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Released by: Ascot Elite
Released on: December, 2014.
Director: Erwin C. Dietrich
Cast: Brigitte Lahaie, Nadine Pascal, France Lomay, Anne Libert, Erik Falk
Year: 1979
Purchase From Diabolik DVD
The Movie:
Released stateside as Six Swedes On A Campus (and elsewhere as Six Swedes In A Boarding School), Erwin C. Dietrich's 1979 film Six im Pensionat was the first of four 'Six Swedes' movies that he'd either direct or produce through the early eighties. Like the other films in the run, it's a breezy, sexy, goofy way to entertain yourself made all the more appealing by the presence of some truly stunning actresses.
The premise is very simple. Six Swedish girls - Inga (Nadine Pascal), Greta (Brigitte Lahaie), Kerstin (France Lomay), Lil (Danille Troger), Astrid (Kathleen Kane) and Selma (Elsa Maroussia) - are good to school together. In fact, they room together, which affords them the opportunity for occasional quality snuggle time. Hey, it gets cold and lonely out there… at any rate, they all study under the tutelage of one Frí¤ulein Klein (Anne Libert), a slightly older but no less attractive woman who would appear to be the only teacher at this prestigious institute of higher learning.
As Klein teaches them about the joys of becoming a fully grown woman, often with some interesting examples and hands on demonstrations, the girls get to know some of the guys in the area, specifically a fisherman (Erik Falk) and a woodsman (Edgar Del Ponte). They also deal with a peeping tom (Roman Huber) and get intimately acquainted with their physical education teacher (Mike Montana). If that weren't enough to keep them busy, Kerstin has been covertly working on a special bike…
Despite the fact that it's quite explicit (though never heads into full on hardcore territory) the best way to describe this movie is fun. There's a goofy, infectious free-spirited feeling to all of this and because of this, we never really question the morality of anyone involved in the naked shenanigans, we just go along for the ride. Everyone involved in the picture seems to be having a great time, and you can very clearly see some completely genuine smiles on the faces of the six female leads as they run (in slow motion, naturally) completely naked through the woods, and in quite a few of the other scenes as well. And of course, those girls are the main reason most would seek this film out - they're all beautiful and while their Swedish roots are certainly more than questionable, it's pretty much impossible not to get a kick out of their antics.
Dietrich does manage to give us a bit more than just a skin show, however. His films always look pretty good and this picture is no exception. There is great camera work featured throughout and some creative cinematography helps to keep things interesting from a framing and composition perspective. The score is repetitive and more than a little familiar to those familiar with his sexploitation output from this period but it works and it suits everything rather well. On top of that, the comedy that is worked into the storyline is actually pretty funny. This one comes together in ways that a lot of similar films don't, and for that reason it's a bit of a softcore classic.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Six Swedes On A Campus arrives on Blu-ray from Ascot Elite in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.85.1 widescreen. This is a decent upgrade compared to the DVD release that also came from Ascot Elite some years back. The elements used for the transfer were in very nice shape and there isn't much in the way of serious print damage to complain about at all. Grain is obvious but never distracting and there are no issues with noise reduction or edge enhancement at all. Detail is quite strong throughout the movie but sometimes the colors look just a little bit flat and a little bit faded. Black levels are closer to a really dark grey than a true black, but they're not bad. Skin tones are natural and warm looking and texture is pretty good too.
Audio options are provided German and English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and German and Italian Dolby Digital 2.0. While the 5.1 mix doesn't have the most directionality you're ever going to here, it does occasionally spread the score around a bit. Dialogue is well balanced and easy to understand and there are no issues with any hiss or distortion to note.
As far as extras go, the disc includes a featurette called Peter Baumgartner, Filmkameramann (worth watching even with the language barrier for the plethora of behind the scenes photos) that also appeared on the Gefangene Frauen disc, this time with subtitles. This is a really interesting look back at Peter Baumgartner's career behind the camera working on plenty of different projects over the years. Here he talks about the influence of Italian art films, his first meeting with Erwin C. Dietrich, cutting his teeth on Sexy Baby (the first feature he worked on), how he occasionally directed some scenes on the movies he worked on as well as what it was like working with some of the cast members that appeared in the pictures he was involved with, Klaus Kinski being one of them. He also talks about acting alongside Lina Romay and making films for Dietrich with Karine Gambier and Brigitte Lahaie.
Aside from that, we get a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Erwin C. Dietrich titles available (Die Nichten der Frau Oberst, Julchen Und Jettchen, Voodoo Passion, The Women In Cell Block 9, Downtown, Die Sklavinnen, Ich - Ein Groupie and Die Stewardessen) on Blu-ray from Ascot-Elite, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection.
Once again, for the BD-Rom equipped, if you pop the disc into your drive you'll have access the same thirty-six page text interview with Dietrich from an issue of a German fanzine called Splatting Image and the rare one hundred and ninety seven page book on Dietrich's films, Mädchen, Machos und Moneten: die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizer Kinounternehmers Erwin C. Dietrich. It's all in German but these are nice additions to the release (and duplicated on all of the discs in the line so far). Additionally, the Blu-ray case fits inside a lenticular slipcover that basically features the same artwork.
The Final Word:
Six Swedes On A Campus is silly, sexy fun and the Blu-ray debut of one of Erwin C. Dietrich's finest sexploitation pictures is a winner. The quality is a nice upgrade over the DVD release from years back and we get a few extras too.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
