an added emphasis on sadism, gore, and degradation. The most infamous and influential title is a Canadian production, Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1974). Its surprise success and that of Salon Kitty and The Night Porter led European filmmakers, mostly in Italy, to produce similar films, with just over a dozen being released over the next few years. Globally exported to both cinema and VHS, the films were critically attacked and heavily censored, and the sub-genre all but vanished by the end of the seventies.
Happy Birthday to Me is a 1981 slasher film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Melissa Sue Anderson and Glenn Ford. Its plot revolves around six brutal murders occurring around a popular high school senior's birthday. Filmed primarily in Canada and upstate New York, Happy Birthday to Me was distributed by Columbia Pictures, and released theatrically in North America on May 15, 1981. While not prosecuted for obscenity, the film was seized and confiscated in the UK under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 during the video nasty panic. The film received mostly mixed reviews from critics.
My Blueberry Nights is a 2007 romantic drama film directed by Wong Kar-wai, his first feature in English. The screenplay by Wong and Lawrence Block is based on a Chinese-language short film written and directed by Wong. My Blueberry Nights stars Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, and Natalie Portman.
Maitland McDonagh is an American film critic and the author of several books about cinema.
Linda Wong, born Linda Carol Seki, was an American pornographic actress, and one of the first Asian Americans to become a star in the American adult film industry. In 1999, she was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame. She was Japanese by ethnicity.
Cotton Comes to Harlem is a 1970 American neo-noir action comedy thriller film co-written and directed by Ossie Davis and starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx. The film is based on Chester Himes' novel of the same name. The opening theme, "Ain't Now But It's Gonna Be," was written by Ossie Davis and performed by Melba Moore. The film was one of the many black films that appeared in the 1970s and became an overnight hit. It was followed two years later by the sequel Come Back, Charleston Blue.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a 2007 American pseudo-documentary horror film written and directed by John Erick Dowdle. The film is about the murders of a serial killer in Poughkeepsie, New York, told through interviews and footage from a cache of the killer's snuff films.
A Christmas Carol, is a 2009 American computer-animated Christmas film written and directed by Robert Zemeckis. It is based on Charles Dickens's 1843 novel of the same name and stars the voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn and Cary Elwes. The film was CGI-animated through the process of motion-capture, a technique used in Zemeckis's previous films The Polar Express (2004) and Beowulf (2007). It is Disney's third adaptation of the classic story, following Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), and one of only two films produced by ImageMovers Digital.
Uninvited is a 1987 American science-fiction horror film written, produced and directed by Greydon Clark and starring George Kennedy, Alex Cord, Clu Gulager, Toni Hudson and Eric Larson. The film primarily takes place aboard a luxury yacht owned by a criminal multimillionaire and bound for the Cayman Islands, whose passengers and crew are terrorized by a mutant cat.
Salon Kitty is a 1976 erotic-war-drama film directed by Tinto Brass. The film was coproduced by Italy, France and West Germany. It is based on the novel of the same name by Peter Norden, covering the real life events of the Salon Kitty operation, under which the Sicherheitsdienst took over an expensive brothel in Berlin, had the place wire tapped, and replaced all the prostitutes with trained spies, in order to gather information on various members of the Nazi party and foreign dignitaries.
Code Red DVD was an independent American home entertainment company specializing in retro grindhouse, exploitation, and horror films, operated by Bill Norton Olsen. The company originally began releasing films on DVD in 2006, and later began releasing and re-releasing titles on Blu-ray.
Escape Plan: The Extractors is a 2019 American direct-to-video prison action thriller film directed and co-written by John Herzfeld, and a sequel to Escape Plan (2013) and Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018). It is the third and final installment in the Escape Plan film series. The film features Sylvester Stallone, 50 Cent, Dave Bautista and Jaime King reprising their roles from the previous films with Max Zhang, Harry Shum, Jr., Malese Jow and Devon Sawa joining the cast. The film was released straight-to-DVD in the United States on July 2, 2019, but received theatrical releases in such countries as Russia, Italy, Australia, Turkey and Portugal.
Justice Society: World War II is an American animated superhero film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment. It is the 41st film of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. The film is directed by Jeff Wamester and starring the voices of Stana Katic, Matt Bomer, Elysia Rotaru, Chris Diamantopoulos, Omid Abtahi, Matthew Mercer, Armen Taylor, and Liam McIntyre. It tells an original story of the Flash ending up back in time to World War II where he meets the Justice Society of America. The film shares continuity with Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Batman: The Long Halloween.
Maximalist film or maximalist cinema is related to the art and philosophy of maximalism, a reaction against minimalism.