Emanuelle in Bangkok (1977)

So much average

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The first thing that struck me about EMANUELLE IN BANGKOK was Nico Fidenco's music score, a whistling, happy, bumbling little ditty that would be right at home on a YouTube video compilation of Tourette's Guy clips. Or maybe a toothpaste commercial, its stuck in my head now and fortunately for my sanity, its not bad. I'd whistle it for you if I could, and can't help but wonder if that's Alessandro Alessandroni doing his trademark thing there. He's the guy whistling on the old spaghetti western soundtracks, proof once again that while often derivative the Italians managed to create some new forms. The movies may often be cheap & boring, but they almost always have great musical scores.I would paint this one into the same category. It looks pretty much like Joe D'amato took a sprawling vacation with some of his favorite stock players (Laura Gemser, her husband Gabrielle Tinti), a couple of Italian genre cinema leading males he maybe owed a favor to (Ivan Rassimov & my hero Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) and a few sexy Euro body babes with no problems with nudity, group groping and the occasional half naked lesbian make-out with Ms. Gemser (Ely Galleani, Debra Berger, Gaby Bourgois). He brought along a camera, maybe a mistress to hold the scripts while somebody made sure there was enough light, and went about their touristy ways while filming a scene or two here & there as they traveled about.Two scenes sort of spoil the fun, first another barbaric episode of Italian filmmakers using animal violence to fill some screen time, then an inexplicable sequence where Ms. Gemser is sexually assaulted by a mob of greaseballs who make a point to humiliate her while getting their jollies off. Inexplicable because afterward she seems quite at ease with herself and chats pleasantly with her attackers as if they had just met at a diner. Then again its all just a silly phallocentric fantasy really, about guys with unlimited means traveling exotic lands in the company of attractive women in their 20s whom they have random sex with, often playing erotic group games for grown ups & swapping partners, though the version I saw was strictly a softcore engagement. The most arousing display being a scene where the girls all get up, strip down to their panties and dance like a harem for an Arabian prince.Or something like that, to tell the truth I was hardly paying attention to the story and frankly couldn't care less. Like a spaghetti western you watch stuff like this for the individual moments rather than the cumulative effect, and most of it passed quite pleasantly with the occasional raised eyebrow. Like the scene were Emanuelle entertains a crowd in a private club by dripping hot candle wax all over her magnificent, nude body. For all we know and given the way Joe D'amato worked, the whole film might have been just an excuse to put that up on the screen. It may not pass as entertainment for some, but for those two minutes this movie was the only thing I was thinking about.4/10

Emanuelle in Bangkok (1976) * 1/2 (out of 4) Joe D'Amato's first stab in the "Black Emanuelle" series with Laura Gemser in her second stint as the character. In this film, Emanuelle travels to Bangkok to get an interview with their King but she spends most of her time screwing any man or woman she can get her hands on. This film doesn't contain the sleaze factor that future D'Amato/Gemser films have but there's still some fairly naughty stuff here including one woman who sticks a golf ball up her vagina and then blows it out. Animal lovers will also want to stay away as there's a disgusting scene with a snake and muskrat fighting it out to the (real) death. As for the rest of the film, it's amazing that D'Amato would make so many softcore and hardcore adult films (this one is soft) and yet never manage to capture anything remotely erotic ala other directors in the field like Franco and Rollin. Gemser is a hot piece of ass but D'Amato does nothing with that beauty and the non-erotic moments is what really kills this thing. The so called story is boring enough and while there's plenty of sex and nudity, this too gets boring after a while. This film was followed by Emanuelle in America, which also features Pedro the horse. Now that film and star get an ultimate yuck.

I often enjoy a spot of hardcore porn, and in spite of that and the fact that these films star the beautiful Laura Gemser; I have to say that I'm not much of a fan of Emanuelle films. Emanuelle flicks tend to be very similar to one another, and this is yet another film with only a theme to differentiate it from the rest of the series. The theme this time is that Emanuelle has found herself in Bangkok (seems like a suitable place...) for whatever reason, and naturally it's an excuse for her to engage in lots of sex with men, women and couples. The film is directed by Joe D'Amato, so as you might expect; sleaze comes as standard, and the film isn't lacking in that department. The sex scenes aren't particularly bad, but after seeing a fair amount of this stuff; I can't say that this film features anything that most of the others don't. The plot is practically non-existent as you would expect, and the sex scenes really aren't interesting enough to carry the whole film. There's not really a great deal that can be said about this one; it's not the worst Emanuelle film or the best, it's just an average one and I can't really recommend seeing it.

"Um...ok." is what I heard myself say quite often during this picture. This sequel to Emanuelle nera (1974) is basically just a travelogue as Laura Gemser goes to and fro from place to place and in the process destroys two marriages and smokes opium with Ivan Rassimov. Yep, that's all there is to it.Gabriele Tinti actually comes off best, and the sex scenes between he and Laura Gemser are quite nice. I was confused by Emanuelle's "struggle" with her lesbian feelings for Debra Berger's character. I remember seeing her have sex with two women in the last film.Ely Galleani is her usual smiling self (I've never seen her not smile in a film) and Ivan Rassimov has those sexy eyes, and of course Laura Gemser is gorgeous as ever, but this film is just kinda a time-passer. Now, the series would reach it's pinnacle soon with "Emanuelle Around the World," but that's another story...EDIT (June 2007): On reflection, having seen this film again after several years, I have to admit that I have a new appreciation for how the romance between Emanuelle and Debra was handled. It's really quite sweet. Emanuelle's struggle isn't with feeling attracted to a woman, but feeling stronger emotions, thus she flees India, back to her old ways. If you watch their scenes in Italian with the English subs on (on the Severin DVD release,) the dialogue between Emanuelle and Debra is a bit different, and more moving. It makes the bathtub scene much more significant, rather than just a random moment of titillation as it appears in the English dub.