Happy Birthday Dyanne Thorne! – The Ilsa Trilogy (Pre-Franco)
10-10-75, Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS in the Detroit area including Downtown at the Madison. It’s great to know that the one and only Dyanne Thorne is 73 today and of course you know that means it’s time for a celebration of classic ads that may take you back, wish you had a time machine, or were born a decade earlier featuring the actress who has a Ph.D. in Comparative religion and became an ordained minister in Las Vegas who co-ran an outside wedding service with her husband Howard Maurer (married since 1974).
Here’s the site…
http://www.ascenicwedding.com/
Onward! There’s no escaping the fact that Ilsa She Wolf of the SS is a hard film to top, and Dyanne Thorne’s performance made her a star. Sadly, the infamy was more than the fame and her career from 1975 on was mainly down to the Ilsa movies made with Don Edmonds and Tigress with Jean Lafluer as well as Jess Franco’s Wanda the Wicked Warden. Wanda turned into the unofficial fourth Ilsa film for those who wanted the hard action that Tigress lacked for the extreme fans of the series thanks to a re-title for the VHS market that wanted to know what it was getting. Yeah, like me, but I respect those who get into Tigress for it’s own merits.
This is in tribute to the three official Ilsa films – I have posted about the Jess Franco film in a couple of posts and wanted to keep things in a serious focus with what was seen back in the day.
2-7- and 2-14-75, Louisville – Take note about the warning. If you have not seen it, you might want to keep that in mind. The second week was very wild as it changed venue and played with another controversial film of the decade.
2-21-75 – Ottawa, the showing that raised a bit of controversy. Maybe that was an understatement!
6-27-75 – The French version in Ottawa
8-8-75 at the Loop in Chicago for the Midwest premiere.
11-14-75, Carbondale, Illinois- The Varsity 1 was no stranger to controversial films.
3-5-76, Ottawa – While the original Ilsa was still running through the States, the second chapter of her adventures was starting to wage another war. More big ads later, but for now it’s time to see what I have collected so far.
5-14-76, Jackson, Mississippi – The R version was reported in the Oct. 5, 1976 Boxoffice, so who knows if that was the actual edited version…The 70’s!
5-21-76, Statesville, NC with the self-imposed Different Kind of X
4-9-76, Troy, NY – By this time, Exploitation distributors knew where their films were going to play after the Early 70’s madness. thankfully in 1976, there were still plenty to go around.
6-28-76, Kansas City – The Fairyland DI was already known for Adults Only and Exploitation shows
6-26-76, Brandon, Manitoba at the Lucky Star DI – as it should be!
6-25-76, Del Rio, TX at the Gay 90 – The DI was noted for being one for the Adults Only shows, so the X was alright.
7-24-76, Strausberg, OH at the Lynn – The DI was noted for being an Adults Only area especially for the Late Shows.
8-27-76, Pittsburgh at the Fulton Mini in the MPAA-R version, which was officially rated before She Wolf’s re-rating.
12-10-76, Greenville, SC – The R version had plenty of screenings, but it certainly was not the real experience!
1-27-78, Ottawa – This is for those who remember that this was the real Film 3 before Wanda took over it’s place for some fans. Although I love the Wicked Warden, this is to bring up the much-maligned Tigress – have to see it again.
The Scene of Screen 13 