**** WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS **** A little warning to anyone thinking this was a "real" film about the Marquis; it wasn't - It was one of many Joe D'Amato "legit" adult features he did in the mid-late 90s (see "Torero", "Sahara", "Queen Of The Elephants", "Messalina", etc.). D'Amato brought the harder euro core to international video stores in the guise of triple-X features, an alternative to the slightly more hard "Playboy channel" type of features Andrew Blake was doing, also on 35mm. In fact what separated D'Amato from other smut filmographers was both his visual style as well as shooting on film, a costly production which most of his USA counterparts did not actively do. D'Amato essentially made X-rated films with a story line, shot on 35mm.
In essence, if you go into a Joe D'Amato film from this era expecting anything else than am "above-average" (in terms of production values) X-rated feature, you will be sorely disappointed.
"Marquis" here is one of a few Rocco vehicles he did with D'Amato about the same time he was breaking in the US market with his pal John Staggliano who created the Evil Angel/Empire production company. Anyone not familiar with the Rocco style, as displayed in previous reviews, are in for a shock as the "italian stallion" 's style is not for the faint of heart (as a side note to those unfamiliar with the Rocco style, he kept increasing his level of intensity as time progressed, especially in his own later productions until his retirement). Perhaps D'Amato and his crew believed that only Rocco could actually portray their interpretation of the Marquis due to his unique form of performance intensity, rather that a more direct interpretation.
D'Amato's film features some good performances from most of the cast, with an obvious twist towards the slightly more demented than anything "erotic". Rocco's wife Rosa performs with him in two scenes, Vicca (aka Victoria Queen) is criminally underused, Christoph Clark does another stint at an attempt at over-acting (with hilarious results), and the infamous Shalamar scene is partially cut/censored on DVD re-issues of the film (although I was lucky to find a vintage french-dubbed VHS of the un-cut complete version).
Again, this is not a "film" but an X-rated feature.
In essence, if you go into a Joe D'Amato film from this era expecting anything else than am "above-average" (in terms of production values) X-rated feature, you will be sorely disappointed.
"Marquis" here is one of a few Rocco vehicles he did with D'Amato about the same time he was breaking in the US market with his pal John Staggliano who created the Evil Angel/Empire production company. Anyone not familiar with the Rocco style, as displayed in previous reviews, are in for a shock as the "italian stallion" 's style is not for the faint of heart (as a side note to those unfamiliar with the Rocco style, he kept increasing his level of intensity as time progressed, especially in his own later productions until his retirement). Perhaps D'Amato and his crew believed that only Rocco could actually portray their interpretation of the Marquis due to his unique form of performance intensity, rather that a more direct interpretation.
D'Amato's film features some good performances from most of the cast, with an obvious twist towards the slightly more demented than anything "erotic". Rocco's wife Rosa performs with him in two scenes, Vicca (aka Victoria Queen) is criminally underused, Christoph Clark does another stint at an attempt at over-acting (with hilarious results), and the infamous Shalamar scene is partially cut/censored on DVD re-issues of the film (although I was lucky to find a vintage french-dubbed VHS of the un-cut complete version).
Again, this is not a "film" but an X-rated feature.