Black Venus (1983)

Although the 1980s saw the rise of hardcore pornography, and the birth of the home video system (with the subsequent decline of the grindhouse cinema), it also saw a boom in milder 'adult' entertainment, and the late night softcore cable movie was born.

Set in Paris, the story of Black Venus is told by Jacques, a wealthy man with various 'interests' in the city. Seeing a beautiful black woman known as Venus, working in a brothel, he recants the story of his first encouter with her, and her subsequent rise and fall - beginning as the model of an impoverished artist, becoming befriended by a lonely, wealthy woman, and eventually finding herself working in the brothel. The story told, Jacques sets about trying to 'save' Venus.

Famed British exploitation producer Harry Alan Towers was behind Black Venus, and the film's writing credit bears his familiar 'Peter Welbeck' pseudonym. The story suitably conveys the film between the various sex scenes, although with some laughable dialogue, and those used to the modern era of erotic cinema (see Seduction Cinema) will probably be disappointed to find that the sex scenes in Black Venus generally take second place to the plot. In the late 1960s, working with euro-cult legend Jess Franco, Towers had producted a variety of films based on the works of lunatic French writer, the Marquis de Sade, many concerning the appropriately sadistic corruption of innocents, and while Black Venus contains some light references to these works, it is a much milder effort. Pacing is a little unsteady, with many of the sex scenes being cut very short, while the story elements can drag in places - especially for viewers just waiting for the next sight of nudity. The eventual conclusion is surprisingly good and teases of some much deeper story ideas that were never fully developed.

Direction, from unknown French director Claude Mulot, is decent, and the film obviously benefits from some strong production values - the Victorian era setting looks very impressive, boasting an authentic French atmosphere with some surprisingly detailed exteriors and large casts of extras. The soundtrack is entirely composed of well known classical music, which does work quite well and gives the whole production a cultured air, although it does seem a little random in places. Josephine Jones, as Venus, looks very sexy and her acting, although not great, is decent enough to help carry the film. The rest of the cast perform fine, the female cast is very impressive - and notably, given today's "adult" film stars, they all look very real and natural.

Ultimately, Black Venus is not a film for those looking for a quick fix of sex and nudity, nor is it one for the hardcore fans. However, those looking for some cable softcore nosalgia, or anyone who enjoys some culture with their nudity (but don't want to watch it in French), could do worse than picking Black Venus.

Anyone famous in it?	No-one of note.
Directed by anyone interesting?	Claude Mulot - an unknown French director.
Who else was involved?	Harry Alan Towers - the British exploitation producer who also produced Lady Libertine (1984)
Any gore/violence?	None.
Any sex?	Numerous softcore female nude scenes, some mild male nudity, and various sex scenes.
Who is it for?	Fans of cultured erotica might enjoy this, although it is far from the best of the genre.
Good soundtrack?	A decently used mix of well known classical scores.

Visuals	Original Aspect Ratio - 1.33:1 fullscreen (filmed for television, so this is the correct ratio). Colour. Shot on 35mm film, the print quality is very good with only mild layer of film grain.
Audio	English mono. Sounds fine although some voices are obviously dubbed.
Subtitles	None.
Extras	None.
Released	Due for release on the 14th November 2006.
Region	Region 0 (ALL) - NTSC
Other regions?	No other releases.
Cuts?	Believed to be fully uncut - this is the original 95 minute cut, rather than the more well known 80 minute US TV varient. English language print.

The Film

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The DVD

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