THE BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS (1973) - This is a brutal Hong Kong exploitation film that takes place at a sadistic women's concentration camp run by the Japanese during World War II. The film opens with a squad of Japanese soldiers invading a Red Cross mobile hospital unit looking for a downed American pilot. After callously shooting some Chinese locals and the American pilot, the soldiers grab the nurses, including Jennifer (Birte Tove, a Danish actress who starred in several 70's Hong Kong films), Mary (Roska Rozen) and Elizabeth (Niki Wane), and send them to the notorious 13 Womens Camp, where they are tortured, raped (by both the male and female guards) and treated like human waste. After being put through a litany of abuses, usually at the behest of head lesbian guard Mako (Terry Liu), the nurses join forces with Hung Yulan (Li Hai-shu), a fellow prisoner who is an undercover operative in the Chinese opposition forces and has clues to where a fortune in stolen gold is hidden that could help the opposition defeat the Japanese. One of the male guards at the camp is actually an undercover operative and he helps the women escape, but their freedom is short-lived when it is revealed that one of the women prisoners is a traitor (her identity is not revealed yet), they are all recaptured and the undercover guard is shot and killed. When Mako and her male superiors find out about the hidden gold, they torture Hung Yulan with electric shocks to get her to give up the location. Mako and her superiors are not able to extract the information from her, so they decide to let Hung Yulan and her new friends escape and follow them to the hidden gold (Mary is killed in the escape, but her dying words are, "I'm not the traitor!"). As the group gets closer to the gold, the traitor leaves a marked trail for Mako and a squad of Japanese soldiers to follow. When the traitor kills blind female prisoner Huang Hsai (Lo Hsai-ying) for discovering her identity, she is finally outed and a trap is laid for Mako and the other Japs by the opposition forces. In true Hong Kong fashion, not even the good girls (and guys) survive in the extremely bloody finale. The first thing you'll notice about this Shaw Brothers production, directed by Kuei Chi Hung (THE KILLER SNAKES - 1974; THE IRON DRAGON STRIKES BACK - 1979; THE BOXER'S OMEN - 1983), is how sexually graphic it is for a 1973 Hong Kong film. Hardly a minute goes by without a shot of naked female breasts and there are also several instances of full-frontal nudity, as well as leering close-ups of panty crotch shots. It's obvious that this film was made as a cash-in to the sudden popularity of the drive-in WIP films like THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (1971) and THE BIG BIRD CAGE (1972), but BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS takes the genre a step further, adding an air of historical reference (the Japanese mistreatment and illegal experimentation of prisoners during the war) and an extremely nasty tone not seen in films of this type at the time. Not only is rape prevalent, violence also runs rampant, as women are shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, electrocuted and, in one instance, Mako forces the prisoners to take turns whipping one of their own until she is dead. This being a Hong Kong production, all the Japanese are portrayed as heartless, raping bastards and bitches that laugh at the sight of human suffering. There's plenty of good action set-pieces on view, especially during the final third, including a pretty decent car jump gag, lots of bloody sword and gunplay and a smattering of martial arts action. Mix that with plenty of girl-on-girl action, Mako's delirious death by rolling off the side of a mountain in a metal barrel (it really must be seen to be appreciated), hordes of snakes (a Hong Kong staple) and a typical downbeat finale and what you end up with may not be the feel-good movie of the year but, boy, it's an entertaining one. Also starring action star Lo Lieh (BLACK MAGIC - 1975) as the rebel guard who assists the women in their final escape (and is the only person left alive by the time the film concludes) and Wang Hsia (OILY MANIAC - 1975) as the merciless male commander of the camp. His death is memorable. This did receive a U.S. theatrical release in the mid-70's in a heavily edited R-rated cut. As far as I can deduct, this never has a legitimate VHS release in the States. Available on DVD in a nice widescreen unedited print from Celestial Pictures. Not Rated.
