Emanuelle nera: Orient reportage

In the summer of 1995, Showtime aired this movie almost every night, after "Red Shoe Diaries" and usually around 1 AM. I thought then this was the strangest soft-core thing I've ever seen. Over the years, I've seen far more bizarre, but this one still remains memorable to me after all these years.

First off, the music. Bad '70s porno music meets Asian karaoke. Seriously. There are really only 2 songs here, and I don't know the names of them, so I'll give them names: "Like A Sailing Ship," which has a ship horn in its chorus ("TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!"), and "I Wander Safe At Night," which is played most prominently during the big group drug/orgasm scene, perhaps the standout scene in this film: a bunch of people smoke pot (or some mind-altering drug), then get horny and get freaky. All to the strains of a bad guitar solo. This should be a requirement for all soft-core porn.

Laura Gemser is pretty hot, she could easily still stand out even today. Come to think of it, all the women here are not bad-looking at all. If you can stand the fact that a lot of George W.'s last name is in full force here (personal grooming wasn't in in 1976, kids), you might like the ladies.

"Emanuelle in Bangkok," a standout film from my lonely teenager years. I don't even remember the plot, and I don't care. Seeing this now brings back memories of me with Cool Ranch Doritos and a bottle of Pepsi, keeping the volume low so my parents wouldn't hear it, settling back to Showtime's late-night lineup, which included this film and "Red Shoe Diaries." Those were the days...

The exotic locale gave this a bit more to work with.

The obvious titillation scenes seemed to be the main point here. (Loved the massage scene.) Then big Joe just found ways to connect them. That's what he did best.

Gabriel Tinti, (Goddess Gemser's real life, and late, husband) makes an appearance as her paramour here. As he did in many of these films. He was a decent actor actually. I like seeing him as the straight man in her life.

I liked seeing Ivan Rassimov as the prince. He really played a great authority type. It's strange that he and Gemser didn't star in more films together seeing as they did a lot of similar work.

Call this a soft x film pretending to be a documentary.

The title says it all!! There is no story, just lovemaking scenes at regular frequency as the scene shifts from the Orient to the Gulf with a cruise thrown in between. The only saving grace for the film are the Husband & Wife couple of Gabriele Tinti & Laura Gemser.

Emanuelle in Bangkok is the second entry in the Black Emanuelle series begun by Bitto Albertini then continued on into infamy by Joe D'Amato.

Laura Gemser returns as the intrepid globetrotting reporter Emanuelle who is sent on a mission to Bangkok to interview the King's nephew. She is accompanied to Bangkok by her on-again-off-again lover Roberto (Gemsers real-life husband Gabriele Tinti) who is on his way to begin an archaeology dig in Morocco.

Emanuelle never quite gets her interview as she has her passport & photography equipment stolen then is brutally gang-raped by a group of thugs employed by the government, so she decides to join Roberto in Morocco. Not having a passport isn't a problem, she just f@cks an airport official for a free pass.

Once in Morocco Emanuelle discovers Roberto is now engaged to an English woman, so they all decide to engage in some group sex, which seems to straighten everything out. Soon Emanuelle falls madly in love with the daughter of an American ambassador and spends the rest of her days either involved in some in lesbian bubble bath action or f@cking Roberto and/or any other man who crosses her path.

Being still early in the series, there is less of the sleaze and nastiness that some of the other films are so well known for, basically it's a sexy travelogue piece. Emanuelle is inhibition-free and generous with her body so pretty much every dude she meets gets to have a go.

A couple of notable scenes include: a sequence of 'natural' animal violence where a Shrew-like creature fights a cobra, and wins. The fully-clothed gang-rape where afterwards Emanuelle hangs out and chats cheerfully with her assailants, and a Bangkok stripper performing the notorious ping-pong ball trick.

Ultimately this isn't D'Amato's best Emanuelle film but if you're looking for some mindless (and often dull) softcore fare then check this out, otherwise I'd suggest going for either Emanuelle in America, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals or Emanuelle Around the World (XXX version).

This is a suprisingly good film. The photography is good, it seems to have some decent production values, the score is excellent, and the editing is slick. It outclasses many of D'Amato's hardcore films and the erotic scenes are more hot than anything you can see late night on cinemax. An overlooked D'Amato/Gemser classic I say.