''Ms. Stiletto'' (), is a 1969 historical

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

, directed by

Bruno Corbucci Bruno Corbucci (23 October 1931 – 7 September 1996) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He was the younger brother of Sergio Corbucci and wrote many of his films. He was born in Rome, where he also died. The vast majority of h ...

. The setting is the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

in the early 17th century, while

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

is still underage. An Alsatian baron kills the family of a Duke and claims their

Château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

for himself. The Duke's daughter is rescued by a

gypsy {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

tribal leader A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afr ...

. Several years later, the girl has become a

teenager Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated wi ...

and seeks

revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...

Plot

Early 17th century, France. Eric von Nutter, a greedy Alsatian

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

raids

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

de Frissac's family estate Château Salins and kills his entire family except Isabella, his little daughter. Isabella is saved by Melicour, the head of a

tribe nicknamed The Devils. Years later, Isabella is a beautiful and courageous teenage girl. By chance, she encounters

François de Bassompierre François de Bassompierre (; 12 April 157912 October 1646) was a French courtier. The son of Christophe de Bassompierre (1547–1596), he was born at the castle of Haroué in Lorraine. He was descended from an old family which had for generatio ...

and gets the opportunity to reclaim her title but Château Salins is now possessed by Von Nutter. France is going through political instability under the child king

and needs support from German princes. Therefore, Isabella is barred from possession of Château Salins by the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

and a young

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

, Gilbert de Villancourt is assigned as a guardian to her. However, following a failed assassination attempt by a minion of Von Nutter, Isabella vows to avenge her family and take Château Salins back.

Cast

Background

''Ms. Stiletto'' is an adaptation of the ''

fumetto Photo comics are a form of sequential storytelling using photographs rather than illustrations for the images, along with the usual comics conventions of narrative text and word balloons containing dialogue. They are sometimes referred to in ...

'' '' Isabella, duchessa dei diavoli'', a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series by

Renzo Barbieri Renzo Barbieri (10 March 1940 – 23 September 2007) was an author and editor of Italian comics as well as the founder of the publishing house Edifumetto. In 1980 he wrote ''Il Manuale del Playboy'' (Manual for Playboys), a textbook about whe ...

, who created the character of Isabella, and

Giorgio Cavedon Giorgio Cavedon (17 December 1930 – 14 October 2001) was an Italian publisher, cartoonist and screenwriter. Cavedon was most associated with his adult comics he wrote with Renzo Barbieri. His first comic, ''Isabella (comics), Isabella'' was I ...

, who wrote the stories. The comic series became popular in Italy and was Italy's first openly erotic comic strip. The film was part of a minor trend of comic strip adaptations that emphasised mild

sado-masochism Sadism () and masochism (), known collectively as sadomasochism ( ) or S&M, is the derivation of pleasure from acts of respectively inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. The term is named after the Marquis de Sade, a French author known ...

and late 1960s fetish gear, which started with '' Danger: Diabolik'' and '' Barbarella''.

Release

''Ms. Stiletto'' was released in Italy in 1969. The film was released on home video in the United States under the title ''Ms. Stiletto'' in the mid 1980s. As of 2016, the film is only available in the United States through a

VHS tape VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Mag ...

from the Force Video label. Italian film historian and critic described this tape as "badly cropped VHS" that is "sold at a very high price among collectors."

References

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

* {{Bruno Corbucci 1969 films 1960s historical adventure films 1960s exploitation films 1960s teen films Italian historical adventure films West German films 1960s Italian-language films Films directed by Bruno Corbucci Italian sexploitation films Films set in France Films set in the 1610s Italian swashbuckler films Films based on Italian comics Live-action films based on comics 1960s Italian films Cultural depictions of Louis XIII German films about revenge Italian films about revenge Films about nobility