“Everybody took their clothes off!”

When Christopher Lee took a role in 1970’s Eugenie De Sade, he had little idea what kind of film he was making…

In the 1960s the Marquis de Sade was a subject deemed worthy for the big screen, with films such as Cy Endfield’s 1969 biopic De Sade attracting much publicity. Other directors, however, while still creating surreal arthouse masterpieces, were slightly more salacious in how they approached the subject. One such artist was Jess Franco, a Spanish filmmaker described by biographer Stephen Thrower as “a dedicated exponent of weird sex.”

Franco directed more than 180 movies across a 54-year period and is known for his weird visuals and risqué content. It’s no surprise, then, that Franco found himself attracted to the work of De Sade, with perhaps two of his best known films being Marquis De Sade: Justine (1968) and Eugenie De Sade (1970).

The latter film, an adaptation of the 1795 novel

Philosophy in the Bedroom, stars Christopher Lee as the character Dolmancé. At the time, Lee was known for his horror roles but had an established relationship with producer Harry Alan Towers, playing Fu Manchu in five pulp pot-boilers. George Sanders was originally cast as Dolmancé but when he withdrew, Lee took the role as a favour.

It goes without saying that the film is explicit but supposedly Lee was unaware of this fact and claimed to have recorded his scenes with most of the actors surrounding him fully clothed. In an interview Lee revealed: “A friend of mine said: ‘You’re in a cinema on Old Compton Street,’” which was an area of Soho, London, notorious for cinemas showing pornographic content. Deciding he needed to investigate the matter, Lee discovered that: “After I left [the film set] they reshot my point of view and everybody took their clothes off.”