Anyone familiar with the Marquis De Sade's works knows that the majority of his writings are unfilmmable. The level of depravity in his works are unparalleled (except maybe by Bataille) making any straight adaptation impossible. The film would be banned everywhere on earth and the director probably thrown into the slammer. Pasolini has come close with his brilliant, Salo: 120 Days of Sodom, but even that revolting film only touches on the brutality of the De Sade's works (and Pasolini caught hell for the film before being brutally murdered). So here we have Franco filming the infamous Justine in 1968, pretty ballsy, but Franco breezes over the original material never able to get to the essence of the horror in the novel. An example would be Justine's imprisonment by Brother Antonin and his cronies. Franco skips the true horror of the situation by using a montage of tortures underneath a ranting Jack Palance. Just doesn't have the fission.

The great Klaus Kinski portrays De Sade as a hallucinating, intense madman working away on his novel while imprisoned. We occasionally revisit the Marquis as he works tirelessly - the rest of the film portrays Justine's various misadventures which is too bad. Kinski was born to play De Sade and one wishes Franco would have made a film completely about De Sade.

Justine (played by the horrid Romina Power) is virtuous, her sister Juliette (the great Maria Rohm) is her polar opposite - complete vice. When their parents die they are kicked out of their convent with little money. Juliette goes right over to the local whorehouse but the virginal Justine runs off to face evil in all forms. She is pawed at, almost raped, and set up for murder before being sent to prison with the hilarious Mercedes McCambridge. McCambridge is a raspy voiced mess, the former Hollywood star's fall from grace is painful to witness. Supposedly drunk will filming (Palance was apparently shit faced throughout also, and it shows) she staggers around snarling and hamming it up. It's an unbelievable performance.

Justine escapes with the plump lush McCambridge and eventually falls into the hands of Father Antonin and his fellow clergymen at their castle. De Sade's novel devotes a huge chunk of space to the perverted doings of Antonin and the brutality Justine endures. Franco's montage of Justine being stuck with pins, bled, chained, and hung up just don't cut the mustard. Their is no horror in these scenes and one feels Franco took the easy way out - a light softcore romp - instead of really tackling De Sade (once again see Passolini's treatment - night and day).

Jack Palance as Brother Antonin makes Franco's Justine a must see. This silly bastard is so drunk he can barely stay seated, his lines delivered with the most bizarre cadence imaginable. He screams out De Sade's lines through a sweaty, insane stupor. One must imagine this was a low point in the life of Mr. Palance, but thankfully preserved on film for fans to enjoy.