Vanessa (1976)

Absolutely brilliant

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is "Vanessa", a West German production from 1977 that includes mostly German language. It will have its 40th anniversary next year. The director is Hubert Frank, who was somewhat known back then, and the writer is Kurt Nachmann who I must admit I am not familiar with. The title character is played by Olivia Pascal and I must say I don't know her really or any other cast member in here. But I certainly liked what I saw in terms of her looks. She is a really attractive young brunette in here. She finds out about an inheritance and moves to Asia where she realizes that she has inherited brothels, so she turns into a bit of a Madam for the rest of the film. The context already makes clear that she is far from the only person we see without clothes in this 90-minute movie. I personally would not say this was a good watch really. There is some tension as we find out who Vanessa's friends are and who will be her foes, but it was never story-telling on level where I would say I am impressed or even well-entertained. Nonetheless, the story is a bit entertaining to watch from a guilty pleasure perspective and the lead actress is very gorgeous which is also why I cannot be too harsh on it. Overall, still a thumbs-down. Only recommended if you love sexploitation films or are just very horny.

This is another 1970's "Emmanuelle"-style knock-off; a German version this time featuring Olivia Pascal as "Emmanu. . ." I mean "Vanessa". It's particularly shameless in ripping off the first French "Emmanuelle", even being set in Asia, except that the character is a virgin fresh out of Catholic boarding school rather than a married swinger. The plot involves "Vanessa" finding out that she inherited a hotel in Hong Kong and becoming involved in sexual intrigue with various horny and grasping relatives and. . . oh, who cares about the plot.Pascal is absolutely beautiful and frequently naked. She doesn't actually ever technically lose her virginally (to a man), but she gets a sensuous Oriental massage, has an incredible lesbian scene with her "cousin", has psychic sex with an Indian swami, and is put in bondage and whipped by an "uncle". The most incredibly scene though has her dressed in her school-girl uniform and being spanked by a lesbian nun! I know this scene is sick and wrong for a lot of reasons, but good God!. . .(I guess I'm going straight to hell).I don't want to imply in any way that this is a good movie, but for what it is it. . . well, like the nun's hand on Pacal's bare butt, it definitely leaves an impression.

This film was one of the staples on cine max and it's after dark shows in the early 80's. So got to see it numerous times then, unfortunately it was before the common use of the VCR so never got a copy of it. One of the best scenes, for someone into it that is, is where Vanessa straps herself into a torture machine and gets whipped, it's short, but it's sweet and makes you wish you were there for filming on that day. Other than that scene the movie is fairly unremarkable. How ever it was worth setting an alarm clock to get up at three o'clock in the morning just to catch it. It was one of those rare occurrences when bondage was being shown on TV.

As a very young kid in the late 70's, I remember sneaking views of this classic flick on the 'adult' cable channels of the time. I was always into film even very young, and this one I knew was different. I thought the combination of the photography, music, direction, and locales made this a very exotic film. And of course, Olivia Pascal looked great. I would love to get this on video, even the cut cable version, if anyone has it, please email me. A DVD release would be great.Addition - it is now May 2015, almost 14 years since I wrote the above review. I'm glad to say today that "Vanessa" has indeed been on DVD for a while, and a spectacular release it is. Great picture, great sound and amazing extras like interviews and even home movies during shooting!I'm pushing 50 and I still love this film as much as I did when I first saw it, maybe in 1978 or '79 on cable. I'm not saying it is going to win awards. I just simply love everything this film has to offer - the beauty, the haunting music, the touch of black magic, the characters, and of course, Vanessa/Olivia Pascal, who is nothing short of absolutely stunning here. Of course there is a rampant sexual fever throughout, and the tension between Vanessa and Jackie builds to a fantastic climax, no pun intended. All the actors look like they are having a good time, really getting into their roles. What can I say, I just love this flick. Pick up the amazing DVD release before it becomes unavailable.