WOMEN IN CAGES FILM COLLECTION:THE BIG DOLLHOUSE,THE BIG BIRD CAGE & WOMEN IN CAGES(1970,1971,1972)*** out of **** Directed by Jack Hill & Gerry De Leon Starring Pam Grier, Roberta Collins, Anitra Ford,Judy Brown,Candice Roman, Carol Speed, Sid Haig,Kathryn Loder,Christine Schmidtmer.Rated R 90 minutes running time each film Released by New World Films and Shout Factory Home Video
While Sergio Leone didn't invent the Spaghetti Western film genre with A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS(1964) and Dario Argento didn't invent the giallo movie genre with THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970),the same thing applies with the "Women In Prison" movie genre which producer Roger Corman and writer/director Jack Hill(COFFY, FOXY BROWN) put into high gear in 1970 with the films THE BIG DOLL HOUSE & THE BIG BIRD CAGE both made in 1971 in the Phillipines whose success at the box office put Roger Corman's new film company, NEW WORLD FILMS firmly on the map. When Hill and Corman made the first WIP film THE BIG DOLL HOUSE in 1971,the WIP film genre was already thirty years old with such classics as CAGED(1955), REFORM SCHOOLGIRL(1958) and 99 WOMEN(1968). But Corman and Hill infused their "Women In Prison" films with great wit and satire, fast paced action and copious amounts of female nudity of the film's stars like Pam Grier, Roberta Collins and Anitra Ford. Of course these films have the usual plots and characteristics of the genre such as a female protagonist sent to prison on a faulty charge; women prisoners taking showers; female prisoners raped by guards, female prisoners fighting against each other and being hosed down by guards and finally,female prisoners violenyly breaking out of prison. These particular films made stars out of Pam Grier who made her first film appearance in these films and later came to fame in the Blaxploitation epics COFFY(1973) & FOXY BROWN(1974) also directed by Jack Hill as well for Roberta Collins(DEATH RACE 2000, CAGED HEAT) and Anitra Ford(INVASION OF THE B GIRLS, THE LONGEST YARD)
THE BIG DOLL HOUSE & THE BIG BIRD CAGE are the best films in this DVD release since they were both written and directed by Hill while WOMEN IN CAGES although it has most of the same cast of THE BIG DOLL HOUSE,it was directed by Filipino director Gerry De Leon(MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND)but ,it also features Grier as a evil lecherous lesbian prison guard rather that the female prisoner role she played in the previous two films on this DVD collection. All three films have been digitally restored in widescreen ratio and look much better than their previous video releases.BIG DOLL HOUSE & BIG BIRD CAGE have an audio commentary by their director Jack Hill for each film as well as trailers for all three films plus poster galleries for the three movies. But the best DVD extra is a one hour documentary on the making of both BIG DOLL HOUSE & BIG BIRD CAGE and New World's Women In Prison genre called "From Manila With Love"withinteresting and enjoyable interviews with Roger Corman,Jack Hill,co-producer Jane Schaffer,screenwriter James Gordon White and the film's stars, Judy Brown, Roberta Collins(in her last interview before her death in 2008),Anitra Ford, Teda Bracchi and Sid Haig.Unfortunately the only one missing from this very entertaining documentary is Pam Grier herself. Once again, Shout Factory Home Video has done a really stupendous job in releasing these three Women In Prison classics on DVD with a great set of Special DVD features
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