Released stateside by the Jerry Gross Organization in 1980, the colourful US release poster for Joe D'Amato's EMANUELLE AROUND THE WORLD (1977) promised “to take you places you’ve never been before”, which not only sums up said film, but the entire – and very lengthy - Black Emanuelle franchise as well. Brought about by the enormous worldwide success of Just Jaeckin’s EMMANUELLE (1974) starring Sylvia Kristel, which itself took inspiration from Emmanuelle Arsan’s hugely-popular novels, the Black Emanuelle films (notice the omission of one “M” from the title to avoid any possible copycat lawsuits) were easily the most popular by-product of Jaeckin’s sizable hit. Revealing many of the same preoccupations, including exotic locales, liberated women and sexual freedom, Adalberto “Bitto” Albertini’s BLACK EMANUELLE (1975) introduced proper the strikingly photogenic Laura Gemser to the world, who would go on to star in a series of increasingly wild films as the well-travelled shutterbug, and thanks mostly in part to director ‘Joe D’Amato’/Aristide Massaccesi, subsequent entries ventured into far darker territory, which guaranteed an outrageous variation on the classic softcore film scenario.
Although readily available on VHS during the format’s early days from such pioneering home video companies as Magnetic Video and Vid America, many of these analog releases were heavily edited, and further compromised by shoddy film-to-tape transfers. The digital age proved to be far more respectful with several uncut releases surfacing thanks to adventurous boutique labels such as Severin Films and Blue Underground, but various rights issues led most of these DVDs to go out-of-print many years ago. Fortunately, thanks to Severin’s painstaking efforts, this beautifully curated, years-in-the-making, 24-film (!), 15-disc (!) Blu-ray box set finally saw the light of day, and can easily be considered one of the most impressive collections ever conceived for the home video market. So, grab your passport, take a swig of J&B, and enter the sensual world of Black Emanuelle…
Given her nomadic nature, the lovely Laura Gemser is first seen on an airplane during the opening moments of Albertini’s BLACK EMANUELLE, where she witnesses a couple making out in the next row as Nico Fidenco’s sensational score swells on the soundtrack. Arriving in Nairobi (a seemingly popular filming destination for many an Italian crew during the time), Gemser stars as Mae Jordan, a world-renowned photographer, who is hired by a travel magazine. She is greeted at the airport by Ann Danieli (Karin Schubert) and later her husband Gianni (Angelo Infanti), who becomes infatuated with her. In between photo assignments on the African savannah, some of which develop into nude photo-modelling sessions with Ann (“You really know what you’re doing. You make me look like a model!”), she is introduced to Ann and Gianni’s friends Gloria (Isabelle Marchal), her husband Richard (Gabriele Tinti), a local professor (Don Powell) and an eccentric artist (Venantino Venantini), all of whom are captivated by Mae’s innate beauty and self-confidence (“With men, I’m the one who takes the lead.”) as they jump in and out of bed with her and each other.
At one point, Emanuelle calmly remarks, “Tomorrow I’ll be sent on another job. There will be other people and different situations.” Truer words have never been spoken. In all honesty, there really isn’t too much going on here, but this is an irresistibly amiable example of creative ambition that vastly oversteps its financial limitations, and remains consistently entertaining thanks to Gemser’s alluring presence, Carlo Carlini’s eye-catching photography, Fidenco’s aforementioned score, and an attractive and more-than-willing cast.
Although released on VHS by Magnetic Video in 1979, this was never issued on North American DVD, but it did get released on UK, Australian and Italian DVD, with the latter debuting the film’s rarely-seen hardcore version (more on that later). As to be expected, Severin’s new Blu-ray is a real sight for sore eyes, which features a stunning, lifelike transfer that brings out the African backdrop to its fullest, while skin tones and detail look solid during the numerous softcore couplings, all of which help better appreciate this landmark of Italian erotica. The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio 2.0 tracks are presented in both English and Italian and sound clean and consistent throughout.
