You don't see many sexplotiation films in which the men are as exploited as the women, but Dragonard is a rare exception. Based on a popular series of bodice-ripper novels of the era, this film spends as much time lovingly displaying the young Patrick Warburton's muscular (and furry) torso as it does advancing its laughable plot.
The plot (what there is of it) deals with the mistreatment and eventual uprising of slaves in Jamaica. The audiences is treated to lots of slaves being whipped (both male and female). Dragonard features every romance novel cliché you can think of. Bright eyed upper class ladies lusting over supple male slaves, whores in powdered and ren-faire style corsetts,etc. Eartha Kitt seems to enjoy growling her way through every scene, and Oliver Reed shows up every once in awhile to shout drunkenly at the other actors.
As for Warburton, his main job in the film seems to be looking pretty, his character is supposed to be Scottish, but he hasn't bothered with an accent. Fortunately for him film is light on dialogue, preferring instead to focus on the sort of fake sex which was the stock and trade of the 1980's softcore T&A movie.
As a lover of trashy movies I was kind of hoping that this one would be a little more exploitive, insead it's not much more than a standard issue romance movie targeted (I think) to bored suburban housewives. If it were remade today Warburton's role would probably be played by Fabio.
The plot (what there is of it) deals with the mistreatment and eventual uprising of slaves in Jamaica. The audiences is treated to lots of slaves being whipped (both male and female). Dragonard features every romance novel cliché you can think of. Bright eyed upper class ladies lusting over supple male slaves, whores in powdered and ren-faire style corsetts,etc. Eartha Kitt seems to enjoy growling her way through every scene, and Oliver Reed shows up every once in awhile to shout drunkenly at the other actors.
As for Warburton, his main job in the film seems to be looking pretty, his character is supposed to be Scottish, but he hasn't bothered with an accent. Fortunately for him film is light on dialogue, preferring instead to focus on the sort of fake sex which was the stock and trade of the 1980's softcore T&A movie.
As a lover of trashy movies I was kind of hoping that this one would be a little more exploitive, insead it's not much more than a standard issue romance movie targeted (I think) to bored suburban housewives. If it were remade today Warburton's role would probably be played by Fabio.