"They're bustin' out" when Severin Films aides and abets an ESCAPE FROM WOMEN'S PRISON with their Easter Blu-ray release.

Four prisoners – anarchist Monica Habler (Lilli Carati, TO BE TWENTY), murderess Diana (Marina Daunia, VERY CLOSE ENCOUNTERS), thick thief Betty (Artemia Terenziani), and prostitute Erica (Ada Pometti, MADNESS) – have pulled a daring escape from a women's penitentiary. Things go awry from the start when they run into cops and Monica's getaway driver brother Pierre is badly wounded. They seek help from a passing busload of female tennis players but a radio report gives away their identities and they now have hostages but are in need of a hideout. Pragmatic Terry (Ines Pellegrini, EYEBALL) suggests the country house of a school friend whose father is a magistrate. Unfortunately, the judge (Filippo De Gara, INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION) happens to be home for the weekend and is taken hostage as well. While the others are locked away in a basement storage room, first aid student Claudine (Dirce Funari, EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD) is taken up to attend Pierre but catches the sapphic attention of Diana while bus driver Marco (Franco Ferrer) is assaulted by nymphomaniac Erica. Although Terry claims to share Monica's beliefs, Anna (Zora Kerowa, NEW YORK RIPPER) turns out to be the one confident enough to negotiate with her and stand up to their other captors. When their hideout is exposed, tensions flare between Monica and Diana over what to do with their hostages if their demands are not met.

The American release title ESCAPE FROM WOMEN'S PRISON may be more eye-catching in the era of the women-in-prison film, the Italian title LE EVASE and its subtitle A STORY OF SEX AND VIOLENCE (or even the British title JAILBIRDS) is more accurate. The film in some ways feels more a variation on THE LAST HOUSE ON THE BEACH with less explicit violence, tamer acts of humiliation, and nonconsensual but not really brutal sex. Characterization and character dynamics set the film apart from the usual, with the bourgeoisie as contemptuous of the escapees as they, authority figures revealing or having exposed their corrupt nature by characters who are guilty of their crimes but nonetheless exploited as soon as they are rendered vulnerable (with the third act standoff revealing that bars are no longer needed for these fugitives to feel trapped). Although dubbed on both English and Italian versions, main performances are generally quite good while it could even be argued that one supporting character who shows up in the third act is deliberately given a bland delivery. The abrupt ending is appropriately cynical, even sickly so. The funky scoring is the work of Pippo Caruso (EYE BEHIND THE WALL) while the theme song "On My Way to Liberty" clashes tonally with the film but is nevertheless a pleasant choice with some lost in translation lyrics ("Or you'll end up with a losing, am I mad?!") The film was the sole directorial effort of actor Giovanni Brusadori (ZEDER) who used the pseudonym "Conrad Bruegel." Co-producer Aldo Maglietti and co-producer/co-writer Bruno Fontana would subsequently collaborate on THE DIRTY SEVEN, a rape-revenge drama in which the presence of Laura Gemser lead to it being retitled EMANUELLE: QUEEN OF THE DESERT. Dick Randall (PIECES) is also credited in references as a producer, but this is the film in which his involvement is least felt.

Released theatrically in the United States by 21st Century Film Corporation running ten minutes shorter (83:11) than the Italian original (94:12), the film came to VHS in one of Continental Video's double features in an even shorter version paired with SWEET SUGAR (that shorter version is presumably the ~75 minute version that popped up on a couple Brentwood/BCI sets). Although a longer version has turned up on UK budget DVD, the uncut English export version of the film is apparently lost along; as such, Severin has presented the film in two separate cuts. The English-language version is 21st Century's American cut sourced from a dupe negative. The 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen transfer of this rather functionally photographed film is subject to the limitations of the source, looking very grainy with baked-in scratches and black crush in the shadows (as well as the dark hair of some of the cast) while the blunt edits to the American version mean that splices have also been duped into the element. Some of the audio edits are also rather blunt but the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track is in good condition and English SDH subtitles are also included (they are worth turning on just for the song lyric transcriptions). The Italian version is sourced from better-looking elements, retaining a degree of softness that seems characteristic of the work of cinematographer Nino Celeste (HOUSE OF CLOCKS) while sporting better color saturation and softer shadows that are easier on the features of the female cast. While the shorter version is a crackling grindhouse pic, the longer version's additional debates between Anna and Monica about revolutionary violence and pacifism, more tension between Monica and Anna, Betty stealing away to eat (which suggests a degree of insecurity about her weight underneath her tough exterior), and some more explicit antics between Erica and Marco do lend suggest that the filmmakers intended something different than the usual (the ending is abrupt in both versions with the credits rolling over a freeze frame in the Italian while the English cuts to black before rolling credits). Although the image is 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC, the Italian audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono but in good condition with optional English subtitles.