Director – Jess Franco (Oasis of the Zombies)
Starring – Shirley Eaton (The Million Eyes of Sumuru), Richard Weyler (The Ugly Ones), and George Sanders (The Jungle Book)
Release Date – 1969
Rating – 2.5/5
Several years ago I decided to check out a double feature from Blue Underground that features the 1969 Jess Franco film The Girl From Rio. I don’t remember a lot about the film but I do remember it was fairly typical of a Franco film.
Fast forward a few years and Blue Underground has released the film on UHD and was kind enough to send a copy my way for review. I love Blue Underground and I’m always grateful when they send a movie over for review.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows a secret agent pretending to be a crook with 10 million dollars in his possession. He lands in Rio and is immediately thrust in the middle of a war between a local crime boss and the all female army lead by Sumuru.
Sumuru then makes her move and grabs the secret agent thinking he has the cash where he quickly reveals that he actually does not have the cash. She then uses him for her sinister plans only to come face to face with the war that she brought to her very own doorstep.**Spoiler Alert**
The Million Eyes of Sumuru had a pretty interesting story that honestly kept me watching. Thought it wasn’t nothing groundbreaking it still entertained which is all I ask of any movie. The Girl from Rio gave us more of the same but with nothing new or different. This installment could have been skipped entirely.
The acting in this one is more of what we got in the first Sumuru installment. The cast delivers a solid performance but they are not that memorable and none of the characters stand out. Even Eaton’s performance seems like it was dialed down. She was the most entertaining aspect of the first film and her character seems like it was almost written out.
The story for this one is more of what we got with the first film following a secret agent who infiltrates Sumuru’s all female army to bring them down. Nothing was done to try and set itself apart from the other film. If the film would have tried to give us a different story with a little different bit of a twist then the film would have been fun but it wasn’t.
Finally, this installment has a lot more action than the first film but it is very repetitive and quickly loses it’s momentum. The film really needed to pace out the action sequences and try to give the viewer something different instead of the same thing over and over. Overall, The Girl from Rio is a poor sequel and one of the few misses directed from one of the greats, Jess Franco.
Special Features:
Optional Subtitles English SDH, Français, Español
English: 1.0 DTS-HD MA
Disc 1 (4K UHD Blu-ray) Feature Film + Extras:
NEW! Audio Commentary with Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth
Disc 2 (Blu-ray) Feature Film + Extras:
EW! Audio Commentary with Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth
NEW! Rocking in Rio – Interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of “Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinemaof Jesus Franco”
Rolling in Rio – Interviews with Director Jess Franco, Producer Harry Alan Towers and Star Shirley Eaton
NEW! Additional Scenes from German Version
Trim Reel
PosterStill Gallery
NEW! RiffTrax Edition – THE GIRL FROM RIO Riffed by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett & Kevin Murphy (78 Mins.)
