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Released by: Bayview Entertainment/Retromedia
Released on: March 19, 2013.
Director: Richard Hilliard
Cast: Sheldon Pearson, Cindy Ellis, Babette Bardot, Jennie Lee
Year: 1967
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The Movie:
Directed by Richard Hilliard and evidently shot somewhere in California, the previously thought to be lost 1967 sexploitation picture I, Marquis De Sade was recently found somewhere in Scandinavia and now lives again on DVD through Retromedia. It's an odd duck of a film, not really deranged enough to be a straight up roughie but not quite artsy enough to work on that level either. As such, it winds up a strange hodgepodge of ideas and images that amount to a legitimately interesting curiosity piece.
The movie begins with an awesome opening sequence where the credits for the film have been scrawled on the naked flesh of some curvy female. From there we meet a man (Sheldon Pearson) who scratches out a meager living as a translator specializing in converting French text into English. His internal monologue presented as voice over narration fills us in on his thoughts on his latest project, the works of The Marquis De Sade: he feels it quite unjust that the author was sent to prison for his works, originally deemed too obscene by the French authorities.
We soon learn that this man doesn't have a whole lot of time left - he's got terminal cancer and so, presumably inspired by his project, he's basically going to go out with a bang and get himself as much pleasure as he's able to, consequences be damned. From here we see him fantasizing about running around the streets of a then modern city decked out in the finest period European garb - it's pretty ludicrous and completely bizarre - before getting back to the main narrative. As he strolls around a marina, he meets a heavy set woman gorging on chocolate. We know he thinks she's a 'walrus' but he figures she's got money given that she's sitting atop a fancy boat and so he approaches her. They soon indulge and he winds up working for her as a sort of gigolo. This doesn't stop him from picking up a short haired chick at the beach or from hanging out with strippers though, and before the movie is over he'll hang out with a pair of lesbians. When it's all said and done, this can only end badly, and it does, but probably not in the way you'd expect.
Shot without live sound, the narration keeps this one interesting and as our main character's internal thoughts are shared with us we're pulled into his increasingly bitter and pessimistic world. His relationship with the heavy set 'walrus' is twisted and selfish but so too are his exploits with the other women in the movie. He's out to get what he wants - kicks, plain and simple - after all, with death just around the corner he's got nothing to lose.
All of this is shot rather well, making use of some interesting locations and claustrophobic camera work to create some legitimately effective atmosphere. Though not nearly as explicit as many other roughies made around the same time frame, there's still enough sex and violence here that it definitely feels rooted in that category. More than anything else though, the film hammers home just how damn upset and frustrated with his lot in life our character really is. He rants and rages and takes out his anger on these unsuspecting women with no regard to consequence or liability and we learn through the narration that he truly does not care. This takes the movie into some dark places, and strange little touches of surrealism where fantasy and reality blend keep it interesting in a visual sense.
This is by no means a perfect movie. It doesn't always make a whole lot of sense and there are jump cuts and rough edits and technical limitations aplenty. It is, however, an attempt to do something a little different within the confines of the late sixties sex film and the fact that it does occasionally succeed should make it of interest to those with an affinity for this type of material.
Video/Audio/Extras:
I, Marquis De Sade is presented in 1.66.1 non-anamorphic widescreen taken from some sort of analogue/tape source. While certainly watchable enough, the quality here isn't really anything to write home about. Some smearing is evident and some tape lines show up here and there. Detail is often soft and fuzzy looking, but contrast levels look alright. Not an amazing transfer by any stretch, but it'll have to do until something better comes along.
The English language Dolby Digital Mono track, the only one on the disc, is also fine. Though there is some mild background hiss dialogue generally stays easy enough to follow and the levels are reasonably well balanced.
Extras include a static menu, chapter selection, a trailer for the film that gives away all of the good parts, and a two minute clip noted on the back of the packaging as Hollywood Beauties (but on the menu as 'featurette') that is some black and white footage some hot chicks being hot chicks and stealing one another's clothes. The Fifty Shades Of Grey inspired cover art sucks and completely misrepresents the movie, but what are you gonna do… this isn't going to move thousands of copies so you can't really blame them for trying to cash in on a trend.
The Final Word:
It always makes this writer smile when 'lost' movies like this are dug up and released. Thankfully I, Marquis De Sade turns out to be one worth watching. It's a bizarre mix of roughie style sexploitation and some sort of nonsensical attempt at an art film. Not really the most polished film but definitely a weird curio worth seeking out for fans of the stranger side of sixties sex films.
