Big Doll House [DVD]

In the late 1960s actor/producer John Ashley, initially famous for appearing in a number of JD flicks, hooked up with writer/director/producer Eddie Romero in the Philippines to crank out a handful of inexpensive (i.e.cheapo), somewhat successful horror features. Always an eye towards the frugal, producer/director/writer Roger Corman jumped on the bandwagon in the early 1970s, teaming up with the pair to release his second feature under his newly formed `New World' (later to be known as Concorde) film group, a chicks in chains flick titled The Big Doll House (1971). Directed by Jack Hill (Spider Baby, The Big Bird Cage, Switchblade Sisters), the film features Judith M. Brown (Willie Dynamite), Roberta Collins (Women in Cages, Caged Heat), Brooke Mills (The Student Teachers), Pat Woodell (The Twilight People), and Pam Grier (Coffy, Foxy Brown), in her first major role. Also appearing is Christiane Schmidtmer (The Giant Spider Invasion), Kathryn Loder (Foxy Brown), Jerry Frank (Voodoo Island), and Sid `tall, bald and bearded' Haig (Spider Baby, Diamonds Are Forever).The film starts out with the arrival of three new inmates at some podunk, backwater, women's prison located in the Philippines, I'm guessing, given the large number of Philippino extras running around. As the women are processed (full body cavity searches for everyone!) we meet Collier (Brown), one of the three prisoners, along with a butcher than butch head guard named Lucian (Loder). After this we get to meet Collier's new cellmates, and they're quite the assortment...there's Grear (Grier), who got tossed in the pokey for hustling and has a real hate/hate complex towards men, Bodine (Woodell), a political prisoner whose boyfriend is a rebel insurgent leader hiding out in the hills, Harrad (Mills), a weird junkie type with pyromaniac tendencies, incarcerated for killing her baby (that's lovely), a blondie named Alcott (Collins), and so on...life is difficult in the prison, as the days are filled with tedium labor either toiling in excessively muddy fields or weaving baskets, while the nights involve entertaining oneself with cockroach races, shankings, snitching on your cellmates, or spending time in Lucian's private chamber of sadomasochistic delights. As the film progresses we witness scenes of torture, a gratuitous and pointless shower sequence, more torture, talk of escape, a food fight, a mysterious figure in a hood overseeing the torture, a catfight that devolves into a fine display of mud wrestling, time outs in the hot box, electroshock therapy, snakes, and fun and games with Harry (Haig) and his new partner Fred (Frank), a pair of entrepreneurs who sell food, smokes, and what not to the prisoners (don't worry if you don't have the cash, as Harry will let you slide for a good groping), fantasizing about all the man hungry flesh locked behind the bars. Tired of being used and abused, a core group of girls plan an elaborate escape attempt, one that involves kidnapping the head mistress named Miss Dietrich (Schmidtmer).What The Big Doll House lacks in aspects like cohesive story, good acting, and solid characters it more than makes up for in unmitigated sleazy fun. One thing that did surprise me a little was the fact there wasn't as much nekkidness in this movie as I would have expected. Oh, there was a decent amount, most all topless shots, a lot limited to flashes of flesh soon to be obscured by an arm, or someone turning their back towards the camera. This didn't bother me because what there was, was pretty nice (hello Ms. Grier...nice to see you and the twins). What was most notable was the complete absence of any Sapphic action. It was often alluded to in the story, but the film never delivered the goods (I wasn't looking for any hardcore dueling batwing action, but a little face suckage and copious fondling would have been nice). The plot is of the loosey goosey variety, meaning this is more or less an assemblage of sleaze soaked sequences eventually leading up to the big escape attempt. This was pretty much what I was expecting, as director Hill obviously knew enough to avoid attempting the premise of serious, social commentary in an effort to cover up the exploitive nature of the material, as was done in Corman's earlier film The Student Nurses (1970), which tried to conceal its lurid and skeezy nature by touching awkwardly upon a slew of feminine issues. While the characters themselves were of the garden-variety stock one would normally expect in a feature like this, some of the performances did stand out. Pam Grier makes one helluva butch prisoner, and I thought Haig's character just a whole lot of fun. Loder's character of Lucian, the sadistic, snake loving head guard was decent, but I only wish she would have turned it up a notch or two, as there was certainly room to do so...and check out the various native to the region extras in the prison...looks like they were recruited off the streets, having little idea what was actually going on...the last half of this film could have been titled `The Misadventures of Harry and Fred', as the pair play a more prominent role in the story, becoming entangled in the escape attempt as the women use the lure of hot prison lovin' to get the pair of knuckleheads to unwittingly help them in their plans, culminating in a sequence where the two end up in their underwear, forced at gunpoint to engage some naughty fun in the back of their truck in a twisted effort by the escapees to return some of the humiliation and degradation heaped upon them by their once captors. To say anymore would spoil things, so I'll leave it at that...overall, The Big Doll House was generally what I expected, an entertaining film packed with good, wholesome, scuzzy fun. This film was followed up a year later by one titled The Big Bird Cage (1972), which also featured Grier, and was written and directed by Jack Hill.The fullscreen (1.33:1) picture quality on this DVD release is decent, and the Dolby Digital audio comes through well. As far as special features, there's cast and crew biographies, an original theatrical trailer, and a five minute interview piece between Leonard Maltin and Roger Corman where the two talk about this film like it was some form of high art. Corman also claims he decided to make this film in the Philippines because he thought he could get more for his money, but I think it was really just an effort to keep more dough in his pocket rather than spend what he saved on better production values. Also included are previews for the films Death Race 2000 (1975), Grand Theft Auto (1977), Eat My Dust (1976), Big Bad Mama (1974), and Humanoids from the Deep (1980), all recently re-issued onto DVD by Walt Disney Video, which, within the past year, acquired the release rights to Corman's extensive Concorde-New Horizons catalog of films.Cookieman108If I learned anything from this film, it's that if you ever find yourself in prison, avoid, if at all possible, sharing a cell with a junkie.

