Untamable Angelique (1967)

A Masterpiece!

Blistering performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

adventures. and Michelle Mercier. fight scenes and few slices of eroticism. and the sacrifice of novel for create a public more large. same not of series, the same search of Peyrac, few scenes who search be memorable and Oriental spice. short - a popular movie inspired by popular novels about a brave, courageous and passioned woman. after decades, not the story itself could be seductive but the flavor of a genre from the ''60's - the adventure film and the French form of it. important in that case is the old fashion flavor. the same for entire series. the crumbs of feminism, the true love, the beauty of the lead actress, the costumes, the credible performances as pieces of the construction. a series for memories or for discover the sensitivity of a public.

Being on her way to find her husband, Angelique gets in in all kind of unpleasant and dangerous situations: going onto the sea, being captured, raped, sold on a market... The movie is certainly not lacking actions - but compared to the books, a lot is missing and is twisted so that near the end becomes unsatisfactory. But like it is with most of adaptations for the movies, one must cast aside the books and appreciate the movies for themselves.The movie, as it was told, shows how slaves were in the past sold on the market and how humiliating that process was for them: being stripped off in front of a huge crowd, their teeth checked... We learn what was appreciated and what features brought a lot of money for their 'owners'. This is one of the best shots in the movie and Michele did it pretty well when it came down for showing emotions.

Iread in other reviews that the last two movies were originally one but were broken into two parts for International release. I also read that these two films strayed a lot from the original books. All this might be true, but I really don't know about these aspects of the films--just what I just saw on DVD.The first Angélique film was exceptional though I did notice that subsequent films were a bit of a letdown. Well, although this film still doesn't equal the first, at least it was better than several of the other films in the series. This time, Angélique has gone off to sea in search of her husband who she now is positive is still alive, as she caught a glimpse of him in the last film. However, her path to the man she loves is very brutal in this film and ends, naturally, with tragedy.At the beginning of the film, our heroine accepts a ride on a galley commanded by a French admiral. However, when the ship is sunk by pirates (led, in fact, by Angélique's husband, Joffrey). He was unaware that she was on board, however, and when he later learns this he frantically goes in search of her. Unfortunately for Angélique, she is rescued by a sadistic pirate who delights in raping her as well as tormenting her. He also intends to sell her on the slave market, as because of her beauty and high birth, she'll command a fortune.As the film nears the end, she is sold for an amazing amount by a stranger who happens to have bought her for Joffrey! However, although their reunion is at first joyous, the two soon begin arguing over nothing--a very odd twist thrown in by the writers. And, when the two realize the error of their ways and are about to kiss and make up, disaster strikes and she is kidnapped for a Muslim king--thus necessitating the next film, "Angélique and the Sultan".Overall, this is pretty exciting stuff though I admit that the brutality of the film and nudity make it less family-friendly than most of the films in the series. Still, there are lots of plot twists and excitement to merit watching.

This is the fourth film in the Angelique saga.Both this one and the fifth one("Angélique et le sultan" ) are actually one long flick divided into two parts.Both are Anne and Serge Golon's "Indomptable Angélique" transferred to the screen.The first films of the series roughly followed the plots of the novels.But ,from "Angélique et le roy" onwards,they started to wander from them dramatically.For example ,"Angelique et le roy" consisted of the last part of the three which the novel featured.And Peyrac did appear in it whereas he is absent from the novel."Indomptable Angelique" :Angelique goes in search of her husband Joffrey de Peyrac who did not die on the stake .Golon's novel was oversimplified :numerous characters who appear in it have been ruled out:Desgrez,the king's policeman,Nicolas Calembredaine(galley slave in the novel)....The part of the old Savary is more important in the novel.Moreover ,Peyrac has become a masked pirate ,Le Rescator .In the movie,Had Robert Hossein been masked ,the audience would have giggled.Unfortunately a lot of Golon's magic is gone.From the novel,the scenarists kept the most "daring" scenes:Angelique handed over to D'Escrainville's men down in the hold,then to ferocious cats ,then sold in a slaves market.At the time,the audience was very disappointed,even Angelique's fans ,because ,not only the movie was very short(barely 80 min)but it also abruptly ended.