On the legendary island of Goto, all inhabitants toil under the dictatorial rule of their cruel monarch, Goto III. When Goto's wife, Glyssia saves a man, Grozo, from execution, she has her husband hire him as the island's chief flycatcher and dog walker. Little do they realize that Grozo not only desires Glyssia but he also wants the throne.

Walerian Borowczyk is well known for his erotic productions and this portmanteau film is no exception. The four different tales look at different aspects of sexuality throughout the ages. The contemporary tale of 'The Tide' sees a young student and his female cousin turning to sexual exploration when they find themselves cut off from the mainland and trapped on a beach, while in 'Therese the Philosopher' the eponymous heroine discovers the erotic potential of a variety of everyday objects, first in a church and, later, when locked in her bedroom.

'Erzsebet Bathory' looks at a brief moment in the life of the woman (played by Pablo Picasso's daughter, Paloma Picasso) credited with being the original "Countess Dracula", and who believed that bathing in the blood of virgins would guarantee her eternal youth. 'Lucrezia Borgia' focuses on the sexual relationship between the famous title character and her equally famous brother and their father, who also happens to be the Pope.

DVD FEATURES: Uncut Anamorphic (16:9) Widescreen Version . French audio with English subtitles .'Telling Tales' featurette . Picture Gallery. Nouveaux Pictures DVD.

The original La Bete - a 17 m. short which was to be one of the vignettes in Immoral Tales - almost ended Borowczyk's career. When screened in the UK in 1971 it was condemned as pornography and prompted a nearly universal critical reaction of shock, disgust and contempt. Odd indeed, since the film was a charming and often comical hybrid of feminist fable and Roadrunner cartoon. C'est la vie.

Stung, Borowczyk didn't include La Bete in Immoral Tales, and instead incorporated the short into this 1975 feature film which combines black humor, graphic sexuality, horror film conventions and a lyrical sense of fantasy. Borowczyk expands upon his original theme, which is that women are powerless only to the degree that they are sexually repressed. He presents the female orgasm as one of the most powerful forces in nature.

The plot: Lisbeth Hummel is in a high state of libidinous excitement as her arranged marriage approaches, but the groom is a very weird guy. obviously crazy, and probably suffering from a family curse. As her libido rises in anticipation of her wedding she sees in her dreams the story of one of the villa's previous residents. a beautiful woman pursued by The Beast, the most carnal of all movie monsters. English language.

The original La Bete, a 17 m. short which was to be one of the vignettes in Immoral Tales, almost ended Borowczyk's career. When screened in the UK in 1971 it was condemned as pornography and prompted a nearly universal critical reaction of shock, disgust and contempt. Odd indeed, since the film was a charming and often comical hybrid of feminist fable and Roadrunner cartoon. C'est la vie.

Stung, Borowczyk didn't include La Bete in Immoral Tales, and instead incorporated the short into this 1975 feature film which combines black humor, graphic sexuality, horror film conventions and a lyrical sense of fantasy. Borowczyk expands upon his original theme, which is that women are powerless only to the degree that they are sexually repressed, and presenting the female orgasm as one of the most powerful forces in nature.

The plot: Lisbeth Hummel is in a high state of libidinous excitement as her arranged marriage approaches, but the groom is a very weird dude. obviously crazy, and probably suffering from a family curse. English language. Starring Sirpa Lane and Lisbeth Hummel

DVD FEATURES: Limited and Numbered Edition of 10,000 copies, includes the 52 page book: Beast Bis

DISC I - THE BEAST (Director's Cut) . Widescreen 1:85.1 (16x9 Enhanced) . French and English language . Optional English subtitles . Theatrical Trailer . Stills . 94 Minutes

DISC II - BEAST BIS . Biography . Interview (2003) . The Making of (1974) . French with Optional English subtitles . Stills . 117 Minutes

Very classy art-house erotica starring Sylvia Kristel and Joe Dallasandro. Borowczyk's keenly voyeuristic eye is working well here as he focuses on a distinctive trait of a streetwalker - only a runway model gets dressed and undressed more often in a nights work.

These girls get tired of the repression, and drug their Mother Superior to get a few hours of freedom. They play "jazzy" (by Renaissance standards) music on the organ, dance around and generally behave immodestly turning to lesbianism, masturbation and sexual experimentation until the Church is called in to exact cruel and sadistic measures in order to end the outrageous behavior.. The greatest image in the film is one young nun who has so much repressed energy that she flops down on the floor with her legs in the air and starts "bicycling" - the immodesty of the display, the simple enthusiasm of the activity, the implied need to release tension in the "large muscle groups" and Borowczyk's obsessive eye for well-proportioned female haunches combine to make it a special sequence-not merely in a "hot stuff" way, but in an aesthetic life-affirming way. Stars Howard Ross, Marina Pierro & Ligia Brancie. This is the uncut version which includes the 'Jesus Dildo' scene cut from a past UK video release.

DVD FEATURES: Uncut Anamorphic (16:9) Widescreen (1.85:1) Version . English Audio . 'Behind The Walls' featurette (10 Mins) . Picture gallery

The Three Masters Of International Erotica Come Together For One Provocative Collection. Uncut And Uncensored For The First Time Ever In America!

