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Anita e la Maschera di Ferro
The Lady in the Iron Mask
Italy 1998
produced by Gianfranco Romagnoli (executive) for Butterfly Motion Pictures
directed by Joe D'Amato (= Aristide Massaccesi)
starring Anita Blond, Zenza Raggi, Yvette Bars (= Sdena Locowa), Leslie White (= Leslie Taylor), Victoria Barakova, Bruno SX, Judith Varadt, Davide Gladio, Christina Elias, Chris Charming, Ajnalka Kovacs (= Wanda Curtis)
screenplay by Donna Davis, very loosely based on the novel The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas père, music by Francesco Santucci
Man in the Iron Mask
review by Mike Haberfelner
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France, circa the 17th century: The king has two daughters, identical
twins, but while Madeleine (Anita Blond) is virtuous to the core,
Jacqueline (also Anita Blond) is perverted and evil - so evil that she
even performs black widow sex, meaning she kills her partner right after
intercourse. When her father finds her naked next to the dead body, he
decides to lock her away, and forces her to wear an iron mask so nobody
can see her face ever again. Jacqueline's lover Alain though tells
Madeleine about this and persuades her to visit her sister in prison -
where Jacqueline persuades her to switch places with her ... after all,
Madeleine likes to meditate, and what place is more tranquil to do so than
the dungeon, right? Of course, Jacqueline promises Madeleine to return and
again switch places with her in a bit, but actually she never plans to. The
first thing Jacqueline does as Madeleine is is to write Madeleine's
fiancé Jean-Pierre a letter to make sure he keeps away from her ... and
Jean-Pierre grows mighty suspicious for sure. So Jacqueline switches
tactics and organizes an orgy for him ... Alain meanwhile grows mighty
confused and he visits Madeleine in the dungeon, not knowing which one of
the sisters she is - but whoever she is, she gives herself up to him in
sexual intercourse, maybe to further her release ... fat chance though,
because while Jean-Pierre has noticed some serious changes in orgy-mad
Madeleine (actually Jacqueline), he rather likes these changes. Joe
D'Amato's porn movies he made towards the end of his career are a mixed
bag of goodies: Some are actually pretty inspired, plot-driven films while
others are nothing but a tiring succession of fuckscenes where the plot is
nothing but a hanger for sex aplenty. The Lady in the Iron Mask is
located somewhere in the middle of these two extremes: The plot, while not
entirely great, is actually fun at least, and some of the sex scenes are
actually woven into the story rather than just tacked on - but there are
other fuckscenes that lack narrative necessity (or even motivation as
such) which every now and again bring the film to a grinding halt. On the
plus side then are quite decent sets and costumes, lavish camerawork, and
Anita Blond (with brunette hair in this one) looks really stunning ...
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