The extensive extras begin with an audio commentary with film programmer Jazmyne Moreno who offers plenty of information, especially for the uninitiated, but it’s all delivered with a rather mocking tone, which will probably put off many viewers, especially when compared to the love and respect that has been afforded on these films elsewhere in this set. A missed opportunity. In Exoticizing Blackness and Erotic Sovereignty in Black Emanuelle (33m20s), adult film historian Mireille Miller-Young discusses her first experiences with discovering the Black Emanuelle films and how Gemser brought a “grace and eloquence to the role.” She also discusses the modernization of Africa, the racism in the series, the “complexities and intermixing of characters”, and how Emanuelle is a “modern women asserting her erotic sovereignty.” This is a wonderful, thought-provoking interview, and well worth your time. In I Am Your Black Queen (11m12s), an archival audio interview with Laura Gemser conducted by Manlio Gomarasca and Davide Pulici, Gemser goes over her beginnings as a model, her early film roles, her long collaboration with Joe D’Amato, and a very funny anecdote about her infamous snake dance from BLACK COBRA (1976). Next up, Kier-La Janisse, Stephen Broomer and Manlio Gomarasca present a tribute to Laura Gemser in The Reluctant Icon (19m55s), a beautifully produced doc (highlighted by some rather dazzling animation thanks to Leslie Supnet and Ashley Thorpe) that goes over the history of the movies and the French films that inspired it, Gemser’s relationship with actor/husband Gabriele Tinti (“The greatest love story of all time!”), the “pro-sex feminism” of the films, the “exotico erotico” angle, and much more in what is one of the finest, most notable extras in the entire box set. In Black Emanuelle’s Groove (13m54s), Nico Fidenco in interviewed in yet another archival extra wherein he talks about his early days working at RCA, his working methods and the isolating nature of film composing, and working on all the Black Emanuelle films. The extensive extras finish off with the film’s lengthy theatrical trailer (5m25s), and the alternate XXX inserts (8m21s), which, despite using body doubles, are fairly well-done, but do stick out like a sore thumb when inserted into the main feature proper. Thankfully, Severin only includes these scenes as an extra only.
In BLACK EMANUELLE No. 2 (1976), the second film on disc one, director Bitto Albertini returns in this name-only sequel, and in what turned out to be her only screen role, ‘Sharon Leslie’/Shulasmith Lasri replaces Gemser as the eponymous Emanuelle. Suffering from amnesia, Emanuelle Richman (Lasri) recalls her numerous sexual exploits to her psychiatrist, Dr. Paul (Angelo Infanti) in the hopes of unlocking her memory. Despite the validity of her recollections, Dr. Paul is unable to help, so he consults her father (Don Powell) and her ex-husband (Percy Hogan) in the hopes of finding answers to her current condition.
The opening scene promises much as Emanuelle is involved in several startling set-pieces, which even includes a typical BDSM scenario at the hands of a torturer in some third world dictatorship. Unfortunately, this rather showy opening is nothing more than a figment of Emanuelle’s overzealous imagination, and even though the sex scenes constantly pre-empt the storyline (such as it is), most of the film unfolds within the confines of a psychiatric hospital, sacrificing even the film’s noteworthy Manhattan setting. Needless to say, Laura Gemser is sorely missed, but one-time star Lasri more than fills the part (pun intended), even if she lacks the necessary charisma that Gemser brings to the role so naturally. Like the other films in the series, Albertini again populates his film with several familiar faces including Dagmar Lassander as Dr. Paul’s neglected wife whose role herein amounts to nothing more than an extended – but much welcome - cameo. Brimming with gratuitous nudity and dime-store psychiatric mutterings, fans of Italian erotica should still find plenty to enjoy, even within the claustrophobic hospital setting.
A little more challenging to find during the heyday of VHS, the film turned up officially in a number of European countries, and in Canada courtesy of the Toronto-based Vogue Video, but this heavily-cropped, edited, and poorly-telecined transfer was nigh unwatchable. One of the first DVDs out of the gate was X-Rated Kult’s hardbox edition, which offered a decent 16x9 transfer with German, English, and Italian language options. A smattering of perfunctory extras included a newly constructed trailer as EMANUELLE NERA UND IHRE WILDEN HENGSTE (trans: Black Emanuelle and Her Wild Stallions [!]), a few deleted scenes, and trailers for some of X-Rated’s other product. In 2007, as part of their Black Emanuelle’s Box Volume 2, Severin released the film for the first time in the U.S. in a far more pleasing transfer, which also included Diva ’70 (15m52s), an on-camera interview with Lassander, who reveals all sorts in interesting tidbits about her varied career. Of course, Severin’s new Blu-ray offers another significant upgrade, which features richer colours, pleasing depth, and looks very appealing overall. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks in English and Italian (with optional English subtitles) are both first-rate, especially when given the dubbed nature of these films.
On Severin’s new Blu-ray, the Lassander interview is once again included, but the big extra here is Adalberto aka Bitto (36m18s), a wonderful interview with Nocturno editor Davide Pulici, who goes over Bitto Albertini’s entire career delving into his unique “personality and black humour” and “troubled past”, his “smooth directing style”, his fascination with Africa, and the events which eventually led him to direct BLACK EMANUELLE. Other extras include another set of XXX inserts (6m45s) and the film’s original English export trailer narrated by the great Richard McNamara (“White pearls against dark skin. Beautiful. Mysterious.”).
