Image Entertainment presents

Virgin Report (Jungfrauen-Report) (1971)

"And finally, to suppress their involuntary sensations, they sat in an anthill. They sat like this for weeks."- Narrator (uncredited)

Stars: Hans Hass, Jr. Diane Winter, Howard Vernon, Ingeborg Steinbach
Other Stars: Eva Garden, Herbert Weissbach, Christine Werner, Britt Nichols, Christina von Blanc
Director: Jess Franco

Manufacturer: Deluxe
MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (nudity, sexuality, gore, torture, sexual mutilation)
Run Time: 01h:06m:43s
Release Date: 2003-12-30
Genre: late night

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
C-	D+	B	C+	D+

 

DVD Review

This is quite the unusual little entry in Jess Franco's massive filmography. Although the copious nudity and sexuality is certainly at home in Franco's catalog, this is his only foray into pseudo-documentary. Franco (under the name Jess Frank) and his producers were hoping to capitalize with a combination of the popular Mondo films and the long-running German Schoolgirl-Report series on underage sexuality. The results are mixed at best, with the most entertainment coming when the documentary pretensions are dropped.

Supposedly, the film is a documentary on virginity and its cultural implications. However, Franco's real interest is not in virginity per se so much as it is in the process of defloration. Using a combination of borrowed and stock footage, this picture give signs of being hastily assembled to make a quick buck. It does, however, feature such popular Eurocult names as Howard Vernon, Diane Winter, Eva Garden, Ingeborg Steinbach, Britt Nichols and Christina von Blanc among those making appearances in the brief episodes, which range from tribal phallic ceremonies to Greek auto-defloration to a woman supposedly making love to a tree branch.

The best bit is the chapter entitled "The Adventures of Christine," which follows the title character as she attempts to lose her virginity with Georg, a clumsily inept teenager. Frustrated, she returns home to the arms of an older neighbor, finding pleasure and satisfaction there instead (notwithstanding a fairly ridiculous setup). While the audience for such a sequence extolling to teen girls the virtues of an older male lover is obvious, these scenes, unlike most of the others, are filmed with a genuine eroticism and passion that is lacking from the balance of the picture.

Franco borrows the backing of Rossini's William Tell Overture for a sex scene from A Clockwork Orange, as just one indication of the lack of originality on display here. Although the trailer and the narration extol the film as being shot on five continents, that can only plausibly be true if you count the stock footage as being shot on other continents. The score by frequent Franco collaborator Daniel White and Rolf Bauer is mostly dull Europop, though there are some spicier jazz offerings that are more interesting.

Even at barely an hour of running time, the film is otherwise unrelievedly dull, except for Howard Vernon's merrily savage Inquisitor who demands that the virginity of a young girl be restored by sewing her up. Although there's thankfully no closeup of this episode onscreen, it's nonetheless gory and unsettling. Vernon also appears as an angry father in a silent movie pastiche. But these few episodes don't begin to make up for the tedium induced by the balance of the picture. The opening and closing interview segments are painfully dull, and not even wall-to-wall nudity can hold viewer interest. This one is for Franco completists only. Indeed, if it weren't for the name value that Franco brings to the picture, it probably would have remained deservedly forgotten.



Rating for Style: C-
Rating for Substance: D+

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: The full-frame picture appears to be the original aspect ratio, based on the large quantities of older stock footage, though I expect it may also have been shown in a more standard 1.66:1 ratio in Europe. In any event, the compositions don't appear to be harmed if this is an altered aspect. The source print is surprisingly clean, though the stock footage is of varying quality. The picture tends to be a bit soft, but blacks are acceptable and colors are quite vivid. This is frankly much better looking than it has any right to be.

Image Transfer Grade: B
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
Mono	German	no

Audio Transfer Review: The sound quality of the 2.0 mono German track isn't quite so good, however. There is substantial hiss and noise present throughout, not to mention some significant crackle. The musical score sounds decent, with a goodly bit of bass and presence.

Audio Transfer Grade: C+ 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 10 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English
1 Original Trailer(s)
Packaging: generic plastic keepcase
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:

1. Stills gallery

Extras Review: The extras are predictably sparse here. There's a full-frame trailer with burned-in English subtitles (as is the case on the main feature), and a short still gallery with eight shots from the film. But that's it.

Extras Grade: D+
 

Final Comments

Jess Franco's entry into the pseudo-documentary sex sweepstakes somehow manages to be boring beyond belief despite copious onscreen nudity. The transfer's not bad, however, so Franco fans will be pleased with the presentation.

Mark Zimmer 2003-12-29