This film begins with an anthropologist by the name of "Professor Jeremy Taylor" (Al Cliver) being convinced by his wife "Elizabeth Taylor" (Pamela Stanford) to take her and their young daughter "Lana" (Anouchka) with him on an expedition by boat into the Malawi wilderness. Along the way, cannibals from a hostile tribe manage to board the boat and--just prior to being knocked unconscious--Jeremy watches in horror as Elizabeth is slowly ripped apart and eaten alive in front of him. He eventually awakens, only to find himself tied up and surrounded by these same cannibals, who then chop off his left arm and proceed to consume it while he writhes in pain on the ground in a semi-conscious state. He eventually awakens and, noticing that the tribe has become somewhat distracted, manages to run off into the jungle where he is found by some white men who just happened to be in the area. His daughter, on the other hand, is found on a nearby river bank by the tribal chieftain who immediately presents her to the rest of the cannibals as a "white goddess" and demands that she be protected and worshipped by everyone present. The scene then shifts to several years later with Jeremy being nursed back to health and rehabilitating in a hospital of sorts with his main caregiver "Ana" (Lina Romay) seeming quite devoted to him. It's during this time that some long-repressed memories return which then prompts him to go to some rich benefactors of his previous expedition to request their financial assistance in a return voyage. At first, he is ridiculed but, after a day or two, both of his wealthy benefactors "Barbara Shelton" (Shirley Knight) and "Charles Fenton" (Olivier Mathdot) secretly decide to finance the return expedition simply for the fun of it all. What they don't realize, however, is that the cannibal tribe Professor Taylor has told them about does, in fact, exist--and they are more than happy to organize a reception committee to meet them. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that Jess Franco has a reputation for directing some pretty bad films in his time. And this is one of them as the acting, editing and camera work were all extremely poor. Likewise, originally filmed in Italian, the English dubbing for this movie was extremely bad as well. That being said, about the only thing even remotely interesting was the inclusion of the half-naked Sabrini Siani as the adult version of "Lana." She was absolutely stunning. But even so, that wasn't nearly enough to significantly change my evaluation of this film.
Review of White Cannibal Queen
