Rolls Royce Baby Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Rolls Royce Baby Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Justin Dekker July 30, 2025

The first title from the new label Delirium Home Video arrives on Blu-ray, and importantly, for fans, its first US Blu-ray release, is none other than 1975's 'Rolls Royce Baby'. An Erwin C Dietrich production, the film stars Lina Romay ('Female Vampire', 'Jack the Ripper', 'Bahía blanca'), the long- time muse of Director Jess Franco, alongside Erik Falk ('Mad Foxes', 'Blue Rita'). The release features solid technical merits and an assortment of on- disc supplemental material that includes a commentary from Chris Alexander, the editor of "Delirium Magazine" and head of Delirium Home Video. A slipcover is also included.

Dietrich's Rolls Royce Baby wastes little time in informing viewers what they're in store for should they choose to give the disc a spin, though I doubt many watchers are coming to the film for the first time or, at the very least, without some background information. Lisa, played by Lina Romay who, here, is but two years into an acting career that would last for almost forty, is a woman of unknown but obviously substantial means. Modeling and performing in erotic films would appear to be her only potential sources of income. While her rooms may not be lavishly appointed, her stately home sits on a sizeable rural estate. Her only constant companion is her chauffer. As the film spends the majority of its runtime to document, Lisa is a woman whose only apparent pursuit is to seek pleasure wherever, whenever, and with whomever it may be found, with her vintage Rolls Royce getting her safely there and back again.

Lina Romay may not have had any real education in acting, but that seemed to have had little impact on her career. After small roles in films like The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff and The Other Side of the Mirror, a bold Romay would make her presence known in 1973's Female Vampire. In that film, Romay would demonstrate her ability to convey emotion and hold the attention of an audience even without much dialogue. While some may find that film slow and not in keeping with the traditional vampire pictures of that era, Female Vampire perfectly demonstrates the elements that make Jess Franco's films unique. Aside from certain tendencies with regard to, most notably, shot composition and heavy reliance on zooms, the best of Franco's films are infused with a certain dreaminess. People, places, and events, seem like they come from the viewer's world, but they are somehow not quite what they should be. A precise grounding in time and an understanding of its passing are clouded, and the often languid pace of events brings the viewer ever further on in the journey. What was required of her in Female Vampire certainly prepared her well for Rolls Royce Baby.

By the time this film was made in 1975, Romay already had roughly 20 films under her belt, and her association and relationship with Franco were already clear. If Female Vampire was effectively introducing Lina Romay to an unsuspecting audience, Rolls Royce Baby is something more akin to a love letter. Aside from establishing shots, Lina Romay essentially never leaves the screen. Every scene and each shot contained therein seems to exist solely to display Lina from the best angle and in the best possible light. Throughout it all, her impish and mischievous smile is never long absent. Her Lisa is playful, serious, excited, saturnine, and adventurous, but always firmly in control.

Aside from Romay's performance, it's her character's ability to constantly maintain control that makes the film as enjoyable as it is. In an era when gender roles often dictated that men, even the married ones, should be the ones to go out and seek amorous adventures while women remained home to raise a family, Lisa is unencumbered by any such relationship or expectations. She is free to come and go as she pleases. Safely ensconced in the back of her Rolls Royce as she prowls the countryside, and she chooses her partners as she sees fit. While picking up hitchhikers in a chauffeured Rolls may grant her some positional power with her partners, that is never explicitly expressed or leveraged. No, it seems her magnetism and personality are what places her in control with her wealth simply providing the means to seek these experiences out. In fact, even when Romay's Lisa is left without a stitch by the side of the road after an encounter with some lorry drivers, she's not upset, worried, or bothered. The viewer instead gets the impression that this tryst all went according to plan.

The lack of consequence also helps to set the film apart. In Rolls Royce Baby there isn't a negative personal situation that is driving Lisa's behavior. She's not prostituting herself at the behest of an abusive partner or pimp, or in order to earn money to supply a drug to satisfy an addiction. She's not doing what she does in order to launch or forward a career in a field dominated and controlled by lustful men. She's neither exploiting others nor being exploited in any way herself. Similarly, there's nary an STD or unwanted pregnancy that comes as a result of her adventures. Rolls Royce Baby affords Lina Romay's Lisa the opportunity to go out in pursuit of sexual pleasure without strings and without repercussions, much as a man would, and in a manner that was, and to a degree, still is unusual for a female character in cinema.

While the film's direction is officially attributed to Erwin Dietrich, there has been speculation over the years that Jess Franco may have, to some unknown degree, played a part. Dietrich produced a number of Franco's films from around the time that Rolls Royce Baby was lensed, and there are several others where the two share writing credits. Given that the film has more than a few moments that exhibit some decidedly Franco- esque flourishes and tendencies, I'd long been inclined to believe that he did have a hand in the film's construction. The most conclusive piece of evidence to that end that I've found is an on-camera interview he did for an extra on Ascot's 2014 release of Rolls Royce Baby entitled "Miss Lina and Her Chauffeur", where he does explicitly state that he co-directed the film with Franco. As I'm not certain how that would be definitively disproven at this point, I'm willing to take Dietrich at his word.

