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Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The audience for this curious tale of the man whose name created the term sadomasochism gets to see his personal life through two angles. First, there is the reality of what is happening, and then there is how he apparently views it, in red filter tones that look like something out of your worst nightmare. A ton of bare busted women all get physically and sexually abused by this aristocrat who demands pain with pleasure simply because it amuses him. If he isn't whipping some female, he is reminding them of his power over them. Taking his story back to his childhood and the abuse is from his wicked uncle, John Huston, this still doesn't get any sympathy into his story. Basically however, there really is no story and while artistically impressive it does not make for a good tale of debauchery. What could have been a psychological look into the life of a man who didn't even warrant a listing in my biographical dictionary which lists many people who probably never even get looked up.Told through an apparent stage performance of him looking back at his life with the ghostly presence of uncle Huston, this suffers not only from the lack of a real story but many dry patches that create a dull flow. A better version of the de Sade story wasn't actually a biography, but a 4 film where on alleged descendants of the marquis begins to believe that he is him. So for entertainment value at least, check out Mickey Hargitay in Bloody Pit of Horror and skip this one unless witnessing somebody's acid trip is truly your thing.

It's pretty unlikely that in 1968 a heavily explicit depiction of the life of the infamous Marquis De Sade would hit cinema screens, but even taking that into consideration, this is a mostly pallid and ludicrous film. Dullea (horribly miscast) portrays the sexually depraved figure, a man who wrote works which shock people even today. The film opens with the Marquis taking refuge in a dilapidated castle where his life is reflected upon in a series of flashbacks and surreal theatrical performances, presided over by Dullea's uncle, an Abbe (played by Huston.) Time and place are distorted and conjoined erratically as the viewer is shown key moments in Dullea's childhood and young adulthood. He witnesses Huston whipping a young lady's bottom and is in turn whipped by her at the insistence of Huston. He marries Palmer's homely daughter Massey, though it is Massey's voluptuous sister Berger he really wants. Despite his marriage (and children), he continues a lifestyle of whoring and playing, which confounds Palmer. He spends a significant amount of time in prison for his immoral offenses until he is shown as an old man being seen to by a nun. Dullea (who is undeniably handsome and has sensational blue eyes, which are highlighted lovingly) is all wrong for this part. He isn't dynamic enough to shed any light on the man he's portraying and plays his orgy scenes like a fraternity brother, with a broad grin on his face and his tongue sticking out. He's clearly wearing bikini briefs under his period pants, something that was doubtfully part of De Sade's wardrobe! (In fact, most of the "sex" scenes involve a lot of frolicking about with the men mostly dressed and pouring wine all over. Not exactly most peoples' idea of a good time!) Huston tries to inject a lascivious touch into his role and succeeds somewhat, but it's all too choppy and sketchy to add up to much. Palmer looks sensational in the period clothes and wigs and probably comes off best since she is allowed to register indignation and despair regarding Dullea. Massey is appropriately resigned and unhappy, though the script gives her precious little to do. The biggest asset to the film is the positively stunning presence of Berger, who likely never looked better in a movie. Unfortunately, her role is limited mostly to tiny moments of appearing and disappearing and the camera doesn't linger on her as much as one might like. When she's there, though, there's a whole new life to the otherwise downbeat proceedings. There were debates about whether to present the story in a straightforward, linear fashion or to tell it in piecemeal flashbacks. The result is a disjointed, sometimes confusing mishmash, which is not saved by the allegedly titillating sequences that most often come off as foolish. There are indeed healthy servings of bare breasts and bottoms from a bevy of females, but it certainly doesn't add up to anything very provocative or even interesting. The costumes are elegant and the sets are sometimes very arresting, but the project was doomed from the start thanks to the script and the misguided casting of Dullea. Touches which mark the film as a 60s project make it a little bit more visually entertaining, but not, perhaps, for the reasons intended. Ditto the animated opening credits and the score. And for a film about one of the most notorious authors ever, why are there so few, if any, scenes of the man writing anything?!

I wish they had saved the German version of this one, but alas, only the AIP version seems to turn up, though most versions are barely longer than the one USA network ran in their infancy. What was once given an "X" rating, barely rises above PG-13 standards for this new millennium. Dullea, fresh from "2001", is out of place amidst the tame exploitation, but gives it a good try. John Huston, in the midst of a long string of aging weirdo roles, steals the show easily. The script by Richard Matheson, is well done, but manhandled by the multiple directors different approaches, and the different exploitation requirements of the various producers. It easily extends the normal AIP formula, but falls short of it's goal to cross into more "Adult" film-making. Not worthless, but not all that thrilling, with much "dead Air"

American International Pictures rarely made dull movies. Their movies may have been junk food but they were very tasty. This was AIP's attempt at a thinking man's exploitation film. Lavish sets, Masterpiece Theater dialogue and an overall air of pretentiousness makes this film a real snooze. The fact that the film uses a fractured non-narrative structure makes the film even more pointless and boring. Only during the last 15 minutes does the film come to life as De Sade and his cohorts embark on an orgy of destruction and sex (rendered in hilariously psychedelic 60s fashion).