From the late 70’s Blue Rita (aka Das Frauenhaus) is a pulpy ‘n’ fleshy spy film- with light touches of cheapy conceived sci-fi & horror. The film was directed by ultra-prolific Euro cult director Jess Franco. Here from the folks at Full Moon Features is a dual disc DVD & Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in a few extras.

Blue Rita appeared in the year 1977. Its exteriors were shot in & around Paris, though much of it takes place inside foil-wrapped & psychedelic lite clubs, and a cheap ‘n’ cheerful sci-fied torture room which were in Switzerland. This was one of eight films Franco released in 1977- these take in Ilsa, the Wicked Warden, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, Kiss Me Killer, Golden Jail, Sexy Sisters, Love Camp, and Voodoo Passion- so a very busy year for Jess.

The film is set around a strip/ nightclub run by the tall and statuesque purple-haired Blue Rita( Martine Fléty). Behind the scenes, she kidnaps businessmen for her gruff-voiced communist boss- questioning them, taunting them with sex, and getting them to sign large cheques.

The downstairs club location is fairly typical of a Franco club- and we get some fairly wacky & dodgy striptease- for the former, we have two nude & silver spray-painted women- one has an elephant mask over her genitals, and the other woman sucks the trunk of it!. And for the latter, we have a woman dressed up in pigtails/ stripy dress striping & fondling a male statue with a fake foliage backdrop. This location is largely scored by a mix of sleazy jazz, and bumping 'n' grinding blues.

The upstairs of the place takes in a bedroom decked out in plastic see-through chairs & a bed- this is where the kidnapped men are sent first, having sex, then being gassed asleep. When they awake they find themselves nude with their arms chained up in a narrow cell- which has a spiked/ grated/ see-through ceiling- which can be lowered. The men are covered in a green goop- which seemingly makes them sexually crazy. The above operation centre is decked out in silver foil, with red ‘n’ black nobs, and flashing lights. These areas are often soundtrack by more sinister/ discordant musical fare.

The cast is largely not great -Fléty is a rather bland/ dull leading lady, and the rest of the women are rather vapid/unmemorable. There are one or two faces I vaguely recognise from other Franco films- the most notable of these is Eric Falk, who plays a ( I think) Russian wrestler. He’s a heavy set/ muscular balky man with a square jaw and popped up in the likes of Franco titles such as Downtown (1975), Barbwire Dolls (1976) & Ilsa, the Wicked Warden(1977).

As Franco’s 70’s output goes Blue Rita is just fine as pulpy & sexy nonsense- with the content sticking on the softcore side of things. Though there is little edge/ unsettlement present- been very much more of a very cheap, cheerful, and largely vapid softcore/ wacky euro spy film.

This release takes in a DVD & Blu-Ray- I watched the print on the Blu-ray, and it looks well defined. I’m sure it’s a new scan- but it’s good, with the print being the English dub.

On the extra side, we get two interviews one on the DVD & one on the Blu-Ray. The DVD one is entitled Slave In The House Of Women ( 7.54) this is a German on-camera interview with actor Eric Falk- which has English subs. Not sure when this dates from, but I’m guessing it’s relatively recent. He starts off talking about being a slave in the film. Moving on to mention he still has the dress suits he wore in the film, and that he was dubbed for the German cut of the film.  He talks about Franco being a nice/calm director. And touches on his other roles like action-bound sleaze/ violence fest Mad Foxes(1981). This is most worth a play interview, and Falk looks pretty good still.

The other interview on the Blu-Ray is entitled Rare Interview ( 24.06) this is an audio-only interview with British director Peter Strickland. The main focus of the interview is his 2014 film The Duke of Burgundy- during the interview, he touches on Jess Franco, and a few of his favourite films. This is alright I guess, though not enough of it is focused on Franco.

The double-disc release features a basic card slip- this features new artwork of a nude blond hair-sprayed woman wrapped in thick black tape- this is fine, though it looks more from the 80s than the 70s.

In finishing Blue Rita is not the best of/ most impactful/ creative of Jess Franco 1970’s output. If you are looking for a pulpy & sexy Euro spy film this is fine- just don’t expect anything much above average 70’s softcore.