Nearing the end of the ICM poll for the best films of 1969,I decided it was time to look at one of the credits from that year of auteur Uncle Jess Franco. Speaking a few years ago to fellow IMDber melvelvit-1 after seeing the operatic excess of Roger Vadim's fun Vice and Virtue,I was told the Jess had done his own version of the story. Standing out on his credits for '69,I decided it was time to at last meet Justine and Juliet.View on the film:Made during his Harry Alan Towers era, director Jess Franco works with his largest ever budget, (and longest run time?) to conjure up a sleazy kitsch historical Horror epic, with Uncle Jess and cinematographer Manuel Merino layering neon colours over the naked horrors inflicted on Justine. Even when working with a bigger budget, ole Uncle Jess thankfully keeps his major themes intact with Bruno Nicolai's playful Jazz score actually finding (some) sense of the epic, and Jess's unique zoom-ins marking out each humiliation Justine experiences.Producing and writing this adaptation of Marquis de Sade's novel, the screenplay by Harry Alan Towers suffers from being thinly spread over the 2 hours, with sequences where the horror hits the heart of Justine, (such a stylish exchange of poison wine and a dead dog!) that are undermined by Justine then being lost in the wilderness,with little time given to build the relationship between Juliet and Justine. Cut-down by Uncle Jess as acting like a window dummy, Romina Power lacks the daydream daze of Jess's usual leading ladies, but makes up for it with a tempting jail bait innocence over the punishment of Justine.

I am a fan of director Jess Franco..but I am not a fan of this really awful film adaptation of the Marquis De Sade. The large budget was wasted, and because of it, otherwise creative director Jess Franco's hands were obviously tied, making a film by other people's rules. first off, the "actress" Rowina Powers delivered the most appalling, rot-gut performance I have EVER seen in ANY film, ever. Franco said in an interview that Powers was like a piece of furniture, and was forced upon him by the film's bank-roller; the father of this bimbo. When the director hates his own main actress, you can't really expect a great product. A product that looks like a Benny Hill episode with all it's silly comedy. It does have it's moments, and some nice sets. But the ending is wretched, featuring not only a hammy, embarrassing performance by Jack Palance, who appeared drunk in every scene. but the final insult comes at the absolute castration of Sade's work. Removing the grim ending, and replacing it with a happy ending where all the "sinners" congratulate Justine for being pure and virtuous, and inform her that she is a "better person" for not giving into temptation?!? This is the exact polar opposite of Sade's philosophy. If he could see this rubbish he would surely despise it. I think the problem was that the budget was too big, and therefore the story had to be sterilized and commercialized for mainstream consumption. Again something that it's author was anything but. Even though the story takes place during Victorian times, the women all sport 60's hair and makeup, and everything is played for laughs. And Klaus Kinski would have been excellent as the Marquis, but every time he was on screen he was overpowered by the loudest, most invasive musical score you could imagine. you will want to turn down the volume on your TV when he is on screen; it is that irritating. For those interested in seeing a decent film version of "Justine," check out the 1977 adaptation. t preserves the mood and philosophy of Sade, and features appropriate sets, costumes and music. And it succeeds at being Gothic in tone, instead of candy colored fluff; it's no masterpiece, but it is compared to this mess.

Jess Franco to me, is one of the most evil men in cinema. His films in the 60s were Hitchokian thrillers and a few good erotic ones, however by the 80s he had plummeted into making porn films, fairly crappy at best, compared to Joe D'Amatos Caribbean series. These films consisted of Lina Romay masturbating to sex acts, purely vulgar, Laura Gemser fair enough, but her, no way.Anyhow in the late 60s Franco worked with Harry Allan Towers, and made about 8 damn good films, such as The Bloody Judge, 99 women (less good) and Venus in Furs.However Justine to me, his nemesis, is a good film. It boasts an all star cast, such as Jack Palace, who gives a good performance as a decadant monk, and Klaus Kinski, as De Sade, just prancing around his cell, being taunted by nude phantoms, actually shot using good green lighting and shadow imagery.The film is not do depraved, several nude scenes, some mild sex scenes and some cat fighting, but nothing too bad. Also the buildings, soldiers and extras were fairly epic and in good standard with any epic historical film.The sets were brilliant, hence they were all historical, the film is well shot, cue some blurs etc, well lighted, well cast and well made.Franco is a decent director here, when he worked with Towers, however in the 70s he declined sadly. When he worked with good budgets and actors he was a Ruggero Deodato, but alas, he failed cinema, which he claimed to love...A good film, give it a try!, you will not be disappointed.

I usually love Jess Franco movies, and the thought of him directing De Sade's infamous 'Justine' looked like it was going to be one of his most outrageous films, especially considering legendary nut job Klaus Kinski stars as the Marquis! Unfortunately this one turned out to be a major disappointment. Kinski has little more than a cameo, and the movie is surprisingly tame. It's also way too long and gets very dull in places. This was apparently the biggest budget Franco ever got to work with (a little over a million, which for him was ENORMOUS!). Whether that was the problem, or his beautiful but boring leading lady Romina Power, I don't know, but this ties with 'The Bloody Judge' as the lamest Franco movie I've ever seen. Maria Rohm (who appeared in Franco's 'Eugenie', a much better De Sade adaptation) easily outshines Power but doesn't get enough screen time. Kinski and the other guest stars didn't do much for me apart from Jack Palance who really hams it up as a perverted monk. He's fun to watch, and Franco regular (around forty movies!) Howard Vernon plays one of his colleagues. The bigger the Franco fan you are the more you will get out of 'Justine', but it's still far from his best work, and I can't say I'll be in any hurry to watch it again.