Moving onto the second disc, EMANUELLE IN BANGKOK (1976) was the first in a series of collaborations made by director Joe D’Amato and Gemser, and on the strength of their work here, they ended up working together for the next two decades. Aided by the smooth-talking Prince Sanit (Ivan Rassimov), Emanuelle arrives in Bangkok with the hopes of interviewing the elusive King of Thailand, and during her adventures she meets Roberto (Gabriele Tinti), an archeologist who quickly falls head over heels for her, a couple of crude American tourists (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and Ely Galleani), and a Japanese masseuse (Koike Mahoco) ,which allows D’Amato to pay homage to the infamous rubdown in Just Jaeckin’s EMMANUELLE 2 (1975), which incidentally, featured Gemser in one of her earliest appearances as, you guessed it, a sexy masseuse.
While it lacks the visceral punch of subsequent entries, EMANUELLE IN BANGKOK remains engaging nonetheless, and acts as a sort of sexed-up travelogue as D’Amato’s camera prowls the exotic streets of Bangkok transposing the entire softcore premise into a mondo-type setting that even includes some real-life animal violence. Meanwhile, to help augment the wafer-thin plot, a set of encounters with several mysterious strangers eventually turns ugly when government officials become “suspicious” about Emanuelle’s friendship with Prince Sanit, which forces her to leave Bangkok for Casablanca where further adventures await her, including a fling with the daughter (Debra Berger) of an ambassador (Venantino Venantini), and a chance meeting with Roberto…
One of VidAmerica’s more widely-released VHS / Beta videocassettes (“She’s sexier and more sensuous than ever!”), this was one of the few Emanuelle films that was left intact, but the full-screen transfer definitely hampered Massaccesi’s energetic camerawork. The film’s first North American DVD release was issued in 2007 as part of Severin’s Black Emanuelle’s Box Volume 1, which was a generally impressive upgrade, despite the inclusion of VHS sourced opening and closing credit sequences. Severin’s Blu-ray boasts a new “2K scan from StudioCanal with additional restoration and color work by Severin Films”, and is surprisingly strong with solid black levels, vivid colours, and consistent textures. Severin’s usual high-quality really shines here, and for those that care about such details, they also restored the film’s proper opening and closing credits. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks, which are once again offered in English and Italian (with optional English subtitles) are presented without any flaws and are ably supported by another of Nico Fidenco’s memorable scores.
The extra features begin with an audio commentary with Aaron AuBuchon, a Professor of Film wherein he discusses everything from how the Black Emanuelle films sit within the world of “straight erotica”, the history of the Emmanuelle and Emanuelle characters, the various cast and crew of the film, and so much more; it’s another winner, which viewers should enjoy very much. In A Reflection of the Times (6m52s), actor Debra Berger goes over her time working in Europe, and what a “blast from the past” it is talking about all these films, which includes plenty of stories of said film. In Ivan the Terrible (7m09s), an archival interview from 1999, actor Ivan Rassimov describes how much fun he had making the film in Bangkok, and how D’Amato was “full of humanity”, and a “friend and a great individual.” It seems Severin was unable to locate the film’s original export trailer, but they do include a unique home video preview (1m29s) instead.
The next film on disc two is Joe D’Amato’s EMANUELLE IN AMERICA (1976), a title that has gained a great deal of infamy since the discovery of a longer and much more sexually graphic version, which first appeared on Venezuelan videocassette (in English with Spanish subtitles) in the late ’80s as EMMANUELLE NEGRA EN AMERICA (notice the double ‘M’) via ADB Video. Although it begins in a typically light-hearted fashion, the film’s style soon displays a distinctly different attitude as it mixes the usual softcore playfulness alongside hardcore sex and some truly jarring violence. Taking into account that it does take place in ‘America’, the film rightly begins in New York City, where Emanuelle (Gemser) lives and works with Bill (Riccardo Salvino), a fellow reporter, but in her spare time, she also moonlights as a part-time fashion photographer. Following a lively photo shoot, Emanuelle is held at gunpoint by one of her model’s boyfriends, a self-professed ‘saviour’ who believes Emanuelle “corrupted” his girlfriend. This crackpot is convinced that the world has “No more values, no more ideals, and no morality left”, a sentiment which is echoed repeatedly throughout the film as D’Amato pushes the limits of what is deemed ‘acceptable’. As with Emanuelle’s erstwhile abductor who succumbs to her libidinous flirtations, the viewer is also compulsively drawn into the film’s ever-increasing spiral of perversions and violence, which includes an illegal arms dealer (Lar Bloch) who also operates a high-end brothel outside of San Diego, a kinky Italian Duke (Gabriele Tinti) and his wife (Paola Senatore), an anything goes stud-farm for single women, and a pervy-politico (Roger Browne) who screens some genuine snuff films for her…
As can probably be deduced from the busy if slender plot description, EMANUELLE IN AMERICA has far more on its mind than mere exploitation. Coming across like an open indictment of the rich and powerful, D’Amato and his scriptwriters Maria Pia Fusco, Ottavio Alessi and Piero Vivarelli give the viewer plenty to ponder, and not only address the rise of ever-more-explicit and obscene pornography, but more importantly, the ever-changing, voracious consumer culture that wants it all. It the end, D’Amato had nowhere left to go with the series, and despite his prolific career, he never made another film that had quite the same impact.