Five stars is deceptive because one can only give Tokyo Story and La Règle du jeu five stars as well. The Big Doll House isn't a masterpiece of world cinema. It is a hell of a drive-in movie and the best WIP (Women in Prison) movie ever made. Jack Hill knew how to tell a story, and build to an action-packed climax, and he elicited strong performances from a cast comprised of Cult Movie Sirens and Cult Movie Siren wannabes. I love that Queen of the Bs Pam Grier sings the title song, which, of course, Tarantino would rip off years later in Jackie Brown! My favorite performance in the film is by Roberta Collins, who graced many a 1970s Drive-In Exploitation film. A close second would be Pat Woodell of Petticoat Junction lore. And let us not forget Jack Hill perennial Sid Haig, and the lovely Ms. Judith Brown and Ms. Brooke Mills. I consider all of these women to be cinematic pioneers, working on location in the Philippines for peanuts, giving their all, and carving out new identities for women on screen. Yes The Big Doll House is exploitation, but it's also about autonomous women who will fight for each other and a cause.

No Closed Captions so I returned it for refund.

From 1971, this will be a lot tamer (just breasts shown) then some later films, but has a certain campiness about it. Apparently set in the Philippines, yet except for the food fight in the mess hall, the prisoners look like college coeds at American Universities. In other words, the prisoners one follows are good looking so this movie can be a lot of fun as it is over the top in many places. I don't know if it is the best WIP movie, but it may have started them all.

I don't know what a woman might think of the film, but it was generous with the perversities that made low budget films in the seventies great. Ladies in distress, betrayal, violence, comedy, villains, surprises, blood, tight wet clothes and young breasts of varying types.This version of the film appears to be an update that included an expansion of Pam Griers' role: singing and extra screen time. Also, the quality of the sound and print are top notch for the time. Other versions exist of this film, this MGM release is by far superior.

SHORT REVIEW: I really enjoy these old 70's Pam Grier/Sid Haig flicks. If this one were presented in widescreen, I would easily give it 5 stars. Fullscreen seems to be the only way to get this one on DVD. These Corman releases from Australian company Umbrella Entertainment always have at least a few nice special features and such attractive packaging; but again, the ones I've seen are in full screen format.That's all folks!

Funny thing; dialogue is bad, acting is bad and nothing is first rate here. Yet, it is somewhat enjoyable. It is something watching Pam Grier who in my mind developed into a very solid actress over the years when she was at her start when the thing that made her a star at first, and lest be honest, was her boobs. I know I am not watching an Academy Award winning movie but it is somewhat enjoyable.

I bought this movie based on the reviews I have read on this web site and I have to say the reviews are completely bogus. Other than a bare breast here and there, this movie could pass for a movie of the week on ABC. The is no sleeze that is no sex what so ever. Since, supposedly, this movie was a WIP (Women in Prison) movie that started the entire genre, I expected lots of sex, forced and consenual, lebienism and degradadtion. No sex, no degradadtiion and no lesbieniasm is what I got. If you looking for a really good WIP movie then I recommend Female Prisoner Caged. It is in Japanese and therefore subtitled, but is much more sleazy and entertaining.

Great film

great service very pleased many thanx

very good

Brilliant film

I bought this film after almost dying with laughter watching the trailer on the Jackie Brown DVD. I had to buy it because it looked so amazingly rubbish.In a way it is, but in a way its pretty good. Sid Haig and Pam Grier star in a bizarre women's only prison camp in some central american republic. All I can say is that political correctness was not at the top of the director's wish list. The story is pretty basic, but has an amazing twist at the end which you don't expect.If you like watching crap films, then possibly buy this. If you don't like watching anything other than blockbusters never buy this film, it will only satisfy the most strange of us