In Emanuelle Around the World (wink, wink), our libertine heroine discovers social justice - armed apparently with a bigger budget, although they should have spent a bit more of it on the script and dubbing.
Amid her globetrotting sexual conquests, Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) develops a conscience and decides to join fellow journalist Cora Norman (Karin Schubert) in a dangerous worldwide undercover investigation of "white slavery."
Around the World doesn't have the upbeat tone or humor of the earlier Emanuelle in Bangkok. Nico Fidenco's Bangkok score is also more fun and memorable, although this one is solid. Joe D'Amato's direction in Around the World is significantly more professional, however. This film is much more aggressive and harder-edged - whether a plus or minus will depend on your taste. The treatment of rape is again a giant problem. At least this film acknowledges that rape is harmful, if with wild tonal inconsistency and disingenuous motives (using rape to try and titillate). Gemser brings more knowing confidence to the table here, bringing a different dimension to her rampant dress-dropping. Co-star Schubert, who would have a dark story in the 1980s and 1990s, isn't much of a match for Gemser. The script has some suspenseful moments, but too many jarring transitions. It becomes completely incoherent around the time Emanuelle and Cora agree to spike their white slavery stories and to have a threesome with an Arab Emir in exchange for cheaper oil imports. A major demerit to the rushed, poor dubbed voice performances on the dialogue track. The Black Emanuelle series is at its best when it revels in the silliness. That's why I enjoyed the Bangkok film a bit more as a sillier, funnier film, even if admittedly less professional and more boring in the second half. Both are for exploitation aficionados only.
Screened on DVD (Severin Films has included on their disk
a nice interview with Nico Fidenco).
You're a tough man to please, Signor Bucho. I hope you had at least a little fun with this one. FYI, American distributor Jerry Gross also handled the domestic releases (and unforgettable ad campaigns) for ZOMBIE and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE.
ReplyDeleteAnd I adore the score for this one. The title song, "A Picture Of Love," is one of the all-time great Abba ripoffs.
A positive Edge of Tomorrow review coming up as soon as I finally finish it, so I don't hate everything (not that there won't be bitching even in that review). But I do have to protect my "Mikey likes it" reputation, don't I? The brief review format probably isn't totally fair to a movie like this, as I end up squeezing in what I didn't like and there's not much space to expound on the nuggets that work. I mean how can you completely hate a movie with that silly sex guru plot? (Emanuelle casual "that's just what I do" approach to dropping dress is always entertaining, one way or another.)
ReplyDeleteI think I'm also in the mood lately for something more politically interesting (from a left angle), so any recommendations you have are always appreciated.
As always, the feedback and additional info is most appreciated!
On the lefty side of things, there was a nice blu-ray issued a while back for TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING. It's a Robert Aldrich film with Burt Lancaster as a disgraced ex-Army officer who captures a nuclear missile silo and holds it hostage in a bid to force the President to reveal documents that tell the truth about the Vietnam War. It's amazingly radical for the time in its themes and has a cast to die for (Charles Durning, Paul Winfield, Richard Widmark, Joseph Cotten, Burt Young, etc.).
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