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2
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6 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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In
the 1970s there were two distinct "Emmanuelle"
series: the 'double M' films starring Sylvia
Kristel — in which the character's name is spelled
with two Ms — and the knockoffs which were
made (or simply retitled) to cash in on the international
popularity of the first. In the latter flicks
the name of the freewheeling female sexual explorer
is spelled with a single M; the most famous
of these starred exotic Indonesian beauty Laura
Gemser and were directed by Joe D'Amato. (See
EC's review of Emanuelle
In America.) Yellow
Emanuelle falls into the latter category.
Originally called Il Mondo
Dei Sensi Di Emy Wong (The Sensual World
of Emy Wong), it was apparently given a new
title merely to cash in — there is no character
named "Emanuelle" in it at all. Whatever one chooses
to call it, however, the film's strong emphasis
on romance over sleaze and titillation makes it
the "Chick Flick" version of sexploitation. (At
least the Emy Wong title isn't racist-sounding.)
A British pilot for Japan Air Lines, George
Taylor (Guiseppe Pambieri), is carousing in Hong
Kong during a layover when he's accosted by thugs,
robbed and severely beaten. Waking up in the hospital
he finds himself under the care of a beautiful
female physician, Dr. Emy Wong (Chai Lee). For
George it's love at first sight. Emy's obviously
attracted to George as well but tries to keep
their relationship strictly one of doctor and
patient. George is a charmer, though, who has
a way with the ladies; eventually he penetrates
her professional reserve and begins to thaw the
ice. But Emy still won't sleep with him just yet,
so horny George embarks on a casual affair with
Helen, a secretary from his company office (played
by porn star Ilona Staller, who in 1987 was elected
to the Italian parliament!). Shortly before George
is scheduled to go back to work and leave Hong
Kong, Emy succumbs to his seduction and finally
goes to bed with him. Afterwards he declares his
love and proposes marriage, kicking Helen to the
curb in the process. The jilted blonde gets revenge
on George by intercepting the letters he writes
to Emy while he's away on assignment. Thinking
she's been abandoned, Emy spirals into depression
and quits her job at the hospital to become a
prostitute, first working at an exclusive brothel
and later hustling in bars and on street corners.
Eventually George returns to Hong Kong only to
find that his bride-to-be has disappeared. Desperately
he seeks her out...
The "will they/won't they get together?"
shtick is dragged on interminably — or at least
it seems that way. The romance angle is taken
very seriously. Other than a few quick stops at
a massage parlor and a couple of strip clubs at
the beginning, as well as George's brief fling
with Helen, sex and nudity are banished to the
background until the final half hour. In the interim
we're treated to some nicely photographed scenes
of picturesque Hong Kong locations and spend time
commiserating with the weepy Dr. Wong as she pines
for her lost love. This is all pretty damn dull.
Speaking as a hetero male who enjoys a good sexploitation
pic now and then, what the main audience for a
movie called Yellow Emanuelle
really wants is softcore T & A and
plenty of it — not a soap opera posing as a travelogue.
I suppose the filmmakers were aiming for a "couples"
movie... In the 1970s at least, this usually resulted
in a boring film, pleasing no one. That's the
case here, alas. (In contrast, Joe D'Amato's Emanuelle
In America gets waaaay too sleazy.
The problem with Yellow
Emanuelle is that it's just not sleazy
enough.)
I guess some credit should be given for
making the central character an intelligent, professional
woman of means and not the stereotypical Asian
bimbo. (We don't hear anything like "Me
so horny! Me love you long time!" coming
from her.) The film's hamfisted, headlong plunge
into contrived melodrama and Shakespearean tragedy,
however, negates any such positive aspects. The
abrupt bummer ending will likely leave many (like
me) merely pissed off rather than sad.
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Media
Blaster's DVD edition of Yellow
Emanuelle, released via the company's Exploitation
Digital imprint, utilizes a good-looking, practically
damage-free anamorphic 1:85.1 print with a decent
mono audio track. It should be noted that the final
few minutes look decidedly grainier than all the
preceding footage; this climactic sequence seems
to have come from different source elements. (Perhaps
this ending was left out of prints distributed to
certain countries.) Also, while the packaging lists
a run time of 80 minutes, the film actually clocked
in at 99 minutes on my player. According to the
IMDB the Italian cut is 109 minutes long. If correct,
the DVD does not represent a 'complete' version.
There are some noticeably choppy moments here and
there but none of them involve any sexual escapades;
I doubt that we're missing any significant naughty
stuff.
Some of the missing footage can be seen
via four minutes of deleted scenes (culled from
a faded videotape source) included on the DVD as
an extra. The disc also comes with an image gallery,
A Yellow Emanuelle
trailer and four trailers for other Exploitation
Digital/Shriek Show titles: SS
Hell Camp, Syndicate Sadists,
Emanuelle And The Last Cannibals
and Porno
Holocaust. (Be warned... The preview
for Porno Holocaust
includes hardcore oral sex and vaginal penetration
scenes.)
4/23/05 |
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