Friday, May 5, 2017

JUSTINE 1968 (BLUE UNDERGROUND)

A Jess Franco classic.

Lovely Romina Power stars as Justine, a virtuous young woman who, along with her sister Juliette (Maria Rohm) are living in a convent.

Their family has run out of money and both girls are asked to leave. Juliette goes to work in a house of ill repute and Justine falls into the hands of many different thieves, perverts and killers until she herself is jailed.

Klaus KInski is the Marquis De Sade as we see him sitting in a jail cell writing this entire story. De Sade has some pretty weird visions of naked and chained women while in his cell.

Justine finally ends up in a monastery run by a man named Atonin, played by Jack Palance. His performance is one of, if not the most over the top performance I have ever seen. People claim Palance was drunk the entire time he was shooting this film and I find this hard to believe, but whatever the reason, once seen you'll never forget him.

The men in the monastery keep women there for their pleasure which is giving pain. Very bizarre indeed.

This film had the biggest budget Franco ever got to work with and it really shows! The photography is lush and beautiful and his cast also includes Akim Tamiroff, Mercedes McCambridge, Sylva Kocina, Howard Vernon and the beautiful Rosalba Neri.

The DVD from Blue Underground is a beautiful presentation and I am aware that there is now a Blu-ray but I haven't seen it. I can easily recommend this for any Franco fan.

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