House of 1000 Pleasures

House of 1000 Pleasures is a 1973 commedia sexy all'italiana film co-written and directed by Antonio Margheriti.

Cast

Barbara Bouchet as Mariam
Femi Benussi as Zumurud
Barbara Marzano as Queen Aziza
Esmeralda Barros as the storyteller
Pupo De Luca as Samandar
Gastone Pescucci as Karim
Alberto Atenari as Raji
Ignazio Leone as Mariam's husband
Annie Carol Edel as Zobeide
Gino Milli as Aladino
Remo Capitani as Sultan Almamud
Vassili Karis as Aziza's servant
Gigi Ballista as Genie in the lamp
Gigi Bonos as Baba
Salvatore Puntillo

Production

The film was a co-production between Medusa and Pink International Film. Loosely inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, its production started shortly after Pier Paolo Pasolini announced the similarly themed Arabian Nights. Davide Pulici from Nocturno described it as a film with a strange status: "on the one hand a copy of an idea, on the other an original and pragmatic model" of numerous rip-offs.

Release

The film was released in Italian cinemas by Medusa on 7 December 1973.

Reception

Italian film critic Marco Giusti wrote that, despite some "trash" elements, the film is "an extremely well-done decameronico, pursuing more the path of the fantastic than the erotic with above-average special effects". Similarly, Nocturno's Davide Pulici described it as an above-average decameronico, both narratively, thanks to Dino Verde's involvement, and visually, due to rich sets, D'Offizi's virtuosistic cinematography and Margheriti's visual effects.