One of my favorite directors of the moment is Walerian Borowczyk, best known as the director of controversial Euro-erotica IMMORAL TALES and THE BEAST. Though my personal favorites of his are DOCTEUR JEKYLL ET LES FEMMES and DZIEJE GRZECHU, a horror film and a historical drama respectively. Here's a selection of some of Borowczyk's short and animated films, the movies his reputation rested upon until his erotic-themed features made made waves in European cinema in the mid seventies . There are eight films, from all throughout Borowczyk's career, with seven on the Youtube and the last accessed via the link provided.


Love Requited (Nagrodzone uczucia) - With Jan Lenica - Poland - 1957



DOM - With Jan Lenica - Poland - 1958



Encyclopedia de Grand Maman - France - 1963



Renaissance - France - 1963



Le Petit Poucet - France - 1965



L' Amour monstre de tous les temps - France - 1977



Scherzo Infernal - France - 1984




Une collection particulière - France - 1973
Click here to view!

And for all those converted to the charms of Walerian Borowczyk's bizarre cinema, there's a modicum of news you may find interesting:

ART OF LOVE is coming to DVD from Severin!



One of our faves from Boro, this wild and ethereal erotic idyll set in first century Rome will be let loose onto Region 1 this November 24th, we don't know many details, although the first pre-order we could find, from HK Flix, lists only English as a language option. This might be disappointing to some fans of this Italian/French co-production. But we will be checking it out with great interest here no matter what shape its in you can be sure!

In other Boro DVD news, I have heard word that Cult Epics, who have released THE BEAST, GOTO ISLAND OF LOVE and LOVE RITES on R1 DVD, are hard at work on another batch of Borowczykian bounty, including his notorious Nunnery epic BEHIND CONVENT WALLS, a compilation of his short and animated films (surely some if not all those featured above!) and maybe, just maybe ... DOCTEUR JEKYLL ET LES FEMMES aka BLOODBATH OF DR. JEKYLL! My mind simply melts at even the idea of it! It's still early on in the process and let's not count any chickens just yet - but this is potentially awesome news!!

There might also be a new book about Borowczyk by Eastern European film expert Daniel Bird sometime this year, but I'd wager that it will be next year before it's actually out since it's already September and no official announcement has been made. Something to look forward to I'm sure as Bird seems to really know his stuff and has been working on the tome for the better part of a decade. In the meantime, here's some nice reading materials to help you fill in the gaps on this most underrated auteur.

Immoral Tales: European Sex and Horror Movies 1956-1984 by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs

Walerian Borowczyk: Cinema of Erotic Dreams by Jeremy Mark Robinson

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