Black Venus

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

This standard softcore film actually has a plot of sorts that is adapted from a story by Honore de Balzac, about a young model/prostitute named Venus (Josephine Jacqueline Jones) who comes to Paris from Martinique in the 19th century and encounters a series of lovers, male and/or female. Venus first captures the heart and the eye of young sculptor Armand (Jose Antonio Ceinos), who makes a statue of her called the "Black Venus." Venus's amorous attentions are next focused on the wealthy bisexual Madame Marie (Karin Schubert), causing Armand to downslide into depression -- partly because Venus is making money to support them through this prostitution. Later on, Venus falls for innocent teenager Louise (Florence Guerin) in Paris, and the two of them eventually move into the Spanish mansion of an art collector. The art collector, however, has more than a passing interest in the Black Venus statue -- and his greed bodes ill for everyone. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: All
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Color

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Claude Mulot

• Producer:

  Andrés Vicente Gómez, Juan Alexander

• Screenwriter:

  Harry Alan Towers

• Cinematographer:

  Jacques Assuerus, Julio Burgos

• Composer (Music Score):

  Gregorio Garcia Segura

• Editor:

  Antonio Ramirez

• Art Director:

  Enrique Alarcon

• Executive Producer:

  Harry Alan Towers

• Short Story Author:

  Honoré de Balzac

REVIEW:

• Black Venus is a vintage example of the kind of smutty fare that filled the late night hours of pay cable channels during the early 1980s. Despite its basis in a story by Honore de Balzac, no one will confuse this for Masterpiece Theater fare: the story plays out in a ludicrously contrived manner, the acting is ripe and Claude Mulot's direction stays firmly focused on delivering a sex scene every reel. That said, Black Venus offers plenty of campy fun for a cult film fan in the right mood. The acting is bad enough to be genuinely entertaining, with starlet Josephine Jacqueline Jones indulging in the kind of melodramatic antics that would embarrass the average soap opera actor and Jose Antonio Ceinos giving a performance so wooden one fears they'll get splinters from watching it. Better yet, the script anchoring these performances piles on the melodrama and smut in equal measure and Mulot gives it a tight pace. In short, Black Venus is trash, but fans of exploitation cinema's sexier side will find it to be entertaining trash. ~ Donald Guarisco, Rovi