Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

just watch it!

Better Late Then Never

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

If I had to use a single word to describe this film, that word would likely be "grim". Most of these "women in prison" type movies are kind of a fun time and a guilty pleasure, if you know what I mean. This one's different and actually manages to leave a bit of a depressive feeling in me, not because of extreme physical content or anything (there isn't much of that compared with some other entries in this dubious genre), but because of its sheer, unrelenting drabness and hopelessness.And you know, this is a very British film. It's not Jesus Franco and the point isn't to titillate with heaps of female flesh on display. This is the country that gave us Mary Whitehouse and plenty of other questionable "moral guardians", and it's that culture that's reflected here. The way it starts with a dedication to those who "eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment" is engenious. Remember all those old movies, the ones about drugs and delinquent youths, for instance, that really turned out to be exploitation? you could get away with a fair bit by claiming that your film was really an educational experience, and if there were some snickers in the audience, they were probably from the sort of louts the thing was intended for in the first place, and they'd learn the truth of the message, oh yes they would! Here we have a movie pushing the boundaries of good taste and revealing the corruption and evil of so-called "moral guardians", while at the same time, it might also be possible to read it as a condemnation of moral lassitude. Ok, so it's clear what side director Pete Walker falls on, I think, and this is doubly true if you've seen the somewhat-more-fun "House of Mortal Sin". But still, the question is there, and it creates an interesting dichotomy within the viewing experience.It's also a fact that our model character, Anne-Marie, is desperately cute. Maybe she's not all too bright sometimes, and that accent the very-not-french-sounding Penny irving is putting on is hilarious, but you hate to see bad things happen to her and really want her to be ok. The thing that gets her into trouble is so small and harmless, and the punishment so absurdly severe, one can't help but rail at the total injustice. it's all terribly severe, cold, and, like I said, grim. That woman who runs the joint is utterly terrifying in her implacable, self-righteous severity and evil.So yeah. If you want to have fun, watch "The Big Bird Cage", I guess. But if the idea of a somewhat "different" WIP film; one with something to say and a serious demeanour, give this a try.

