Velluto nero

Not much plot worth describing here, but the video version of this movie I have is loaded with nudity and is titled "Naked Paradise" (on VCI Home Video). The number of titles this movie goes under is probably more interesting than the movie itself. I see where an unfortunate individual who commented on the film rented this under the title "Emmanuelle In Egypt". Only problem is that this is not an "Emmanuelle" movie. Clever and misleading video company that was! "Naked Paradise" is a much better title for this movie about various relationships (sexual and otherwise) between family members and others milling about on an island without much to do except fornicate or think about fornicating. Not a deep, spiritual movie by any means.

This movie is virtually plot less even for a "Black Emanuelle" flick (which is saying A LOT). It revolves around a family of women living in Egypt for some reason. The mother (Nieves Navarro) spends her time getting it on with her native manservant and a handsome, much younger spiritual guru (Al "Zombie" Cliver). The older daughter gets off on teasing and tormenting the manservant when her mother's not busy with him. The younger daughter "Laure" (Annie Belle, who may or may not be playing the same character she played in the real-life Emmanuelle Arsan's own directorial knock-off her "Emmanuelle" character, which was called "Laure")also shows up, apparently returning from school or something. Finally, you have friends of the family played by real-life couple, Laura Gemser and Gabriele Tinti. Gemser is playing a character called "Emanuelle", but she doesn't seem like the same chirpy, world-renowned photojournalist "Emanuelle" she plays in all the other movies (who sometimes goes by "May"). Here she is a much more passive fashion model, whose crazed photographer boyfriend (Tinti) insists on photographing her naked next to rotting animal carcasses or a caravan of natives who have been recently slaughtered my highwaymen ("It's life and death"!), that is when he's not raping her in front of everybody. "Laure" gets involved with "Emanuelle" and her boyfriend and also with Cliver (who at the time was Belle's real-life lover). So are you confused yet?

Needless to say much softcore sex ensues--which is really the only reason watch this. Gemser looks very lovely, but she is not as good as she usually is (with the exception of a bizarre freak-out scene in a mosque). Annie Belle (who I guess is supposed to be the "white Emannuelle") was a French beauty with a great body and bad Annie Lennox haircut who couldn't act her way out of crisp paper sack, let alone any of the movies she was inexplicably cast in (like Joe D'Amato's "Absurd" or Ruggero Deodato's "House by the Edge of Park"). Ditto with the vaguely sexy but more obscure actress playing the older sister. The best performances by far though are Tinti as the crazed photographer and Nieves Navarro as the insatiable older woman.

The movie is more of a travelogue than usual as the characters all take off trekking around Egypt stopping only for sex or sex-related religious/psychedelic experiences. It is also even more pretentious, pseudo-philosophical, preposterous, and, well, European than usual as well. I'd recommend this maybe for the four sexy actresses involved, the stunning Egyptian scenery, and the general weirdness, but otherwise it barely even qualifies as a narrative film.

Black Emanuelle, White Emanuelle (1976)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The actual merit of any Emanuelle film could be debated but it seems the sleazier they got the more of a cult following they gathered. We had official entries in the series, rips, countless sequels and at times films that had nothing to do with the sexy lady but a film still got her name in the credits. That's the case with this film, also known as BLACK VELVET, which features some lovely ladies acting in various sexual acts but none are named Emanuelle. No white Emanuelle and no black Emanuelle. Not only is there no Emanuelle but there's not much plot either. In the film Laura Gemser plays a beautiful model who is constantly being abused by her photographer boyfriend (Gabriele Tinti). The two find themselves in Egypt where they encounter various strange folks including the daughter (Annie Belle) of a sexually frustrated woman and another pervert (Al Cliver) who tries to come off like a Jesus-type figure. Again, there's really not too much going on here in terms of an actual story and in the end it pretty much hurts the film but to be honest, Emanuelle films, no matter what country they were coming from, dealt with stories too well. This film has a few good things going for it but just not enough to make it worth sitting through the 94-minute running time. There are a few campy moments including one early on where the abusive boyfriend makes Gemser pose next to a rotting dog. What this had to do with anything or the reason for it is beyond me but seeing the beautiful Gemser next to a dead dog was kind of weird to say the least. Fans of Gemser will certainly want to check this film out as she's naked plenty of times and I'm sure this is the main reason to turn into any of her films. Belle comes off pretty good as well as she fits her role perfectly and her scenes with Gemser are quite erotic. Cliver, best known for his role in Fulci's ZOMBIE, is also fun if you're a fan of his. There's quite a bit of nudity but the sex scenes are all rather tame except for the one between Gemser and Belle. The films pacing is all over the place and it's really too slow to make the film work. The cinematography is above average for this type of flick and the editing by the one and only Bruno Mattei isn't that bad either. Still, there's just not enough here to make the film work and in the end it's certainly for Gemser fans only.

What we have here is yet another Laura Gemser film being passed off as a part of the popular Emanuelle series. The film has nothing to do with the Emanuelle character and in fact Laura Gemser is simply called Laura in this. The Italian title literally translates as 'Black Velvet', but even that title has little to do with this film. It's also known as Emanuelle in Egypt and Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle (which is the title I saw it under) and to be honest I'm not really surprised that none of the titles really define it - as this is a very hard one to give a meaningful title to. The film takes place in Egypt and basically just follows a bunch of characters. There's no real narrative to the film so it basically just does whatever it likes for ninety minutes or so. We do have a mother character with two daughters and a servant she likes to seduce, along with a chauvinistic photographer and his girlfriend, who he treats badly; by making her pose with a load of corpses, for example. The characters then have sex in various combinations.

The best thing about Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle is undoubtedly the setting and cinematography as the film really does look great and actually it's a shame that the story wasn't better. The beautiful scenery is matched by some beautiful female talent - Laura Gemser obviously takes part although she shares her screen time with other beauties such as Annie Belle, Ziggy Zanger and Susan Scott. The two male stars are Al Cliver and Gabriele Tinti - which lead me to believe that this film may have been the result of the cast wanting to have some fun in the desert, seeing as the two were at the time going out with Annie Belle and Laura Gemser respectively. Curiously, director Brunello Rondi; who I just assumed was a hack, did collaborate with Federico Fellini on two of his most praised films - 8½ and La Dolce Vita. Whether or not you like this film will really come down to whether you value style over substance - there is none of the latter, but the film does look very nice and there are least some memorable scenes. I do have to say I rather enjoyed this film - although I'd have preferred it with some sort of plot.