First released on North American VHS / Beta videocassettes in 1983 by VidAmerica (“She does it all for Old Glory!”) this edition of EMANUELLE IN AMERICA was strictly softcore. In 2003, Blue Underground audaciously released the uncut film on DVD with a nice selection of extra features including an audio interview with Gemser herself. In 2019, Mondo Macabro issued the film on Blu-ray, which featured a new 4K transfer of the uncut version, with DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio in both English and Italian (with optional English subtitles), and a host of new special features. First up, a new audio commentary from Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson and Cinema Arcana’s Bruce Holecheck covered everything from the convoluted history of the entire E(m)manuelle franchise, lots of detail about the cast and crew including plenty of background info on Gemser and composer Fidenco, the film’s release history and its indirect connection to David Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME (1981) are just a few of the topics discussed. There is a lot to talk about and both of them are certainly up to the task in this fact-filled and highly-entertaining listen. In Joe D’Amato Totally Uncut (62m21s), the always personable director speaks candidly during a career-spanning interview filmed in 1999, which also features a generous amount of film clips from his substantial filmography. Author David Flint provides a visual essay, Emanuelle: From 2 M’s to One: The Story of E(m)manuelle (35m30s) where he covers everything from the original source novel and its author, Marayat Rollet-Andriane, and just about every spin-off/rip-off and variation that was made in the wake of its success, including tons of info on D’Amato’s own ‘unofficial’ contributions to the mythos.
Featuring what appears to be the same transfer as MM’s disc, which once again includes both English and Italian audio options (the latter with optional English subtitles), Severin’s release includes a whole slew of new and archival extras beginning with a new audio commentary with author and film historian Kat Ellinger where she talks about the confrontational nature of D’Amato’s film, the Sadean elements of his work and how he is “willing to go over the line”, his sense of fun “even when he shocks”, the changing times of the ’70s, the character of Emanuelle, and much more besides. As usual, it’s another intelligent, well thought out and researched listen that shouldn’t be missed. In a nice gesture, Severin also saw fit to include the aforementioned Thompson and Holecheck commentary as well. Additional extra features begin with The Danish Man (10m39s), an interview with character actor Lars Bloch who talks enthusiastically about D’Amato’s excellent working methods and how he “never wasted time” and was on the “level of Roger Corman”, his relationship with Gemser, and his work behind the scenes including film distribution. In The Confessions of Diana Smith (16m21s), actress Maria Piera Regnoli talks about her start in the industry and her “love” for Rome at that time, and D’Amato’s “kind and exquisite” personality. Production designer Marco Dentici has much the same feeling about D’Amato in The Art of Sexy & Gore (25m14s), and how there was “never a tense moment” on set. More specifically, he goes over his work on the film and the “formal elegance” he was trying to achieve with his “unique set design”, and the film’s very effective torture chamber for the film’s unforgettable snuff film sequences. Continuing to delve into the film’s horrific moments, legendary F/X artist Gianetto De Rossi gives lots of detailed explanations of his work on the film in The Cutting of the Flesh (10m36s). Fellow F/X artist Maurizio Trani is also interviewed in The Devil’s Trick (8m29s), and like his colleague, discusses how he landed in court when some of their work had gone “too far.” In The Journalist (13m23s), an audio interview with screenwriters Maria Pia Fusco and Piero Vivarelli, they discuss how this project morphed into the present film, it’s inspiration, and how Fusco “let off steam” writing this unique piece of work. In The Naked City: Emanuelle in New York (26m15s), Michael Gingold goes over all the film’s locations and points out all the errors and continuity discrepancies in this exceptionally well-researched doc. Lastly, the film’s original English export trailer (3m30s) is also included.
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