Venus in Furs

Legendary cult director Jess Franco has made a staggering amount of films in his career, and regardless of how non-existent the budget or incoherent the narrative is, nearly all of his pre-1980 work is at the very least interesting, and in many cases, fascinating. Jess Franco always provides us with sensuous eye candy and a great soundtrack, but in the case of "Venus in Furs", he goes far beyond that and creates a film that is more than just a great exploitation film - it's a great film period. Along with his two other masterworks, "Vampyros Lesbos", and "She Killed in Ecstacy", this is one of the few Franco films that has not only a strong story idea to start with, but a solid and well paced narrative to carry it along. The film benefits enormously by a great cast, anchored by leading man James Darren, who turns in a low-keyed, solid performance that is reminiscent of something you might see in a Hitchcock or early Brian Depalma film. Maria Rohm is as sensuous and captivating as ever, and both the lucious Barbara Lee and the sultry Barbara McNair round out what might be one of the best trio of "Franco women" ever cast together in one of his films. Also on hand is Franco/Euro-horror regular Klaus Kinski. He is solid as usual. It goes without saying that the movie looks great (given the age of the film, the transfer is superb), and is loaded with erotic imagery, but Franco outdoes himself here. The score by Manford Mann and Mike Hugg is outstanding and goes a long way toward creating the film's hypnotic atmosphere. This is a movie that Franco buffs and fans of Euro exploitation will simply love. Even non-Franco film buffs who enjoyed the likes of "Jacobs Ladder", and Mary Lambert's "Siesta", also might want to check it out.

This is exactly the kind of B-Movie erotica I love. Wide-Screen and in color it straddles the line between Main Steam and Alternative brilliantly. Its stars James Darrin (Time Tunnel) for goodness sakes. But you'll never see this on NBC. I think I paid $10 for this and got more than my monies worth.

Thought it would be better. This is a movie that was built up to be a very good movie but proved that it was not.

I think this movie is rubbish, i do not understand the story, it's all so boring. I wish i never had bought it.

prime franco while a blu ray version would maybe add some needed color and depth this version is more than adequate but this is one cool crazy flick

Plot and transfer of this movie are all bad. I cannot finish this half. So, I disqualify myself to keep on talking.

ok this movie may not be for everyone but if you are in the mood for a trully strange film (by the also srange jess franco) that is both sexy and stylish, has a brooding jazz score, and is about a down on luck trumpet player who finds a corpse on the beach in instanbul only to see the dead woman again apearing to him in a fur coat and stockings, in rio then give this a go, but be warned this is more a mood driven film not naration driven. that is not to say that the film has no plot but rather the plot takes a backseat to mood, i thought this was one of the most brooding films i have ever seen and enjoyed it for that. if the above doese not sound like your thing then i would be the first to say give thiss one a miss. if on the other hand you still feel like giving this one a go then you too may just fall into its spell. as for the disk its by blue undergound so you know your getting the best nuff said go see the movie

I'm not a huge fan of director Jess Franco, but I really dig his earlier black & white films, "The Awful Dr. Orloff", "Dr. Orloff's Monster", "The Sadistic Baron von Klaus" and "The Diabolical Dr. Z". Because word-of-mouth works and I was curious to see where Jess Franco went commercial; I bought "Venus In Furs" (Blue Underground DVD) strictly on the films reputation alone and wasn't disappointed. Not b&w, not horror; just a bizarre, trippy, late 60s era Jess Franco freak-out! For the price, why not expand your dull, mainstream film library, your mundane existence and come away less culturally bankrupt than you were before. Take the plunge - it worked for me, now I own "Vampyros Lesbos" as well!

Great film

film dont le seul intérêt est la participation de Klaus Kinski, le reste a beaucoup vieilli, mais il y a des éléments quand même intéressants, sur le plan onirique

Excellent quality for a DVD. I bought this by mistake thinking it was the much more twisted soft-porn Euro version made about the same year. Well this movie has good jazz music and totally different locations and even the story is not at all the same. I don't regret buying it but I'll still look for the other.

Chiunque abbia visto e apprezzato il capolavoro omonimo di Polanski tratto dal romanzo di Masoch non potrà esimersi dal recuperare anche questo approccio del simpatico Jess Franco, che fa il film a modo suo. Prendere o lasciare.

"Venus in Furs" ist ein Film des spanischen Regisseurs Jess Franco (1930-2013) aus dem Jahr 1969. Die Hauptrollen spielen James Darren ("Die Kanonen von Navarone", "TV-Serie "Time Tunnel", "Star Trek Deep Space Nine",1936-2024), Maria Rohm ("Der Hexentöter von Blackmoor", "Justine", "99 Women", 1943-2018), Margaret Lee ("Cleopatra", "Marrakesch", "Der Hexentöter von Blackmoor", 1943-2024) und die eher als Sängerin bekannte Barbara McNair (TV-Serie "Mission Impossible", 1934-2007), sowie in einer Nebenrolle Klaus Kinski. Es ist ein interessanter Film, der Elemente verschiedener Genres beinhaltet und sich daher stilistisch nicht ohne weiteres einordnen lässt und zwischen allen Schubladen steht, obwohl er oft auf "Erotikfilm" reduziert wird. Erwähnenswert dürfte sein, dass der Film nichts mit dem Roman von Leopold Sacher- Masoch zu tun hat, obwohl in beiden Werken der Name der Dame im Pelz "Wanda" ist. Francos Film ist eine Art Exploitation-Psychothriller nach einer von ihm selbst geschriebenen Story. Es geht um den Jazztrompeter Jimmy Logan, der am Strand von Istanbul eine tote Frau aus dem Wasser zieht. Am Abend zuvor hatte er diese noch auf einer Party gesehen, wo sie aber von zwei Männern und einer Frau gedemütigt und gequält wurde. Jimmy sucht Ablenkung im Karneval von Rio, wo er die Frau namens Wanda Reed aber quicklebendig wiedersieht und die beiden sich ineinander verlieben. Jimmys Freundin Rita passt das natürlich gar nicht, und sie versucht ihn zu halten. Auch für sie ist er empfänglich, zumal er nicht weiß ob Wanda nicht überhaupt nur ein Fiebertraum von ihm ist... Jess Francos 82:40 Minuten langer Film aus dem Jahr 1969 ist ein sehr ästhetisch in Szene gesetzter Film, der mit den Stilmittel verschiedener Realitäts- und Traumebenen spielt. Ich mag ja sowieso die Dekors, Moden und Erscheinungsformen von Frauen in Sechziger-/ Siebziger-Jahre-Filmen, sowie den erotischen Umgang mit Sexualität in Filmen dieser Zeit. Die Story hat einen starken Mysteryeinschlag und bleibt bis zum Ende geheimnisvoll und seltsam. Die DVD enthält als Bonus ein unglaublich gutes Interview mit Jess Franco aus dem Jahr 2003, in dem er auf die Entstehung und Ursprungsideen des Filmes eingeht, die er leider damals nicht zu vollster Zufriedenheit umsetzen durfte. Initialzündung zur Idee des Films war ein Gespräch mit Jazztrompeter Chet Baker (1929-1988), das er in einem Pariser Jazzclub führte. Ein weiterer Bonus ist ein Audiointerview mit Maria Rohm über den Verlauf ihrer Karriere, das wunderbar mit schönsten Fotos aus ihren Filmen unterlegt ist. Ein Trailer zum Film "99 Women" rundet die Scheibe ab.