Emanuelle et les filles de Madame Claude

Ever-intrepid investigative reporter Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) is currently in Africa, having tracked down an elusive American gangster (Venantino Venantini). It doesn't take that long for him to succumb to her charms (and those of her friend Susan (Ely Galleani)), and he agrees to an interview. But the tale doesn't end there. Emanuelle becomes intrigued by another American character, Francis Harley (Gabriele Tinti) whom she spies while on this current assignment, and she learns that he's involved in the white slave trade. Back in America, she gets into his good graces, and begins working as a prostitute in a bordello run by Madame Claude (Gota Gobert). But she could really be risking her neck if the Madame and others find out that she's actually a journalist.

"Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade" is overall an engaging example of this kind of soft-core entertainment. The story is enjoyable, but undeniably the attraction for most viewers will be the very generous doses of sex and nudity. (Emanuelle always seems to be up for a roll in the hay.) It's quite good in its first half, as it's just as much a travelogue as it is an exploitation film. Director Joe D'Amato also photographed the film, and the sights & sounds of Africa are impressive to take in. The story gets more conventional in the second half, but the striking Gemser proves to be always easy to watch. Worth noting is the films' sense of humor: Susan likes to take her Range Rover to the mechanic not to get it inspected, but rather to get it on with the mechanic (James Sampson). An in-drag male character, Stefan (Nicola D'Eramo), manages to kick some ass while wearing a wig and dress. Also, the final moments are really priceless.

An eclectic soundtrack composed by Nico Fidenco, and a decent supporting cast including Tinti, Venantini, Galleani, Pierre Marfurt as a prince, and Bryan Rostron as Emanuelles' photographer boyfriend are also among the films' virtues.

Generally regarded as a better entry in D'Amatos' "Black Emanuelle" series, this is a fun viewing for aficionados of trash cinema.

Seven out of 10.

Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade (1978)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Reporter Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) is doing a story on the white slave trade and tracks everything to a gangster living in Africa. Not happy stopping there, Emanuelle comes back to America and begins working undercover. This is probably the best of the D'Amato/Gemser Emanuelle movies but that's not saying too much. Unlike the other films in the series this one here at least manages to be entertaining without having to have a woman jerk off a horse as was seen in Emanuelle in America. This film here has a pretty interesting story and it moves along without too many boring spots. Needless to say there's a lot of sex scenes with Gemser taking on various men and women and these here are without a doubt the best scenes. D'Amato makes most of these very erotic, which is another thing missing from others in the series. I wouldn't say Gemser gives a good performance but she is comfortable in the role and you can't complain about seeing her naked throughout the film. The scenes in Africa are well shot and it's nice seeing some of the wildlife. Some of the American scenes were lifted from Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals but this just adds to some of the cheap fun. Original title: Via della prostituzione, La.

Whilst in Nairobi to interview reclusive gangster Giorgio Rivetti (Venantino Venantini), feisty photographer and reporter Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) stumbles upon the existence of a powerful prostitution and white slave trade racket operating out of the US.

After banging Rivetti, rolling in the sack with a prince (Pierre Marfurt) and showering with her best friend Susan Towers (the gorgeous Ely Galleani), Emanuelle returns to NY to go undercover as a poor woman willing to sell herself for sex. Infiltrating a high class brothel, she sets about the dangerous task of exposing the unscrupulous organisation.

The last of the Emanuelle films to be helmed by trash king Joe D'amato, White Slave Traders is a surprisingly tame affair in comparison to the director's other entries in the series: Emanuelle in America, Emanuelle and the Last cannibals, and Emanuelle Around the World. Where those films relied on scenes of hardcore sex and extreme gore to shock their audiences, this one sees old Joe content to present the usual smörgåsbord of soft-core sex acts and lightweight sleaze that typify the character's non-D'amato adventures.

Fortunately, the story is actually half-decent for a change (well, by Emanuelle standards) and there is just enough gratuitous nudity and outrageous silliness still make it worth a watch: during the course of the film, Gemser rubs one out whilst watching Susan shag a mechanic, partakes in a drug-fuelled menage-a-trois, runs naked through the African bush, satisfies an ageing senator, humps kung-fu transvestite Stefan (Nicola D'Eramo), and is rogered by a gang of thugs in a bowling alley. You'd think that by the end of the film she would be exhausted, but in a fittingly trashy finale, the game girl offers herself to a group of fishermen in exchange for a lift back to the city on their boat.

I think they call that 'working your passage'.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

This is a quite enjoyable little flick, though not as ingenious as Emanuelle and the last Cannibals. Unfortunately, it does not offer the same levels of gore and violence but somewhat compensates this shortcoming by excessive amounts of soft-core and an even more terrific sound-track by the same composer. The "safari"-scenes and the fight in the bowling-alley are unforgettable. Recommended to all fans of 70's sleaze but perhaps not to the general audience.

The quality of a film often suffers when the director decides to make it a "hardcore" feature. D'Amato's "Emanuelle In America" is a good example; remove the unappealing and artless hardcore shots and the nauseating "ejjaculation" inserts, and all that is left is a substandard, highly forgettable movie. This explains why "Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade" is, technically speaking, one of the best in the series. Without the porn angle to sell the product, D'Amato can concentrate on the important aspects of making a good movie; like a coherent and interesting story, and softcore erotic scenes that are truly artistic and extremely sexy. Anyone who finds the scenes of ugly men, "blowing their loads" on ugly bimbos, hotter, and more EROTIC than "the mechanic scene" featured in "White Slave Trade..." well, that audience shouldn't be reviewing these movies at all, because they just "don't get it..." In this long-lost entry in the Italian "Emanuelle" series, follows "Emy" Jordan, the reporter who travels to foreign lands to uncover stories too shocking for normal journalists, going to places, and dealing with people considered too dangerous for the average female reporter. Revisiting familiar territory, Emanuelle stumbles upon an international White Slavery ring while vacationing in Africa. Fans will recognize this story from both "Emanuelle In America," as well as the brutal but impressive "Emanuelle Around the World." Only this time D'Amato concentrates more on the quality, and it is recognized mostly in the writing and the introduction of some characters that are actually interesting and not simply one dimensional bodies who are there just to take off their clothes. Not that this film isn't filled with sex and nudity; it simply has more going for it than smut. Emanuelle's romantic interlude with the daughter of a foreign diplomat is really quite nice, and sexy without being exploitative, bringing to mind the girl/girl love story from the original, French "Emmanuelle" series with Sylvia Kristel. The rediscovery of this lost film is truly a great thing, and true fans of the series will be thrilled with the discovery of "Emanuelle and the White Slave trade." Those looking for the "love butter" and the "clam shots," might as well pass this one up.