The first half plays into all the jingoistic cliches of the exotic adventure. For the most part, it is merely annoying. Tawny Kitaen as Gwendoline with one of the guards of the lost city In US release, it was also given the deliberately silly retitling The Perils of Gwendoline In the Land of Yik-Yak, although this would only appear to be on its poster. The film was cut from its original 106 minute runtime to 88 minutes for US release, although this has been restored in the 2005 dvd release. The film version comes from French director Just Jaeckin, best known for Emmanuelle (1974) and various other classy softcore films such as The History of O (1975) and Lady Chatterly’s Lover (1981). Willie took a serial heroine a la Pearl White in The Perils of Pauline (1914) and brought out the inherent sexuality – Gwendoline was kept in a decorous state of undress throughout her adventures, while Willie took great delight in the BDSM opportunities offered by seeing the heroine tied up by the villain. John Willie was really the first fetish artist. Created by British artist John Willie (real name John Coutts), Gwendoline appeared in Bizarre magazine between 19 and maintains a healthy afterlife today in reprints. Gwendoline is based on the cult adult comic strip The Adventures of Sweet Gwendoline.
