Women in prison films have a celebrated history of masking the reality of how nasty most women in prison really are. In place of hairy, worn out she-males we have a virtual harem of gorgeous Chinese and American women, wearing the standard "night shirt and panties" prison uniform. In this fantasy world of film, you never know when some girls are going to randomly make out or have a communal shower party. Constant images of Gina Gershon come to mind for some reason. This is the world of "Bamboo House of Dolls", which follows a 70's stash of babes enveloped in the dark and vicious clutches of the Japanese.

In the film, six of the imprisoned women are aided in escaping by an insider posing as a cook for the soldiers. They are faced with the arduous tasks of escaping the prison and finding the hidden gold that will fund the Chinese in obtaining much needed weaponry, as well as dealing with an unknown spy within their group and the burden of outrunning the pursuing soldiers.

The Japanese are downright nasty in this film. Portrayed as sex crazed beasts at times, even the female leader gets in some action with one of the girls via ye olde strap-on. Most of the intense moments are pushed towards the first half of the film, which makes it seem somewhat unbalanced. During the initial entry into the 13th Women's Concentration Camp, the viewer is introduced to the ruthless methods of punishment and torture issued out in the prison. They make the women take turns beating a fellow prisoner to death, and when one tries to escape she gets completely fried on the electric barbed wires. The tension is much greater during these moments, and the situation always seems bleak.

But the film is dominated by faceless characters that serve their typical purpose, such as the blind girl whose heightened sense of sound aids them in a couple tough jams, and the rest of the main group of characters that are easily mixed up and for the most part too quickly forgotten. It's not necessarily a problem that lies solely with the generic performances, but is contributed to by the overall humdrum nature of the plot. The most exciting part of the movie should be the escape sequences. While at first interesting, it ends up turning into a continuous and patience-trying volley between freedom and captivity.

"Dolls" does have it's moments, though, some exciting and some unintentionally hilarious. There are a couple decent action sequences, and a battle between the Japanese soldiers and a group of guerillas ends up with some amusing bloodshed, bright crimson and in the classic gushing Shaw style. Other than this and a few less memorable brawls, not to mention the films first quarter, there isn't as large an amount of violence as one would expect. However, a couple of the choice rivalries created in the movie seemed to beg for some more vindictive action.

A couple moments in the film managed to be funny in a more awkward sense. One image that will forever be burned into my mind is when the prisoners take a public shower with each other. Cue the party music as they rub a dub like they were miles away from any sort of horrible and violent situation. This scene is classic mostly because it's sandwiched so tightly between such serious moments.

As the film nears its climax, it begins to drag like it's running out of steam. Add in an unnecessary romance and a conspicuously clumsy Japanese army and you've got the formula for the last half of "Dolls". It's not an entirely bad movie, it's just got the right amount of cheese to land it in the realm of mildly successful B-movies. Fans of women in prison films should check it out, as it contains a truly astonishing boobs per minute ratio. Those looking for a classic Shaw Studios film may be disappointed by this average outing by director Kuei Chih-hung, and with so many Celestial releases currently hitting the DVD market, you may want to try it before you buy it.