Main title card.

LO SPECCIO DEL PIACERE 1974[?]: TABU label* Italian VHS; PAL; Ihr 26m 25s; approx. 1.85:1
Video Release Date: [?]

Directed by: "Manera Jesus-Franco"

Italian hardcore version of AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO (1973) adds hardcore footage, not shot by Jess Franco, and includes the alternate erotic footage, w/Lina Romay and co., added in the French release LE MIROIR OBSCENE (1974). There is also some footage, including nude shots of Emma Cohen, shot by Jess Franco, which doesn't appear in AL OTRO LADO... . The hardcore footage seriously detracts from the impact of the oneiric drama at the center of the film, here involving the suicide of Cohen's sister (Romay), which replaces the suicide of the father (Howard Vernon) in the Spanish version. Lina Romay does not appear in any role in AL OTRO LADO..., the most effective of the three versions and a personal project for JF since the mid 1960s. Nonetheless, this is worth seeing for Franco completists and those who seek a fuller understanding of the history of AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO/

FILM: ** [It. hardcore version]
VIDEO: ** [The video quality of this Italian tape is slightly sharper than the video quality of the Spanish tape of AL OTRO LADO... . But the lush greenery of the original film is diluted and has faded into ugly browns and yellows here. The video is also on rather dark in spots, sometimes obscuring important visual detail.]
AUDIO: **

*[An email from Robert Guest, who kindly supplied me a copy of the Italian video pre-record: >>
>> The full title on the red box is "Lo Specchio del Desiderio" (which is the same name as the Jean-Jacques Benieux film THE MOON IN THE GUTTER.) The actual title on the print is: LO SPECCHIO DEL PIACERE. It has red Italian credit cards, and Franco's director's credit is in this order: Regia di MANERA JESUS-FRANCO. His writing credit is in the correct order as Jesus-Franco Manera The Pal vhs is on the TABU label, in its "I GRANDI INEDITI DEL CINEMA PROIBITI" series. The film's in Italian and is the hardcore version. Running time is 1 hour, 26 mins, 25 seconds."]

Thanks to Robert Guest.