De Sade [Blu-ray]

Director: Cyril Endfield, Cy Endfield Cyril Endfield

Overview

Keir Dullea dives into a bevy of babes with an open wine bottle as the notorious Marquis de Sade in this low-budget debauch from American International Pictures -- purveyors of fine entertainment morsels for the connoisseur. The film takes place as an extended flashback after de Sade has escaped from a madhouse and taken refuge in the dilapidated mansion where he was reared. In his flashback, de Sade recalls how the Abbe de Sade (John Huston) used to have a maid whip him until he began to like it. Of course, after that, the next step down the primrose path was flagellation and orgies. Finally sent to a French jail for lewd behavior, de Sade begins to write anti-government creeds to while away the hours. After his release, he is compelled to marry the repulsive Renee de Montreuil (Anna Massey). De Sade goes along with the marriage in order to get closer to her sister Anne (Senta Berger). In spite of that, de Sade continues to seek out various forms of softcore sex. But then the Black Plague hits.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/17/2022
UPC:	0738329258641
Original Release:	1969
Rating:	NR
Source:	Scorpion Releasing
Language:	English
Time:	1:44:00
Sales rank:	31,694

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Keir Dullea	Actor
Senta Berger	Actor
Lilli Palmer	Actor
John Huston	Actor
Anna Massey	Renee de Montreuil
Sonja Ziemann	La Beauvoisin
Uta Levka	Rose Keller
Herbert Weissbach	M. de Montreuil
Christiane Krüger	Marquis' Mistress
Max Kiebach	De Sade as a Boy
Susanne von Almassy	Actor
Friedrich Schoenfelder	Actor
Heinz Spitzner	Actor
Tilly Lauenstein	Actor
Rolf Eden	Actor

Technical Credits

Samuel Z. Arkoff	Producer
Cy Endfield	Director
James H. Nicholson	Producer

Editorial Reviews

The Marquis De Sade (Keir Dullea) is the unwilling audience for a staged re-creation of key points from his life, courtesy of his sinister uncle, the Abbe (John Huston). The presentation, which may or may not be the product of the Marquis' feverish imagination, posits that his licentious proclivities are the end result of an abusive and loveless childhood. As narrow-minded as this interpretation may be, this X-rated production from American International Pictures at least offers some energy and impressive visuals -- something that can't be said of Quills, which reduces the notorious libertine and writer to a boring and petulant old pervert. Richard Matheson's script, which cobbles its structure from Peter Weiss' play Marat/Sade, is vigorously performed by a solid cast, especially Huston and Lilli Palmer as De Sade's icy mother-in-law. The low-key Dullea may seem an odd choice to play the Marquis, but he throws himself into the role, and does well at portraying the script's interpretation of the man as an unrestrained visionary rebelling against a repressive society. However, its depiction of De Sade's bedroom romps and forays into flagellation and other sexual kinks (for which his name would eventually serve as a catch-all descriptive phrase) are unfortunately watered down, though in all fairness, no film could accurately (or legally) capture the excesses of De Sade's imagination. Michael Reeves was originally slated to direct, but illness forced him to be replaced by Cy Enfield, who would himself be replaced briefly by an uncredited Roger Corman.

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