Fury in the Tropics

Year: 1986

Duration: 01:24:36

Directed by: Jess Franco

Actors: Lina Romay, Antonio Mayans, Veronica, Setton, Ana Stern

Language: Spanish

Country: Spain

Also known as: Orgasmo perverso, Fury in the Tropics, Mujeres acorraladas, Furia en el trópico, Fury en Jamaica

Description: Marga Lopez (Lina Romay) and Rosalba Villa (Ana Stern) are two prostitutes in a small, corrupt South American village. Marga falls in love with Chano (Antonio Mayans acting as “Robert Foster”), a freedom fighter posing as a guard at the local prison, which is run by the corrupt Governor Blanco (Ricardo Palacios) and a sadistic wardress (Veronica Setton). Marga and Rosalba are arrested for hiding Chano, who escapes back to the prison before he is caught. After various tortures and indignities, Chano helps Marga and Rosalba to escape and tells them he will meet them with a boat at the port on the other side of a wooded area.

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about this movie, so much so you have to wonder if anybody’s really seen it. First of all, it was made in 1983 – not 1986, as the IMDb claims. Secondly, the various books on Franco all relate a synopsis that has nothing to do with this film, but is closer to an ass-backwards reading of a later Franco film, “Mujeres Ancorraladas” (1986), which is often described as an alternate cut of this movie. Well, yes and no. “Mujeres Ancorraladas” was made up of maybe 2/3rds of footage recycled from this film and 1/3rd of new material. While it’s not a particularly good example of Franco’s WIP movies, this rare subtitled copy brings out the beauty of Franco’s noir-like script and the romantic love scenes between Romay and Mayans. In this area, it has moments worthy of “Bahia Blanca.”

The various Jess Franco reference books out there refer to this film (if they mention it at all) as an alternative title for “Furia en el Tropico” (“Fury In The Tropics”), a 1983 Women In Prison film starring Lina Romay and Veronica Seeton as two hapless hookers who are arrested for socializing with prison guard Robert Foster (Antonio Mayans), Ana Stern as the sadistic wardress and Ricardo Palacios as the governor who takes sexual advantage of her prisoners.

They are not the same film at all, but “Mujeres Acorraladas” (“Trapped Women”) – released three years after “Furia” – uses extensive footage from the earlier picture for its first 51 minutes, albeit with completely different music. At the point when Lina’s character stumbles naked through the woods after the death of her fellow escapee, which is basically leading into the end of “Furia,” “Mujeres” continues on for another 20 minutes or so, an entire additional third act in which Romay (now wearing a big wig) and Mayans meet (he’s not shot here), talk, swim, and brave their way through the jungle to meet with a sequestered rebel leader.

Franco chose to sign “Furia” as Clifford Brown and “Mujeres” with his own name, but this is not necessarily an indication that he was more proud of one cut than the other. (The video box for this film credits it to Clifford Brown, but the screen says otherwise.) Neither film is going to be mistaken for his best work, but both cuts contain material that makes them worth seeing by the ardent Franco fanatic. In “Mujeres”, that material tends to fall in the last 20 minutes because it omits about that much material from the prison scenes, including much of their nudity – though this version isn’t without nudity of its own.

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Furia en el trópico