I was pulled in by the Sinister Cinema lure of topless jungle babes,too.It's strange how the glimpse of the forbidden from the 50's is somehow more tantalizing than the entirety of the latest Playboy video(uhhh...what ever that may be...).This seemed like a well produced,non exploitive movie(darn it).Was it typical for German features of the late 50's to be fairly casual about this sort of thing?How it could play in the US at the time ,I don't know.
shareThere are two versions available of this film, a german version 80 min. and a Alpha Video version, 88 minutes. I never buy Alpha Video versions because of inferior quality. Have anyone seen both versions and which one is worth buying.
I'm responding, in part, to this thread and to the 2 reviews given:
I saw this upon its original release in Germany when I was only about 9 years old. My recollection is that the version I saw is the uncut version available on DVD now. I also recall having no problems getting in to see this on my own, with no reprimanding from anyone about it being an "adult" film, etc. I think the the reaction was typical of how Europeans looked upon this type of display of nudity. Still, I don't recall the nudity shown in this film to be a regular thing in German films at the time. (from what I heard or read in the papers)
I also don't think that this film was done with the intent to be titillating in any way; I believe they were trying to portray that she looked just like all of the other women in the village, i.e. naked from the waist up, without being too blatant about it. I've seen various documentaries where some of the skirts were pretty skimply also, so I don't think her entire outfit was too outlandish at all. No more ridiculous than what Johnny Weismuller & Maureen O'Sullivan wore in their first Tarzan film (not to mention the scene where Tarzan yanks her dress off as she plunges naked into the water and we continue to see her this way under water - the scene was originally cut from the film, then replaced years later). For the next Tarzan film, they changed both of their outfits drastically to cover more, as in the first film they were considered too risque by showing way too much.
As it happened, I emigrated to the U.S. shortly after this film and caught it on a double-bill Saturday matinee (in a dubbed version)about 10 years later. It was the exact same version, with nothing edited out. Though it raised some eyebrows, this was also when nudity was becoming a regular sight in American films.