RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy with cisplatin and vinorelbine in treating patients with refractory or recurrent squamous cell cervical cancer that has not responded to local therapy.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the activity of cisplatin and vinorelbine in terms of response rate, duration of response, time to treatment failure, and survival in patients with advanced, persistent, or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients receive vinorelbine IV over 6-10 minutes on days 1, 8, 15, and 22 and cisplatin IV over 4 hours beginning after completion of vinorelbine infusion on day 1. Courses repeat every 4 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years and then every 6 months for 3 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 28-62 patients will be accrued for this study within approximately 20 months.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically proven advanced, persistent, or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix that failed local therapy and is considered incurable Bidimensionally measurable abdominal, pelvic, or other lesion by palpation, x- ray, or ultrasound If sole site of measurable disease previously irradiated, then documented disease progression at that site required

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: Any age Performance status: GOG 0-2 Karnofsky 60%-100% Hematopoietic: WBC at least 3,000/mm3 Granulocyte count at least 1,500/mm3 Platelet count at least 100,000/mm3 Hepatic: Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times normal SGOT no greater than 3 times normal Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 3 times normal Renal: Creatinine no greater than 1.4 mg/dL Creatinine clearance at least 50 mL/min if creatinine greater than 1.2 mg/dL Other: No clinically significant infection No preexisting, clinically significant peripheral neuropathy unless due to cancer No other prior or concurrent malignancy except nonmelanomatous skin cancer No psychological, familial, sociological, or geographical condition that would preclude compliance

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: Not specified Chemotherapy: No prior chemotherapy except for radiosensitization Endocrine therapy: Not specified Radiotherapy: See Chemotherapy Recovered from the toxic effects of any recent radiotherapy Surgery: Recovered from the toxic effects of any recent surgery