Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Acensbart
Excellent but underrated film
RipDelight
This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
BA_Harrison
The first of many Emanuelle (spelt with only one 'm') films, this Italian rip-off of the famous French sex classic Emmanuelle (two 'm's) sees its sultry star Laura Gemser as journalist/photographer Mae Jordan (known professionally as—you guessed it—Emanuelle), who is in Africa for her latest assignment. Her employers are married couple Ann and Gianni Danieli (Karin Schubert and Angelo Infanti), who supposedly want our sexy snapper to capture shots of African ruins, but seem more interested in getting her into bed (and who can really blame them? The lovely lens-woman is gorgeous and gagging for it!).What follows is a string of silly soft-core couplings with Gemser and her free-loving associates getting busy with each other at every available opportunity; these are interspersed by some really dull exposition about Ann and Gianni's marital troubles (which serves as the basis for the weak plot), some non-sexual nudity including a hilarious photographic session with Ann going back to nature (pretending to be a gazelle!), plus a little bit of 'padding' in the form of National Geographic style wild-life footage.Director Bitto Albertini's handling of his material is, for the most part, fairly routine, although he does excel when it comes to delivering very unsubtle suggestive imagery: in particular, Ann's sex scene with a garage mechanic is made all the more entertaining by the juxtaposition of shots of a petrol nozzle filling up a car, whilst Emanuelle's naughty encounter with a hockey team whilst on a train is inter-cut with the locomotive's piston pumping rapidly in and out. Hardly a stroke of genius, but very funny!Later entries in the series, helmed by sleaze-king Joe D'amato, combined Genser's soft-core romping with other exploitation sub-genres, making for more satisfying films as a whole. This one, however, is content to simply show as much naked flesh as possible without ever crossing the line into hard-core territory. It's just about worth catching if you're a big fan of Ms. Gemser and/or very trashy films in general, but probably of little interest to anyone else.
Sandcooler
You know you're watching softcore with the wrong attitude when the poor dubbing bothers you. I'm okay with the crappy lip syncing but the sound mix is really of too. Every time someone says anything it sounds like there's a narrator. Either way, this is pretty much the purgatory between boring French professionalism and the heavenly campy Joe D'Amato flicks involving cannibalism and whatnot. Don't get me wrong, there's a fair dose of exploitation in this one, but there's always room for more. Laura Gemser stars, and that's good because she's hot. It's a bit freaky how at times you can see her bone structure, but she still rules over her white counterpart. You can also make a cool drinking game of how often she takes her kit of. Often. Every reason is good. Every person is good. Every location is good. One scene even involves an entire hockey team, whatever they are doing in Africa. Sometimes the plot gets in the way, and the supporting cast consists of some really vile looking people, but there's enough Laura Gemser for all.
Falconeer
The incomparable Laura Gemser appeared briefly in an erotic scene from the French "Emmanuelle 2." This amazing woman did not go unnoticed, and was soon cast as the lead in this all new Italian series, where she is the centerpiece; a beautiful photojournalist who travels the world experiencing all the mysterious eroticism that the world had to offer. In this first installment, Mae Jordan/Emanuelle is sent to Africa to photograph the people as well as the stunning landscape and wild exotic animals. Much like Sylvia Kristels character, Emanuelle has not come into her own when it comes to being open and comfortable with her own sexuality. This first film is basically about how she becomes the "Emanuelle" that most exploitation cinema fans are familiar with. Filled with gorgeous cinematography, beautiful people, and an intoxicating 70's score from the legendary Nico Fidenco, this one is sure to please. Those who enjoy the more story-driven style of the original french "Emmanuelle" should definitely like this as well. The main story here being an interesting cat and mouse tale of a womanizing playboy who comes to the realization that he has fallen in love with a woman who is the female version of him! Sexy, fun and totally entertaining throughout; a soap opera to be sure, but one with enough skin and general eye candy to keep the male viewers entertained. For some reason this is the hardest one in the series to find on DVD. there has never been a legitimate DVD for this, which is very strange. The bootlegs that sometimes appear online will have to do until someone gives this diamond of a film a proper release.
Coventry
This "Black Emmanuelle" is a typical Italian cinema product of the 70's. Whenever there was a new & popular trend at the movies, whether it was in horror, Sci-Fi or drama, Italian cinema would immediately cash in on it by rapidly creating their own equivalent. The story basics would be pretty much identical to the original product, but the Italian version would distinguish itself with either more gore, more violence or (much) more sleaze. Following the immense success of the French film "Emmanuelle" starring Sylvia Kristel (bearing in mind that, for once, that film already is a rip-off itself), Italy came up with its own insatiable sex nymph who ends every line she says by taking her top of. The gorgeously stunning Laura Gemser plays a photographer called Emanuelle (notice how there's only one "m" in her name to avoid legal difficulties) who travels to Africa for...no particular reason, actually! No reason other than to have random sex with a bunch of rich males and females that do nothing all day but throw parties and lay down by the pool. The film itself is quite dull, with the exception of several beautiful shots of the African wildlife, but Gemser is pure candy to look at and the original music by Nico Fidenco is among the best I've ever heard. This first film in a series of 8 starring Gemser strangely also is the least eccentric and most common one! The directing would later be taken over by the infamous Joe D'Amato who transformed Black Emanuelle into a trashy sex-guru that shows her sexual skills in all the corners of the world, from Asia to America and even among cannibal tribes and inside female prisons! In this first film, Emanuelle still is a sensitive and emotional girl whereas she's be a dominating shrew in the later films. No extreme sleaze-stuff happening here, like horse-masturbating for example (check "Emanuelle in America") which is probably why my national TV-station programmed it on Saturday night. However, if you happen to have an original copy, you should treasure it, as this is an extremely rare and hard to find movie!
