“E-‘MAY’-NUELLE”
FORMAT: BLU-RAY
Emanuelle, Queen of the Desert kicks off with a great montage of Laura Gemser looking longing at the camera and getting naked in exotic locations. Then, the plot begins. A soldier stumbles upon Gemser (who plays “Shelia” and not Emanuelle, despite the title) bathing in a river. She seduces him and then leads him to his death. She later uses her feminine wiles to turn the other troops in his platoon against one another.
This is a re-edited and rereleased version of a war movie called The Dirty Seven (which is also included in The Sensuous World of Black Emmanuelle box set). The distributors wisely cut it down and rearranged the scenes to frontload the picture with most of Gemser’s footage appearing in the first act and the stuff with the troops is now more or less an extended flashback. It all results in a decent fake Emanuelle movie.
Gemser fares well as the sexy seductress with a secret. She turns in one of her best performances and suggests she was a better actress than her exploitation-heavy filmography may suggest. She’s different than the typical Emanuelle character as she doesn’t use her body for pleasure, but as an instrument of revenge. Because of the seduce-and-kill motif, it could’ve easily been called Black Widow Emanuelle. Predictably, the film falters whenever she isn’t on screen as the soldiers’ scenes are competent, but fairly cut and dry for the most part.
Like most fake Emanuelle movies, Gemser’s husband, Gabriele Tinti also appears. This time he plays a captive of the soldiers. In fact, this might be the only time in the “series” where he gets more screen time than she does.
So, if you’re looking for a straight-up revenge picture, this might do the trick. Those expecting a more traditional Black Emanuelle movie may be disappointed. However, fans of Gemser, her performance will make it at least worth watching once. (Or, twice, if you have a hankering to watch both versions.)
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