In the early spring of 1977, the film was reissued in the United States in an edited form, with new scenes directed by Al Adamson. On the heels of the success that year of the miniseries Roots, the ad campaign for the reissue touted that the film had "ALL the SENSUAL and VIOLENT passions 'ROOTS' couldn't show on TV" and offered "the REAL story of the SLAVES, MASTERS & LOVERS."[2]
In France, it was the 63rd top-grossing film of 1965, selling 928,110 tickets at the box office.[3] In Poland, it sold more than 2 million tickets, making it one of the thirteen highest-grossing foreign films in Poland as of 1968[update].[4] In North America, where it initially released in 1969, the film went on to sell 7,042,254 tickets and gross $10 million.[5] This adds up to more than 9,970,364 tickets sold worldwide.
Critical response
Reviewing its 1977 reissue, Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune called the film "lousy", and, noting the comparisons its ad campaign made to Roots, remarked that "the only similarity is that both films contain scenes of slaves being whipped."[6]
