ridiculous rating

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Roger Ebert often used to talk about "wrong gas-station movies", ie. low-grade horror or thriller flicks which start with the protagonists stopping at a seedy gas-station/diner where the air-conditioning is broken, the food is rotten and the attendant is a repulsive individual wearing coveralls and slime.A similar case could be made for the "wrong pub movie", a sub-genre of European horror that begins with young, female tourists stopping in the sole meeting place in a tiny, forgotten hamlet somewhere deep in the central European country side. Whereas the "wrong gas station" employees are always seedy and revolting, the "wrong pub" diners always fall completely silent, and perhaps even seem to freeze upon the young travellers' entrance into their domains, in much the same way the decor of the establishment is invariably frozen in the past.They will often be warned by the custodian of the establishment to leave the village, or more particularly, to stay away from the castle on the hill - a warning they obviously never heed.I've seen this set-up in some Hammer movies, at least one of the "Tombs of the Blind Dead" movies, and variations of it in some of the films of Euro-horror legend Paul Naschy, and, as you will have guessed, have also just seen it in "Girl Slaves of Morgana le Fay", a curious French sort of horror-fantasy from 1971. You see, with this not atypical beginning underway, I expected the kind of violent, exploitative grindhouse horror hijinks you get from virtually any other b-grade Eurohorror flick of the '70s. I was surprised to find, however, that "Girl Slaves of Morgana le Fay" deviates from the pack in a number of underwhelming ways:Firstly, I don't remember any violence in the movie at all. Hardly a common statement to make regarding this particular genre, shot in this particular place, in this particular time;Secondly, there is a surprisingly lack of nudity and sex for MOST of the movie's run-time. There is little, if any, of what I would call full-frontal nudity, and what nudity there is is usually not the camera's focal point. The movie does have a climax - no pun intended - however, that features more nudity and lesbian sex. Overall, "Girl Slaves of Morgana le Fay" stands out for its quite unexploitative and tasteful treatment of nudity and sex.Lastly, and this may be a plus or a minus depending on your point of view, the movie has a go at the whole "dreamlike" atmosphere sort of thing, that so many other low-budget horror/fantasy movies also attempted, and failed at, miserably. "Morgana le Fay", however, largely succeeds at this, which is surprising.This brings me to my main problem with the movie, though. This atmosphere isn't really used to the service of any effect, other than eventual boredom. "Morgana le Fay" isn't really a horror movie; it's spooky, sure, but it never really tries to scare you. Such a typical set-up for a horror flick, and a superior atmosphere, leaves you wanting more.Hence, "Girl Slaves of Morgana le Fay" is like an hour-and-a-half joke without the punchline.

One of the things that makes the 70's a superior era over the 80's for film is the soundtrack. Morgane et Ses Nymphes is no exception to this. The music is charming, without being tacky. Melodic without being intrusive and turning the mood sappy. In the 80's you could have a good film and then when the dischordant synth chords come through, it just always seems to detract rather than enhance. I felt like the composer was very familiar and must have been a very prolific contributor to many films of this genre/era, but I noticed that only one other film has been credited to him. The 3rd Man kept coming to mind... Not that this movie is a masterpiece, but the subject matter is interesting, in the Jean Rollin vein, and it's always an immense pleasure to see women in their au naturel state, pre-silicone. It's easy to see how it could have been perceived as borderline pornographic in 1971. The extras on this DVD are highly recommended. The short film made by the same director is worth a look for sure.

This was, admittedly, a film I picked up for the titillation factor, since I enjoy the sight of women from the 70's in their natural, undressed Euro glory.However, this film was done in such a way as to find me enjoying it throughout, despite my initial misgivings. Granted, I don't think it's the greatest movie ever, but the settings and the "fairy-tale" feel of it I found to be quite good, and the erotic elements were considerably enjoyable. The dialogue also wasn't as cheesy as I was expecting, which is always a good thing, considering many similar films of that era can't escape those faults.The DVD is quite good, the quality of the picture is excellent, and includes a good interview with the director, Bruno Gantillon. Recommended for fans of 70's erotica and fantasy.

I first saw a teaser for this movie as an extra on a Mondo Macabro DVD. At the time I don't believe it was listed among their coming releases, but it had been released by another branch of the company in the UK called Pagan.When Mondo Macabro did release it, I bought it, as I have bought most of their DVDs.The movie looks gorgeous. Really rich color. It's got a slow, dreamy pace that some might find boring. It's definitely got more of a fantasy flavor than one of horror.Two attractive women have car trouble, and go to sleep in an abandoned building. One wakes and finds the other missing, and she follows a strange little man to a castle by a lake. There, attractive women live in luxury with the witch Morgana. Her three closest servants and the little man grow jealous of the newcomer. Morgana has the power to keep women young and beautiful forever, for the price of their soul. And indeed, for all the luxury, the place seems pretty soulless. This is not a very deep movie, with not a whole lot of plot. It gets a little more eventful towards the end, and does have a satisfying ending.The DVD includes a number of extras, including a short by the director predating this film called in English "An Artistic Couple." It's not currently listed on the IMDb. In some respects it has a similar story, though it is played more for horror.