The Sadistic Baron von Klaus (1962), originally La Mano de un hombre muerto, is a very early Jess Franco gothic horror in black and white featuring a ten very controversial dungeon nude torture scene featuring Gogo Rojo. She shows her breasts for must of the extended scene, and her buns as well. The young baron is told by his mother to destroy his father's dungeon, and then to leave and escape the family curse. He, instead, falls victim to the curse, and begins torturing and killing young women.

The acting and score feels more like a staged melodrama (I was tempted to boo and hiss), but does show that, even in 1962, Jess Franco was willing to show graphic nudity and violence. To my knowledge, next Tuesday's Region 1 DVD release is the first time this film has been available in the US. In a refreshing reversal of form, the edited version of the dungeon scene is the one in the deleted footage. This is chiefly of interest to Jess Franco fans, and Euro Shock completeists. C-.

IMPORTANT NOTE from Scoopy:

Some of you who have been with us for a long time realize that there are some changes going on with the front page and the rates and such. 

Let me be very clear - the changes don't apply to you old timers. An "old timer" is defined here as anyone who was ever a member before Thursday. We have become subsumed into the Cybererotica network, but one thing we received from our new partners is the promise that we can grandfather our old customers in at the old rates.  The new rates do not apply to you now or in future billings. They don't even apply to you if you quit and come back. They don't even apply to you if you are not currently a member, but were at any time prior to November 1, 2001, ever.

In other words - if you were ever a member of this site before Thursday, even for one month, the rates don't apply to you now or in the future. That is a very broad mandate. You are permanently grandfathered. So just ignore the new stuff and go about your business of enjoying the naked chicks. You don't have to do anything except log in at the right spot there are two log-ins now, so you need to pick the right one)

Nothing about the site changes either, other than that we work even harder than ever to make it good

Single White Female has been done many times before, even by me, but I was looking through the Jennifer Jason Leigh archives, and I wanted a little better selection from this film. It is a difficult film to work with, because the photography employed many day-for-night shots and other light manipulations. Essentially, I tried to make those go away, unless they were very beautiful. One thing I noted is that the Bridget Fonda's pubic area is on the screen for exactly one frame. I'm not sure what the dark spot is, but it's there for your examination. This is not exactly a major beaver shot, but I never noticed it before, so I thought it was cool.

Another thing I noticed is that JJL's shower scene does NOT show her pubic area in the theatrical release, but the DVD also includes a full-screen version which is a full negative shot, not a pan 'n scan. Therefore it includes additional information above and below what you see in the widescreen version. To get to the point, JJL's pubic area is on display for a lingering shot in the 4:3 version.

• Fonda. The first collage includes the brief moment mentioned above (bottom right), as well as the famous rear shot without the dark blue filter (top right). (1, 2)

• Leigh. The first two collages are taken from the full screen version. Ms Leigh's pubes are not visible in the widescreen transfer. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

There is a new Maria Conchita Alonso volume in the Encyclopedia. Find it under A in the Encyclopedia of Naked Celebrities on the main members' links page.

There is a new Sheryl Lee volume in the Encyclopedia. Find it under L in the Encyclopedia of Naked Celebrities on the main members' links page.

The Diane Lane volume of the Encyclopedia has been updated. Find it under L in the Encyclopedia of Naked Celebrities on the main members' links page.

The Patsy Kensit volume of the Encyclopedia has been updated. Find it under K in the Encyclopedia of Naked Celebrities on the main members' links page.

Tomorrow: Jennifer Jason Leigh

Charlie's French Cinema Nudity site is also updated. Large update this week

Good news: When I was reviewing the JJL pages for tomorrow's update, I was also going to update Fast Times, but then I scrapped the project, because the existing DVD just plain stinks. All of us celebrity nudity lovers were disappointed with the poor job in producing that DVD. Cute movie, awesome nudity, crappy DVD. 

The buzz is that a new, re-mastered, anamorphically enhanced DVD, filled with extras, will be out Jan 2. If they can do for this film what the clean-up did for Kramer vs Kramer, Fast Times could do battle with Sirens for the title of The Holy Grail of Celebrity Nudity. Waiting ... fingers crossed.

LETTERS

I thought you'd enjoy doing an analysis of  this - how many action heroes have fought themselves?

Why do they continue to make these movies -

• His brother

• His clone

• Himself in a different time

Jean Claude Van Damme must have done it  three times, just saw Jet Li do it, Arnie did it at least once as did Jackie Chan, so Sly must have done it.  Be curious if you thought this topic was worth discussing - how many, who, what movies and why (other than to satisfy  their huge egos and save money!!) 

Lisa Bronwyn Moore