Black Emanuelle (1975)

While on assignment in Nairobi, a photojournalist questions her racial and sexual identity when she engages in affairs with her wealthy hosts.

Director:

Bitto Albertini (as Albert Thomas)

Writers:

Bitto Albertini, Ambrogio Molteni

Stars:

Laura Gemser, Karin Schubert, Angelo Infanti

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Laura Gemser	...	Mae Jordan / Emanuelle (as Emanuelle)
Karin Schubert	...	Ann Danieli
Angelo Infanti	...	Gianni Danieli
Isabelle Marchall	...	Gloria Clifton
Gabriele Tinti	...	Richard Clifton
Don Powell	...	Professor Kamau
Venantino Venantini	...	William Meredith

Storyline

In her first onscreen adventure, journalist/photographer Mae Jordan (known to her readers as "Emanuelle") travels to Africa on assignment. Questions of her own racial and sexual identity come to a head as she observes the troubled marriage of her hosts, Ann and Gianni Danieli. Matters are complicated further when Emanuelle finds herself in affairs with both of them, after which she flees Africa, only to be persued by Gianni, who had earlier rejected her and ridiculed her advances.

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Plot Keywords:

voyeur | africa | lesbian kiss | sex in bed | panties pulled down | 

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Taglines:

No one is ever the same after Black Emanuelle.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

X

Details

Country:

Italy Spain

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

October 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Emanuelle's Holiday

Filming Locations:

Amboseli Lodge, Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Company Credits

Production Co:

San Nicola Produzione Cinematografica, Flaminia Produzioni Cinematografiche, Emaus Films S.A.

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

On original advertising art as well as on original prints of the film, Laura Gemser is credited simply as "Emanuelle," rather than by her own name.

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Goofs

There are obvious body doubles during the hardcore scenes.

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Quotes

[Gianni tries to kiss Emanuelle, but she stops him]
Emanuelle: Isn't there anything to drink? You Italians don't beat around the bush - normally, when a man invites a girl over, he offers her a drink, and... then, they talk a bit, and then they make love.
Gianni Danieli: You're right.
[he gets up, but Emanuelle pulls him back to the bed]
Emanuelle: Idiot, it's you I want to drink.

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Alternate Versions

On the original US video release by Magnetic Video, Emanuelle's conversation with the missionary outside the airport is cut.

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Connections

Referenced in Red Oaks: The Wedding (2016)

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Soundtracks

An Impossible Love
Written by Don Powell
Performed by Don Powell

User Reviews

The start of one of the most popular cult series'

If it was popular in America, you can bet that there will be an Italian rip-off of it, and obviously 'Black Emanuelle' is a rip-off of the successful French porn classic 'Emmanuelle'. Black Emanuelle would go on to become a very popular franchise in Italy, with the insatiable Laura Gemser getting up to allsorts, including an outing into the jungle with cannibals, escaping from a women's prison and going to Bangkok under the direction of such trash film luminaries as Joe D'Amato and Bruno Mattei. This first outing is tamer than some of the later stuff, but still should satisfy fans of this series. Naturally, the plot focuses on Emanuelle, a young journalist who travels to Africa on an assignment (to have sex with as many people as possible, I think). She gets herself involved with a couple named Ann and Gianni Danieli who are having marriage trouble and both turn to the young journalist for a bit of 'comfort'. Naturally, things go a bit awry and Emanuelle is forced to flee Africa, but with Gianni on her tail...

In terms of plot, this film is not all that exciting and clearly it's all just an excuse to show as much sex as possible. This actually isn't all that much of a bad thing as Laura Gemser obviously relishes this role and seeing her with her clothes off is what most people will be tuning in for anyway. The music is superb and the title track is absolutely pure seventies trash flick gold and is sure to delight fans of this stuff. Director Bitto Albertini is not a well known cult name but he has a background in cinematography and as such the film looks very nice, which compliments the central theme nicely. While Emanuelle would go on to become something much less than innocent in all of the later series efforts, this film focuses more on her losing her innocence than the actual sex and that works fairly well as that is basically what the original French film was about. Overall, I cant say that this is one of my favourite films and I do prefer some of the later efforts in this series, and the original French film, but Black Emanuelle is certainly worth a look if only to see the start of one of cult cinema's most popular series'.