The upcoming Venice International Film Festival has set its pre-opening event as the world premiere of the restored version of the 1967 cult film “Deadly Sweet,” directed by Italian soft-core erotic film master Tinto Blas.
A new digital 4K version of Deadly Sweet, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Sweden’s Eva Ohlin, has been restored by the Center for Cinema Experimentation in Rome with support from Netflix. The film will be shown at the Lido on September 1st and will be included in the Venice Classics program.
The erotic pop-thriller, shot in London by Blass, stars Trintignant as a young man who discovers that a business contact has been murdered. Instead of calling the police, he decides to protect a young woman, played by Orlin, at the crime scene and track down the real culprit, which brings him into conflict with London’s underworld.
Deadly Sweet was screened out of competition at the 1967 Venice Film Festival. Produced by Ermanno Donati and Luigi Carpentieri, the film is slightly inspired by Sergio Donati’s novel ‘Il sepolcro di carta’. Screenplay by Tinto Blas, Francesco Longo, and Pierre Levi-Corti. Cinematography was by Silvano Ippoliti, production design was by Carmelo Patrono, and music was by Armando Trovagioli.
“Deadly Sweet” is one of several films the director has shot in the British capital. This was followed by Attraction (Neros Bianco, 1969) and Dropout (1970).
Blass is best known to international critics for two historical erotic epics, Salon Kitty (1976) and Caligula, produced in 1979 and released in 1984 in a different cut than Blass intended. The controversial film was self-financed in 1980 by Penthouse founder Bob Guguone, who, after a dispute with Blass and screenwriter Gore Vidal, scrapped the script for control of advertising the project and added adult content after filming had finished with actors including Helen Mirren, Malcolm McDowell, John Gielgud and Peter O’Toole. The addition of pornography led Blass and Vidal to sue to have their names removed from the photo.
The 84th edition of Venice will be held from September 2nd to 12th, and the festival lineup will be announced on July 23rd.
