White Slave, the adventures of Catherine Miles Armstrong

I watched White Slave last week and it shares the same message that Cannibal Ferox was alluding to but from a different perspective. It is a thriller about a young Englishwoman who is taken by native Amazons after her family is killed during a picnic outing. It is the supposed ‘true story’ reenactment of Catherine Miles which I highly doubt.

This Italian production mirrors Cannibal Ferox and Cannibal Holocaust to some degree that it is even renamed Cannibal Holocaust 2: The Catherine Miles Story in Spain and Germany. It stars French actress Elvire Audray (1960 – 2000), Will Gonzales, Dick Campbell, Andrea Coppola, Dick Marshall, Alma Vernon and Grace Williams.

These are relatively unknown thespians (for me anyway) so I would be really grateful if anyone can help list other films by Audray or Gonzales.

Anyway, the movie is a love story and revolves around Catherine Miles (Audray) whose parents are killed during a picnic outing in their boathouse in the Amazon river. She is then taken by a tribe to their village where the young hunter Umu Kai (Gonzales) falls in love with her and takes her as his bride. However, believing that her new husband is responsible for her parents deaths, she hates him and vows vengeance.

As I mentioned earlier, the movie follows closely in the tradition of other cannibal films based in the Amazon. It is again an anthropological statement about the culture and way of life of ‘primitives’ as opposed to ‘civilized Western culture’.

As a love story, the movie is remiss of unrequited love and the reasons behind it. However, without giving too much away, it also shows what patience and love can do to change someone. I mean most of us who have ever been in such a situation can relate to that. Right?

There is minimal blood and gore and the story is told as a recollection by Miles to a journalist and flashbacks during her trial. While there is some form of violence, it is mild compared to Cannibal Holocaust or Cannibal Ferox. The title is misleading but the story is equally entertaining with an interesting love story.

Overall, it is an entertaining piece of cinema and worth watching.

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