Naive, young, gentle-hearted, beautiful French model, Ann-Marie Di Verney(Penny Irving)is drawn to a dark and mysterious "writer", Mark E Desade(Robert Tayman)after meeting him at a party, later(..after a date)agreeing to meet his mother outside of London, despite knowing little about him. Ann-Marie's pal and roommate, Julia(Ann Michelle)doesn't like the idea of leaving with a man she has just met and these worries come to fruition when Mark takes her to an abandoned institution which works as a cover for a hostile prison for "immoral girls not fit for society who must be punished into submission". Mark's mother, Mrs Wakehurst(Barbara Markham)was once a prison governess who lost her job after her aggressive torturous methods towards a French inmate ended in death. The elderly, blind Justice Bailey(Patrick Barr), whose mind is slipping into senility, once holding a prominent position, is now operating as the secret prison judge, having left his wife for Wakehurst after getting her off for her previous misdeeds regarding the murder of the girl(..the penalty being the loss of her license, and the source of her deep rooted, and thriving bitterness and hatred for "loose women"). Their marriage has worsened substantially over the years, and we discover that Mark is their illegitimate son(..there are also disturbing incestual undertones eluded to later on) Forced against her will into an illegal imprisonment, Ann-Marie notices other girls that have met these particular circumstances as well..it seems Mark's job is to lure women to this place so that they can be tried and convicted in some sort of bogus sentencing, a ceremony so ridiculous(..Wakehurst must now inform of her husband of the lines he's supposed to say due to his forgetfulness)it borders on parody. You can only imagine how shocking and surreal such a situation can be. Told not to speak unless spoken to, given very little to eat, and a penalty system for bad behavior(#1:Solitary confinement, #2:A flogging, & #3:Death by hanging), Ann-Marie will have to figure out some way to escape or else face the dire consequences of her current predicament. Working with fellow prisoners who have had enough of their cruel mistreatment at the hands of Wakehurst and her unpleasant guards, Walker(Sheila Keith)and Bates(Dorothy Gordon), Ann-Marie will attempt to break free from the harsh confinements of such a bleak and unfriendly environment. Meanwhile, Julia confides in her lover, Tony(Ray Brooks)regarding Ann-Marie's whereabouts setting out to find her if she can, attempting to discover just who Mark is and his location.Appropriately grim women-in-prison film throwing a young lamb into a den of wolves. Barbara Markham is quite impressive as the diabolical(..with homicidal tendencies and a yearning to see the pretty deteriorate)warden who hides behind this cloak of morality, wielding her power as if chosen by God to reform those deemed unfit to exist, when in reality she enjoys making girls suffer. The unbridled sadism, buried underneath this cold and calculating execution by the warden and her staff, really has you pitying poor Ann-Marie, who really is a sweet-hearted teenage girl who isn't ashamed of her body. Penny Irving positively glows in the opening scenes, a very vulnerable, somewhat bubbly girl whose modeling career is seen as a blight on society(..Walker obviously wishes to, along with writer David McGillivray, create a film exposing authoritarian types who use their power and code of ethics as a tool to discriminate, as the hypocrites they are)by certain people who really wish to punish and harm because of the thrills that such methods provides. Sheila Keith is particularly memorable as Walker, an obvious lesbian who harbours a lust for Ann-Marie, but hates her at the same time for the type she represents. Through facial movements and specific gestures, Sheila Keith is also able to show her attraction to Ann-Marie, but, at the same time, we see the conflicting repulsion that soon overcomes her. It's a very convincing performance that can elicit chills. The film doesn't actually dwell too much on the whip flogging, although Walker establishes the potency of it's use very well showing whelps and bruises on those victimized. There's a certain hopelessness that permeates throughout Walker's film for Ann-Marie as she is constantly on the verge of escape only to be ensnared right back into the snake pit by unforeseen circumstances. Thanks to cinematographer Peter Jessop's lighting and the miserable aura of the institution setting, Wakehurst's prison is quite a morose and unforgiving place and you can do nothing but feel for those trapped within it's cells. Walker really wishes to keep the indelible image of the hangman's noose in our minds, knowing that this method of execution has been used(..we witness a prisoner sentenced to hanging for attempting to steal a piece of bread, and the failed operation to sneak her away from the death chamber)before and could be Ann-Marie's fate if Wakehurst has anything to say about it. Walker alternates between Ann-Marie's plight and Julia in London growing more concerned about her friend's condition and reasons for not communicating somehow. It's a form of manipulation, of course, allowing the framework to advance regarding Julia being Ann-Marie's only hope(..another form of manipulation is Walker establishing Ann-Marie's potential getaway thanks to a truck driver nearby the Wakehurst estate). Stanley Myers score exceptionally conveys the mood of the film's plot all too well. Robert Tayman has quite a malevolent presence, despite his handsome allure which draws women like Ann-Marie to their doom. Jessop has a way of lighting Tayman that gives off a sinister intent, and you can just sense that this poor girl, under his spell, is like a fly caught in the spider's web. Penny Irving is quite uninhibited in this film, not afraid to show her gorgeous naked body, including a rather uncomfortable disrobing scene where she's forced to remove her clothes by Walker and Bates before being taken to her cell.