For legendary producer Pierre Braunberger (SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER), it was the most enticing of challenges: Invite the three most controversial directors in modern erotic cinema to indulge their fantasies in one daring film. The result remains one of the most uniquely sensual motion pictures of our time.

In the first story from director Just Jaeckin (EMMANUELLE, GWENDOLINE), a castaway sailor is rescued by a tribe of succulent native women - led by the stunning Laura Gemser of BLACK EMANUELLE fame - who soon reveal their most unusual appetites.

Then director Shuji Terayama (FRUITS OF PASSION) explores the haunting tale of a Japanese boy seduced by the riddle song of a village madwoman.

And in the bold adaptation of a short story by De Maupassant, director Walerian Borowczyk (IMMORAL WOMEN, THE BEAST) reveals the torrid liaison between a Parisian gentleman, a Follie Bergere prostitute and an unexpected surprise that hides in the night.

Extras: Island of Just - Interview with Director Just Jaeckin . Theatrical Trailer . Talent Bios

Sirpa Lane was one of those girls who just attracts attention. She was discovered in Sweden by nymphet-auteur David Hamilton, then became a Roger Vadim protégée. Whatever his artistic deficiencies, Roger Vadim was a keen judge of females; he married half the world's most beautiful women (Jane Fonda, Catherine Deneuve, etc.), and cheated on them with the other half. Then, after making a Vadim film, Sirpa Lane starred in the Walerian Borowczyk film THE BEAST, which is an unforgettable masterpiece and may be the greatest erotic film ever made. THE BEAST was notorious. When screened at Cannes people freaked out. perhaps because it concerns a woman being chased through the woods by a horny bear-monster-thing that eventually catches her and rapes her. The big special effect--a jism pumping plastic beast wang--was one step too far for the assembled snobs. Promising art film-maker Borowczyk was branded a pornographer.

Check out THE BEAST here.

Fast forward a few years. Sirpa Lane works in lesser and lesser movies, becoming an exploitation actress. In 1980 she made a hilariously junky Alfonso Brescia Italian space move that is, aside from some cool costumes (Even the lowest Italian porn films have great costuming) is a standard euro-trash genre film.

To dress up the dreadful space epic, they decided to cash in on Borowczyk's film, which was Sirpa Lanes great claim to fame. So here's what they did. first, they named it LA BESTIA NELLA SPAZIO (The Beast in Space). Then they remade the whole running through the woods sequence from THE BEAST as a dream sequence (in space), except with a giant grinning satyr instead of the wooly bear thing. And when the beast catches her we get the graphic close-ups of the big plastic phallus ramming into her vagina. Take that, Walerian! And for good measure, some of the non-dream "love" scenes in space were also XXX, with some of the most contemplative fellatio you'll ever see.

So the people got what they wanted, albeit a little late, and with Sirpa Lane a lot worse for wear. It is almost impossible to believe that she was only 25 years old in 1980.

The explicit sex fun is joined by (I think.) Marina Hedman (Marina Lotar), another former euro-sexploitation star who became the go-to-girl for hardcore inserts in euro-trash films late in her career. (Lots of the euro-sexploitation ladies ended up fucking on film in the early 1980s. Cicciolina was a euro-sexploitation star as Illona Staller. Karin Shubert was a euro-sexploitation star. Even Lili Carati ended up doing hardcore. And so on.)

As if this were not all weird enough, Sirpa Lane's pubic hair is sometimes colored gray with talcum powder or something.God knows why. Anyway, this Severin films edition is something I never thought I'd see. So hooray for them!

Just to let you, the customer, know I'm looking out for you, there is also an "unrated" non-XXX edition of this film (with an inept copy of a Frank Frazetta painting on the cover) that is also available from Severin, presumably for the majority of retailers who won't carry the XXX version. I can assure you that I will not be carrying that edition. Why would anyone? With the opportunity to see Sirpa Lane go all the way cut out, La Bestia Nella Spazio is not much of a film.

"The Complete Unrated Director's Cut For The First Time Ever In America! In 1975, European sex symbol Sirpa Lane shocked the world with her performance as a maiden defiled by a ferociously aroused animal in the erotic classic THE BEAST. Five years later, the beautiful-but-doomed actress would plummet from art house to grind house in this insanely unofficial outer space 'sequel' packed with rampant sex, cheezy effects, barnyard passions and yet another graphic ravaging by a hugely-endowed man-beast. Marina Hedman (SATAN'S BABY DOLL) and Venantino Venantini (BLACK EMANUELLE) co-star in this jaw-dropping intergalactic epic that combines the immortal '80s Italian genres of sleazy sci-fi and depraved sexual saga, now fully restored from the original film lab negative purchased at a Rome bankruptcy auction."

Very nice production values. Borowczyk tries to capture something of the reality of ancient Roman domestic life. (Not unlike the feel of HBO's ROME.)

Ars Amandi; aka Ars Amandi - L'arte di amare

Widescreen. English audio.