Themes: Out For Revenge, Americans Abroad, Murder Investigations
Main Cast: James Darren, Barbara McNair, Klaus Kinski, Dennis Price
Release Year: 1969
Country: UK/IT/WG
Run Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Not to be confused with Massimo Dallamano's contemporaneous treatment of the Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch classic, this unrelated (but quite entertaining) thriller from cult director Jesus Franco was originally known as Black Angel. James Darren stars as Jimmy Logan, an American jazz musician in Turkey who finds the body of a dead girl washed ashore while coming down from an LSD trip on the beach. The woman, Wanda Reed (Maria Rohm), had been murdered by the sadistic Ahmed Kortobawi (Klaus Kinski) Percival Kapp (Dennis Price), and a lesbian fashion-photographer named Olga (Margaret Lee). Some time later, Jimmy goes to work in a Rio de Janeiro nightclub and moves in with Rita (Barbara McNair), a beautiful black singer. One day, a woman named Venus enters the club, and is a dead ringer for Wanda Reed. When the murders begin, the only motive seems to be revenge from beyond the grave. This well-made shocker contains some enjoyable songs and cameo appearances by the director and Manfred Mann as jazz musicians, as well as being the best of numerous collaborations between Franco and British producer Harry Alan Towers. Prints run 90 and 86 minutes. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Margaret Lee - Olga; Adolfo Lastretti - Inspector; Paul Muller - Nightclub Owner; Maria Rohm - Wanda Reed/Venus; Mirella Pamphili
Credit
Jesús Franco - Director, Henry Batista - Editor, Mike Pozen - Editor, Nicholas Wentworth - Editor, Manfred Mann - Composer (Music Score), Mike Hugg - Composer (Music Score), Barbara McNair - Songwriter, Richard M. Sherman - Songwriter, Robert B. Sherman - Songwriter, Angelo Lotti - Cinematographer, Harry Alan Towers - Producer, Howard A. Anderson - Special Effects, Jesús Franco - Screenwriter, Malvin Wald - Screenwriter, Milo G. Cuccia - Screenwriter, Carlo Fadda - Screenwriter, Leopold VonSacher-Masoch - Book Author
The film (also known as Paroxismus and Black Angel) bears only a superficial resemblance to the 1870 Venus in Furs novel by Leopold von Sacher Masoch. The title and character names in Franco's original script were changed to the novel's for commercial reasons. Franco's movie is a surreal supernatural erotic thriller about unattainable love and how far one is willing to go for the person they desire. It is not a study in masochism as portrayed in the novel.[2]
James Darren plays a jazz musician who becomes obsessed to the point of madness with the mysterious fur-clad Wanda (Maria Rohm), only to find her dead body washed up on the beach.
The New York Times wrote a negative a review of Venus in Furs on its initial release, stating that the film "features much inept fancy moviemaking (including echoes of "La Dolce Vita" and even "Vertigo"), some semi-nudity, and virtually endless confusion".[3]