"This film is dedicated to those who are disturbed by today's lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment". So reads the foreword at the beginning of "House of Whipcord". With a title like that, it's pretty obvious what the viewer is in for. Right? Wrong. Although this film was promoted as a standard women's prison sleaze-fest, there is much more to it than that. In a way, the dedication (which is very tongue-in-cheek) is as good a description of the plot as any. Young French model Anne-Marie Devernay (Penny Irving of "Are You Being Served?" fame) is nominally fined for posing nude in a public place. At a party, she meets a charismatic stranger named Mark E. Dessart (Robert Tayman) who takes more than a passing interest in her. Because Our Heroine is rather dim-witted (to say the least), not only does she disregard his oddly familiar-sounding name and puts up with his very weird mind games, she agrees to accompany him out of town to meet his parents. No sooner is she in the car than he takes off like a bat out of (or headed for) Hell. Upon arriving at his parent's VERY ominous country home, he disappears, leaving Anne-Marie at the mercy of two formidable middle aged women, Walker and Bates (Sheila Keith and Dorothy Gordon) who appear to be prison guards. And indeed, it's not long before the girl is thrust in front of Mark's father, retired Justice Bailey (Patrick Barr) and his mother (Barbara Markham) a former prison warden dismissed for her cruelty to the inmates. These four demented individuals (and Dessart, their "procurer") take it upon themselves to punish any young women whom they feel have escaped the law, and have set up their own "House of Corrections" for that purpose. Anne-Marie is promptly sentenced and thrown into a cell, where she is informed by another luckless inmate that nobody ever leaves and three strikes against you and you're dead. Things quickly get tougher from there.Meanwhile, Anne-Marie's roommate Julia (Anne Michelle) and her boyfriend Tony (Ray Brooks) are searching for her. This serves as the premise for an atmospheric and chilling British film which is also a parody of the repressive former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (the warden's name is Margaret Wakehurst) and her ilk. Producer/director Pete Walker, known for his string of low-budget horror/suspense films, does an excellent job invoking the nightmarish prison and he has gotten fine performances from his cast, especially Keith, (a Walker regular) as the creepiest guard. Unfortunately, Irving, sporting an incomprehensible French accent(a plot device which could easily have been dispensed with), tends to be more laughable than sympathetic. Nevertheless, the grim story and pervading atmosphere of doom render the picture eerily convincing. The film was originally released in England in 1974, and it was spottily distributed in the US by American International Pictures a year later. But, other than a few television showings in the late '80's, it has gone largely unseen in the States. "House of Whipcord", which was previously available on a DVD from Image Entertainment, has been recently re-released by Media Blasters/Shreik Show. Their DVD not only adds trailers, a photo gallery and a truly fascinating commentary from producer/director Walker (who has a cameo as a bicyclist) but a greatly improved anamorphically enhanced print. Though the prison scenes are still dark, this is the way the picture was made, and the bigger the screen it is viewed on, the better it probably looks. The score by Stanley Myers ("The Deer Hunter", "No Way to Treat a Lady") perfectly matches the brooding visuals and the title theme is memorable. Sadly, no subtitles have been added which really would have been a plus when listening to Irving babbling in Faux-French. Nevertheless, the picture is highly recommended and if it's still regarded as a "women's prison movie" it's one for a more discriminating viewer.

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD Aspect ratio: 1.75:1Sound format: MonoA French exchange student (Penny Irving) is lured to an old house in the English countryside where she's incarcerated by a senile old judge (Patrick Barr) and his crazy wife (Barbara Markham), who seek to punish impure young women for 'crimes against morality'.This was British director Pete Walker's first collaboration with legendary exploitation scriptwriter David McGillivray (HOUSE OF MORTAL SIN, SATAN'S SLAVE, etc.), spawned from a pre-determined ad campaign showing a screaming, half-naked starlet framed by a hangman's noose. The result is a minor classic in which part-time nude model Irving is lured into captivity by her creepy new boyfriend (Robert Tayman, from VAMPIRE CIRCUS) and imprisoned by Barr and Markham. Unwilling to take her predicament lying down, Irving plots escape with her fellow inmates and suffers all manner of indignities at the hands of cruel warder Sheila Keith and her equally depraved second-in-command (Dorothy Gordon).Cleverly written and cheaply produced in response to an upsurge of activity by the UK's Christian Right in the wake of several controversial film releases - most notably A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, STRAW DOGS, THE DEVILS (all 1971) and LAST TANGO IN Paris (1972) - "Whipcord" opens with a now-famous dedication "...to those who are disturbed by today's lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment...." Though contemporary critics railed against the threadbare production values and softcore nudity, it's apparent that much of their outrage was prompted by Walker's brazen challenge to the Christian moralists, whose over-zealous rhetoric has always enjoyed a disproportionate measure of representation in the British media.The film is deliberately crude and confrontational, with a vulnerable heroine - played as an infuriating wimp by relative newcomer Irving, sporting one of the worst French accents in movie history ("'Ow did zey bring you 'ere?") - struggling to survive against all the odds, while Markham's brutal staff indulge their deepest puritan impulses. Keith is especially good in this regard ("I'm going to make you ashamed of your body, de Vernay. I'm going to see to that... personally!"), manifesting the corrupt zeal of a True Believer with little regard for pity or compassion. The sleaze quotient is high for a British shocker of this vintage, but neither McGillivray's script nor Walker's laidback direction comes close to matching the debauched atrocities which distinguished the 'prison camp' subgenre during the 1970's and early 80s, exemplified by the likes of ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1974) in America, BARBED WIRE DOLLS (1975) in mainland Europe, and Asian shockers like BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS (1973), LOST SOULS (1980) and WAR VICTIMS (1983). Still, HOUSE OF WHIPCORD is an effective relic, and it led directly to Walker's next offering, FRIGHTMARE (1974), reuniting him with McGillivray and Keith for one of their finest collaborations to date.