Stella l'Italienne (1995) watch online HD

In August 1996 Joe D'Amato outdid himself, ripping off two film classics back-to-back in his quest to produce as many hardcore "epics" as humanly possible. Results have gotten lost in the marketplace, but are worth examining for the record.

IMDb has both films, VIRILITY and THE LAST SICILIAN, dated 1995, but I'm attempting to correct that.

VIRILITY is alternately titled THE LEOPARD, a nod to the classic novel and equally revered Luchino Visconti movie. Unfortunately his hardcore version has little to do with the source material.

It's basically a one-note effort that might have been more comfortable in the hands of a genius of Italian Comedy like Germi or Risi. The Prince (played stolidly by Valentino) can't get his wife to put out in bed. Stella (lovely Monica Orsini) maintains that carnal desires are a mortal sin, so she remains celibate, forcing Fabrizio (the Prince's given name) to go to a local brothel for servicing. A new girl named Fanny from Paris gives him what he wants. She's played by distinctively short-haired D'Amato regular Nicolette.

Upstaging Orsini is her sister Maria (the buxom and beautiful Cindy Scorsese, of course no relation to the goodfella guy). She's as sexually active as Orsini is uptight, first seen outside servicing the gardener, a bald, beefy young guy who comically reminded me of Vin Diesel (!).

Visiting from Palermo is the Prince's nephew Tancredi (overworked D'Amato regular Hakan Serbes), who wastes no time in having stand-up sex with Maria. To kill time, D'Amato has a balding (but too young to be convincing in the role) actor of his XXX stock company appear as Maria & Stella's dad, shtupping the housemaid.

Next time at the brothel, the Prince visits Fanny and finds her with Tancredi, cueing not outrage but rather an instant "all in the family" threesome to permit the auteur's patented double penetration action on dear Fanny.

As per his contract, Hakan as Tancredi services Maria another time, notching another money shot on his belt. Four servants, including fake Vin, have group sex in the kitchen and finally young Francesco Malcom does the deed with Stella. Her idea of breaking the ice is to go straight from celibacy to anal sex, this being a D'Amato film.

Not to be outdone, Valentino as the Prince has sex with his sister-in-law Maria, and the happy ending of course is the broken-in Stella now acceding to servicing her husband.

This wall-to-wall nonsense has nice location photography, though it fails to present a Sicilian atmosphere -might have been shot in Hungary for all that matters. All the women wear thick black stockings, and the period atmosphere is ruined by a terrible musical score that veers from strip-house accompaniment to disco tunes. The English dubbing is pitiful.

Companion film THE LAST SICILIAN has the temerity to take on Francesco Rosi's brilliant SALVATORE GIULIANO, with Hakan in the title role. Is nothing sacred?