House of Whipcord is set in England & starts in London at a advertising photographers party, there Tony (Ray Brooks) tells the story of how he & an eighteen year old French model named Anne-Marie Di Verney (Penny Irving) were arrested & fined £10 for taking some pictures in public while Anne-Marie was topless. Later that night Anne-Marie is seduced by the mysterious & handsome Mark E. Desade (Robert Tayman) who ask's her to spend the weekend with him at his mother's house in the country, Anne-Marie accepts but once they arrive at Desade's house Anne-Marie is stripped & locked in a cell. The old house used to be a jail & is now run by sadistic prison wardens as a means to punish those who got off lightly in the regular courts, the whole affair is overseen by Mrs. Wakehurst (Barbara Markham) & her old, blind husband Judge Bailey (Patrick Barr) who passes judgement & suitable punishment to any offenders. Anne-Marie finds herself locked up, tortured & abused as she tries to find a way to escape...
This British production was produced & directed by Pete Walker & wasn't quite what I expected, in one way that is a positive yet in another it's a negative as while House of Whipcord is a more meaningful film than I had thought the sleaze & exploitation aspects suffer as a result. House of Whipcord feels like a 70's British set women in prison film with a bizarre back-story of various sadistic prison guards who have set their own jail up seemingly to punish attractive young girls. The script & sensibilities of House of Whipcord clearly sides with those who are tortured, imprisoned & repressed. The script presents those in power using it for their own gratification & abusing it, something that feels all too real although obviously not to such an extreme level as seen here. House of Whipcord has a very strong anti-conservative & institutional theme running throughout. The script attacks the strict moral codes of an older generation who seek to punish the sexual freedom & moral abandonment of a younger generation (the fact that the Judge is literally blind is surely no coincidence?) & it makes it's point effectively enough, the Judge who keeps passing down sentence with utmost authority despite no-one being in the room to hear him is a good moment to emphasise the pointlessness in his actions. There are a few things that don't make sense, if these guards are so interested in justice & sticking by the rule why break them so often? Why only punish young girls? Why on such a small scale? What did they really hope to achieve? At just over 100 minutes House of Whipcord moves along at a decent pace, it does get a bit repetitive & the lack of sleaze is a bit disappointing but it's a more thoughtful film than I had expected. The final twenty or so minutes features the search & finding of Anne-Marie & a slight shift in tone to a thriller that certainly isn't as effective as it's first two thirds.
I am not sure if it's the copy that I saw but the nighttime scenes set outside are really dark & hard to see what's going on, filmed on location in London & in the Forest of Dean in Gloustershire this looks quite good & has reasonable production values. There is a bit of nudity, a whipping scene & a hanging but little else in the way of graphic sleaze. House of Whipcord has that 70's look & feel which suits the material perfectly, I can't imagine this being set in contemporary times.
Probably shot on a low budget the acting is alright, in fact it's better than it has any right to be as the entire cast play it deadly serious. All the main players put in good, if somewhat demented performances.
House of Whipcord is a better film than I thought it would be, it has more meaning & depth than you may initially expect but the lack of any true horror or sleaze doesn't help it. An obvious attack on censorship & conservatism the opening of the film has text that reads 'This film is dedicated to those who are disturbed by today's lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment.' which is surely the complete opposite what Walker meant as House of Whipcord is the type of film that would give them a heart attack!
This British production was produced & directed by Pete Walker & wasn't quite what I expected, in one way that is a positive yet in another it's a negative as while House of Whipcord is a more meaningful film than I had thought the sleaze & exploitation aspects suffer as a result. House of Whipcord feels like a 70's British set women in prison film with a bizarre back-story of various sadistic prison guards who have set their own jail up seemingly to punish attractive young girls. The script & sensibilities of House of Whipcord clearly sides with those who are tortured, imprisoned & repressed. The script presents those in power using it for their own gratification & abusing it, something that feels all too real although obviously not to such an extreme level as seen here. House of Whipcord has a very strong anti-conservative & institutional theme running throughout. The script attacks the strict moral codes of an older generation who seek to punish the sexual freedom & moral abandonment of a younger generation (the fact that the Judge is literally blind is surely no coincidence?) & it makes it's point effectively enough, the Judge who keeps passing down sentence with utmost authority despite no-one being in the room to hear him is a good moment to emphasise the pointlessness in his actions. There are a few things that don't make sense, if these guards are so interested in justice & sticking by the rule why break them so often? Why only punish young girls? Why on such a small scale? What did they really hope to achieve? At just over 100 minutes House of Whipcord moves along at a decent pace, it does get a bit repetitive & the lack of sleaze is a bit disappointing but it's a more thoughtful film than I had expected. The final twenty or so minutes features the search & finding of Anne-Marie & a slight shift in tone to a thriller that certainly isn't as effective as it's first two thirds.
I am not sure if it's the copy that I saw but the nighttime scenes set outside are really dark & hard to see what's going on, filmed on location in London & in the Forest of Dean in Gloustershire this looks quite good & has reasonable production values. There is a bit of nudity, a whipping scene & a hanging but little else in the way of graphic sleaze. House of Whipcord has that 70's look & feel which suits the material perfectly, I can't imagine this being set in contemporary times.
Probably shot on a low budget the acting is alright, in fact it's better than it has any right to be as the entire cast play it deadly serious. All the main players put in good, if somewhat demented performances.
House of Whipcord is a better film than I thought it would be, it has more meaning & depth than you may initially expect but the lack of any true horror or sleaze doesn't help it. An obvious attack on censorship & conservatism the opening of the film has text that reads 'This film is dedicated to those who are disturbed by today's lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment.' which is surely the complete opposite what Walker meant as House of Whipcord is the type of film that would give them a heart attack!