Women of the World (1963)

What a beautiful movie!

Lack of good storyline.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

After a little over 5 years from its release, Blue Underground's "The Mondo Cane Collection" is still, for my money, the biggest scam in the history of DVD. It's not because the films themselves were not as "shocking" as they had been played up to be (I had watched most of them on Italian TV already) or because the discs were shoddily presented but for the reason that, after hyping their "10,000 Limited Edition" status – which doubtlessly duped many a serious film collector (myself included) into springing for the $120 set – these same films (indeed discs) have subsequently, in 2005 and 2008, been variously reissued by the same company under different combinations for half the price they were originally being offered for! This deceit perhaps explains why it has taken me all this time to pop any of the 8 discs included in the original set into my DVD player for the first time – although, as I said before, only 2 of them (the title under review and the feature-length documentary on the duo of controversial film-makers) had been completely unfamiliar to me. As it turned out, WOMEN OF THE WORLD was pretty blah as well…which kind of increased my despondency about the whole bloody affair! Anyway, what we have here is a disparate depiction of the plight of women around the world circa 1962: from Israeli freedom fighters to Japanese pearl divers, from mature Hamburg whores to Swiss pain-free birth clinics, etc. Actually, watching the women from the exotic regions going about their strenuous daily work routine (carrying heavy loads and so on) while their lethargic husbands look impassively on, laze about or, worse still, put on make up and act queer, did provoke the occasional heckle from the undersigned but, I regret to say, it was mostly a rather dull ride. At least, the music (by Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliveiro) is, typically for like product, quite good. While on the Italian version, the occasionally witty narration is provided by one of the film-makers himself (Jacopetti), the English translation (which is also present on the disc and, inexplicably, it reverted to while I was watching) is read by Peter Ustinov!

"Women of the World" is an entertaining mondo movie from Paolo ("Mondo Cane") Cavara and Gualtiero ("Mondo Cane" 1 & 2, "Farewell Africa", "Goodbye Uncle Tom") Jacopetti.Ably narrated by the legendary Peter Ustinov, this has an overall lighter tone than the other mondo movies from Cavara and Jacopetti, concentrating on the fairer of the species and their activities around the world. Cue some scenes of very lovely ladies as well as some less attractive females!As always, some of the content does have a disturbing edge and there are some genuinely moving scenes.The film's imagery and narration are accompanied by an excellent score by Nino Oliviero and Riz Ortolani.7 out of 10. A memorable film experience and an interesting glimpse into the past. They don't make 'em like this anymore!

Based upon today's standards, the Cane series may seem quite dated. But when I was in high school, these were cult films and considered quite unique and groundbreaking. While the reaction wasn't anything like that of Rocky Horror Picture Show, many teens enjoyed going to these movies over and over. We had never seen anything quite like it. These were the days long before the internet and cable TV. Married people were still sleeping in twin beds on TV, so the times were VERY different. The Cane series just opened up a whole new world. My two favorites were Mondo Cane and Women of the World. Some of the scenes are rather gory. Pictures of face lifts and other beauty treatments can be seen today 24/7 on cable TV, but this was heavy for the time. The award winning song, "More" came from Mando Cane. Its melody is haunting and all of you have heard it, even though you might not be aware that it came from that movie. Peter Ustinov was definitely ahead of his time and these movies are worth seeing, if for no other reason than to find out what your parents or grandparents found fascinating during their adolescence!

Women of the World felt like a direct sequel to Mondo Cane. It did fairly well in art houses -- considered a little too edgy for early 60's sentimentality to open very wide. Regrettably, it seems to be a lost film, at least in the U.S. The Riz Ortolani score is terrific. The main theme is a rousing twist number with a delightful montage of a variety of women. The rest of the score is a real treat for soundtrack aficianados. Look for this great movie score in vinyl bins.