Emanuelle - A Woman from a Hot Country Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

Emanuelle - A Woman from a Hot Country Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 30, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin's The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle release.

Kier-la Janisse gave film fans one of the most outstanding boxed sets of the last few years with All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, a late 2021 release that ended up making my Best of 2022 list. Janisse is back now with another gigantic boxed set, one that's even bigger than the folk horror compendium, and one that may appeal to a certain niche audience who may not have been especially interested in that earlier set. Those who may remember the rating system of days of yore will probably recall the "M" designation, which meant "for mature audiences only", and if I may be permitted an orthographic joke that is admittedly a bit arcane, some might argue that Emanuelle gave up one of her "m"'s in favor of three x's, at least with regard to some cuts of the many Black Emanuelle films. For those not conversant with the history of this perceived franchise, and who may be scratching their heads at my "joke" (what else is new?), Black Emanuelle was a pretty blatant attempt to cash in on Emmanuelle, and in order to avoid any potential legal hassles one of those original "m"'s in the title character's name got dropped. Furthermore, as supplements on many of the discs included in this set offer, there were hardcore XXX inserts (in more ways than one) that at least some of the Black Emanuelle productions offered. Joke explained, hopefully. Perhaps even more comedically than my fitful attempt at humor, the Black Emanuelle series ended up offering many more films than its perceived progenitor, and 24 of them (with additional cuts) are aggregated in this at times overwhelming collection. This is a collection where the quality of the films may be highly debatable, though it's salient to note that the supplements both overtly reference and are in and of themselves examples of perhaps unexpected critical scrutiny this franchise has engendered, and anyone interested in this kind of bizarre franchise mash up of what might be called porno, mondo and gonzo will most likely find this an amazing set to dive into.

This is just one of several films in this set that not only has very little connection to the Black Emanuelle franchise as a whole other than Laura Gemser's participation, but where Gemser's character doesn't even have a name. This is a rather interesting "two hander" that pairs Gemser with Stuart Whitman (of all people), as a kind of "meet cute" couple who connect with each other in a time of duress and then spend the rest of the film more or less relaying various vignettes from their past, which play out as flashbacks. It's a pretty turgid affair, very talky and without much of the spice that helps to alleviate some of the tedium of the actual Black Emanuelle films.

Emanuelle - A Woman from a Hot Country Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Emanuelle - A Woman from a Hot Country is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Severin's almost overwhelming book The Black Emanuelle Bible included with this set offers a brief description of the transfer, as follows:

Source: 2K scan from 35mm print.

Of the films sourced from prints rather than interpositives or original camera negatives in this set, Emanuelle - A Woman from a Hot Country is one of the better looking ones, at least in more brightly lit conditions. As can perhaps be made out in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, the palette is rather surprisingly vivid at times, and some primaries, especially potent reds, are very nicely suffused. There is still some of the seemingly willful soft, dewy quality to a lot of the lensing, especially quite a bit of the outdoor work, where some effulgent back lighting adds even more of a hazy glow to things. Some very minor age related wear and tear can be spotted. Grain resolves naturally. My score is 2.75.

Emanuelle - A Woman from a Hot Country Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with many of the other films in this set, once again Emanuelle - A Woman from a Hot Country offers DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks in either Italian or English. This is another case where toggling between the tracks will disclose that the English is both brighter and just a tad louder than the Italian track, but both provide capable support for dialogue, effects and score. Optional English subtitles are available.

Emanuelle - A Woman from a Hot Country Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no on disc supplements associated with this title.

Emanuelle - A Woman from a Hot Country Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is one of the odder films in the Black Emanuelle set, not just because it's not really even a Black Emanuelle film, but because the pairing of Gemser and Whitman is kind of gobsmacking in a way. Video is generally relatively spry for having been sourced from a release print, and audio is also fine, though this is the sole film in this set not to have any supplementary material.