Emanuelle negra No. 1

Laura Gemser is breathtaking! She is beautiful beyond words. Even now in her senior years she is still stunning. She is a natural beauty in every way. This fact must be understood when watching Black Emanuelle.

Whether it intended to be or not, This movie is at it's core, a love letter to both Laura Gemser and South Africa as a whole. The cinematography is breathtaking, as is the sight of Laura Gemser. And we get plenty of both in spades.

The plot is little more than a vehicle to transition from one sex scene to the other. Which is fine, as all of the scenes have Gemser either participating or present. So no complaints here.

Well actually, I only have two complaints. The two male leads in the movie, Look almost identical, And sadly if you are following the story it makes figuring out who's who a nightmare. My second complaint is the Gang-bang scene on the train, It was shoe horned in and feels like it, as it makes no sense at all even be porn standards.

In the end, It's worth checking out. If nothing else but for the amazing view of Laura Gemser

Would it be splitting hairs to point out that the Emanuelle in question is not "black" but Indonesian? I suppose it's no more silly or abstract than LL Cool J being Robin Williams' full-blood brother ("Toys"). Sumptuous cinematography, creative carnality, and the gorgeous (Laura) Gemser, pre-empt all political incorrectness. Pedophiliac permutations "pop up" (when a 12-year-old native boy eagerly presents Emanuelle with a phallic "good luck" icon and says "I give it to you!") and are "purged" and pacified when, a short time later, she drinks a strange potion at a ceremony, copulates on the ground with an anonymous, young tribal dancer (in full view of villagers and friends), and realizes she has had meaningless sex (well, duh!). Whatever happened to Laura Gemser's brief foray into straight cinema when she starred with Michael Landon in a 1983 made-for-tv movie? I give this sex-seared safari seven sharp spears, six shrunken skulls, five fat ferrets, and a porn queen in a pear tree!

Laura Gemser plays a magazine photographer who is sent to Africa for a photo shoot. There she is met by a couple and other swinging couples. They all stay at this huge, very touristy hotel with a gigantic swimming pool. One night they have a pool party complete with "real live" native dancers. It's very un-politically correct and very kitschy. Later, Emanuelle finally has her photo shoot, which turns out to be in one of those drive-through, stay-in-your-car safaris (albeit the photography is gorgeous). Throughout the film, Emanuelle is going after every man she meets. The photography is very well done in this film. There are scenes with cascading waterfalls, galloping giraffes and ancient ruins. The film is worth seeing for the soundtrack by Nico Fidenco alone.

Laura Gemser is one of the best actresses in the Emmanuelle movies. She has a sure, sexy, friendly, erotic, girl that you could meet & not be snubbed by attitude that puts her over the line in my opinion. She gets in these situations with ease & is not only good to look at, but makes her role believable. Her sex scenes are enough to melt the heart of a statue. The story line is ok, the soundtrack is good, the acting is fair, but Laura makes the movie what it is, kind of like how Jack Nicholson can steal the movies he acts in.

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!