The Countess Died of Laughter

THE COUNTESS DIED OF LAUGHTER is an Italian/West German sex comedy set in and around a nunnery, of all places. It's actually the sixth in a series of similarly-themed comedies that were being made since the 1960s. These films do seem to have had cinematic releases in the UK back in the 1970s but have languished in obscurity ever since, and watching this it's easy to see why. This film simply isn't very good.

It's an obscure comedy with some very broad jokes and lots of softcore fumblings and female nudity to pad out the running time. I don't mind the genre as a whole but if you're looking for smutty CARRY ON style stylings here then you aren't going to find them. The jokes are extremely exaggerated and the typical poor dub job means that they don't translate very well. I found the performances over the top and the acting styles unfunny.

What the film does have going for it is a gorgeous leading lady (Femi Benussi, star of many a genre film from the era) and Gabriele Tinti, your usual go-to guy for stuff like this. The end result is quite mindless, with lots of attractive starlets happy to disrobe for the camera but barely any kind of plot. It's definitely German style comedy rather than Italian, and the only thing missing is a pair of lederhosen.