Zenabel (1969)

Title	Zenabel
Origin	Italy, 1969
Genre	Adventure: Comedy
Director	Ruggero Deodato
Starring	Lucretia Love, Mauro Parenti, Lionel Stander, John Ireland
Music	Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai
Blurb	-

Something for the Dads Zenabel, friends, cow and udders.

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Here's a saucy piece of swashbuckling adventure, adapted from a popular comic book, and directed by Ruggero "Cannibal Holocaust" Deodato. This bad-boy of Italian cinema has quite a following, yet in one lengthy forum discussion I read recently there was not a single mention of Zenabel.

Which is a shame as it's a whole lot of fun. We open up in gloriously rustic style with a group of beautiful maidens peeling off their garments and splashing into a river by a picturesque waterfall. In slow motion, to vibrant and unusual theme music. Talk about starting as you mean to go on! One glance at this and no red-blooded male could fail to sit down and watch to the end (in fact I stood so transfixed it took me twenty minutes to realise I hadn't actually got round to sitting down yet).

I think featuring the cow was truly inspired. It adds a homely touch yet is indefinably kinky at the same time (in real life it would inevitably have laid its pats in the water and the girls would have had to get out). All this nudity is even relevant to the plot, because the next scene is about women bathing by a waterfall with nothing on.

The story is set in Spain in the seventeenth century or thereabouts. Fair Zenabel (Lucretia Love), secretly of aristocratic stock, has her inheritance usurped by the evil Baron Don Alonso (John Ireland). So she raises an army of virgins to fight for her birthright. Along the way many women will show off their charms, and many men will be made fools of. Zenabel has a couple of male sidekicks whom she tries to make wear dresses. One is a strange-looking beanpole (probably a glandular complaint), the other is played by grizzly Lionel Stander, Max from Hart to Hart. Fans of his will be delighted to see him at one point strip down to a ridiculous pair of underpants!

Bum Pleasure Wicked Zenny gets her just deserts.

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Soon Zenabel's army clashes with a horde of bandits, much to the men's derision. But when their leader Gennaro (Mauro Parenti) contemptuously dares her to shoot him in the backside she actually goes ahead and does so. Lucky for him her rifle blew up in her face - and blimey did she look sheepish! Zenny makes haste in any direction but his, and in one of his occasional avant-gardeisms Deodato turns the camera upside down and has Zenny scarpering across the sky.

Justice must prevail and happily the Bandit King chases down the Virgin Queen and soon has her at his mercy. Hmm, what is her punishment to be? Pull her pants down that's right, take your belt to her and give that bare bottom a damn good thrashing! Argghh no you fool, don't perform a "sex act" on her! So not only does he throw away a golden opportunity with no more than a playful slap, but considering that later on Zenny is still claiming to be a virgin he also forfeits his right to call himself a gentleman. Bah!

Torture Chamber Zenny is forced to suffer the Baron's knob jokes.

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Mostly the tone is of light comedy, with many scenes of nudity (usually with discreet covering of the rudest bits). The more restrained scenes have just one or two women naked at a time, sometimes there's a whole screenful of them. This is boob and bum lovers' heaven! One fine set-piece has a pack of nudes hunted through the woods with horses and dogs.

Sometimes a slightly darker tone takes over, such as a very gothic scene in a torture chamber. Zenabel is at the Baron's mercy, but the worst she has to suffer is too much phallic innuendo. The jokes surely suffer in translation, but I suspect as usual they were on the weak side in Italian too.

Deodato's direction is lively enough, though not especially distinctive. Production design and locations are effective, despite the feeling there was not a lot of money to work with. The music is modern in style, and the standard is very variable, but the main themes are rich, bold and enhance the mood.

By far the film's greatest asset is its star Lucretia Love herself. She is beautiful and vivacious, and can act her part as well. She truly is the Queen, Zenabel!

Ratings

Quality: 7/10   Fun: 8/10

Review copy

Publisher	Unlicensed
Format	DVD Region 0, PAL 4:3
Certificate	VM 14 (Italy)
Image	English dub, Greek subtitles, weak VHS transfer from NTSC source