Rolls Royce Baby Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rolls Royce Baby has been given a very healthy 1080p transfer that seems to have a great deal in common with the Ascot release from 2014 - which is a good thing as I was, and still am, quite happy with that release. Fine grain is present and resolves naturally providing a pleasing filmic look. Colors on the set-bound scenes are nicely saturated with the 70s palette and decorative appointments around Lisa's rooms creating some very visually interesting shots. Red pillows pop nicely and the deeper red of the leather chair has a rich presence. Detail levels are quite high with grooves in records being visible and the various knits and stitches in clothing elements being discernible. Other environmental details such as the the rough texture of walls and weave of wicker chairs are also observable. Make-up particulars on Romay's face are likewise open for inspection. Blacks are satisfactory, though whites are not quite brilliant. Skin tones are universally healthy and natural looking, which is important in a film such as this. Exterior shots when Lisa is being driven around in her Rolls can see their colors appearing washed out a bit, grain increasing, and fine detail diminishing a little as well, and help to show the age of the film. But, as the bulk of the film's action takes place on a set, however, it's not a significant issue. It's a very appealing transfer.

Rolls Royce Baby Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Viewers will have a choice to make when it comes to the audio track - either a 5.1 or a 2.0 Dolby Digital mix. After spending a fair amount of time with both, my preference is 2.0 track. The film has virtually no spoken dialogue, relying on a disembodied narrator to provide the viewer a window into Lisa's thoughts and motivations. When it's not busy with that, Walter Baumgartner's score repeats incessantly. As such, there's no immediate need for the track to handle things like directionality or objects moving through the sound field. Sound effects are likewise not a significant concern. As a result, the 2.0 track is more than up to it's most difficult task - that of rendering Baumgartner's score, and it does this very well. Instrumentation is precise and percussion is nicely textured. The narrator's playful voice is consistently clean and easy to understand. Whereas the 5.1 track sometimes seemed a bit echoey and distracting, the 2.0 track exhibited and era-appropriate quality that feels like a much better partner for the film to my ear.

Rolls Royce Baby Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Delirium Home Video's release of Rolls Royce Baby comes equipped with an assortment of on-disc supplemental features.

• Feature Commentary by Delirium Magazine Editor and Delirium Home Video founder Chris Alexander - Alexander loses no time in establishing that he is fan of both the film and of it's star, Lina Romay. He is effusive with his praise for her performance and looks here and makes particular note of her bravery for taking the film on and for her decided lack of inhibition - not just here, but in regard to her career as a whole. He takes some time to provide the viewer with his background prior to helming "Delirium Magazine", and the conversations with Charles Band that led to the formation of Delirium Home Video to serve as the label to give titles like Rolls Royce Baby, Satanic Sisters, and a host of others a home. Alexander provides a solid amount of information about the film, its production, and its stars, though viewers should note that occasionally his comments can be a bit graphic. However, given the film that commentary track was recorded for, there shouldn't be many if any who would take offense. It's a very conversational and interesting track.

• Rock 'n' Rolls: An Interview with Writer David McGillivray on 'Rolls Royce Baby' (22.26) - In the 1970s, McGillivray was writing for "Monthly Film Bulletin", a publication of the British Film Institute which was tasked with writing about every film that was released theatrically in the UK. He recounts that while Dietrich was behind a great many films at the time, the magazine's staff disliked them, finding them "grubby and rude", though he admits the films were quite popular. He's not overly complementary of Franco's early work either, though he does relay Christopher Lee's affection for one particular film. McGillivray takes the time to place this film with the context of the hardcore films that had starting getting screened in New York, though he states that softcore films had an easier time being screened in the UK and elsewhere for obvious reasons, and also goes into some detail about sex comedies produced the UK and continental Europe at the time, pausing briefly to level some harsh criticism at Mary Millington's Come Play With Me. While he's generally complimentary of Lina Romay, he is less so of Erik Falk and the film's repetitive score before he heads down some other interesting avenues.

• Lina Romay Photo Gallery (3.35) - Poster images, stills, and the like advance automatically and are set to the film's theme.

• Trailers - Trailers for Rolls Royce Baby, Barbed Wire Dolls, Sexy Sisters, and Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun are included.

Rolls Royce Baby Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The plot for Rolls Royce Baby may be skimpier than Lina Romay's wardrobe, but for fans her presence in the film is the most important element and she delivers a truly uninhibited performance. Rolls Royce Baby is a film that feels tailor-made for her, and in many ways feels like a love letter to a performer that was further along in her career than she actually was. Making the most of its limited budget and even more limited sets, the production is elevated by its shot composition and Romay's brave and exuberant performance. Outfitted with a decent selection of on-disc supplemental material, it's a very solid first effort from a new label, and it's a film that's been too long absent from Blu-ray in the US market. For fans of Lina Romay, Dietrich, and/or Franco, Rolls Royce Baby comes strongly recommended.