Emanuelle in America (1977)

Country of Origin: Italy
Year of Production: 1976
Running Times: 82m (UK)/90m (Italy – video)/92m (Brazil; Germany)/95m (Australia)/100m (Italy)
Length: 2476 metres
Format: 35mm/Technospes
Colour Format: Eastmancolor/Gevacolor
Ratio:
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Director: Joe D'Amato (real name: Aristide Massaccesi)

CREW

PRODUCTION
Production Company: New Film Production S.r.l.
Production Manager: Fabrizio De Angelis
Unit Manager: Paolo Gargano

SCRIPT
Script: Maria Pia Fusco
Story: Ottavio Alessi, Piero Vivarelli

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Donatella Donati

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Aristide Massaccesi
Camera Operator: Enrico Biribicchi
Assistant Camera: Luigi Conversi
Gaffer: Franco Brescini
Key Grip: Ennio Brizzolari
Stills: Garibaldi Schwarze
Lab: Technospes S.p.a., Roma, Italy

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Vincenzo Tomassi
1st Assistant Editor: Massimo Latini
2nd Assistant Editor: Carlo Della Corte

MUSIC
Music: Nico Fidenco
Musical Director: Giacomo Dell'Orso
Songs: Nico Fidenco (Celebrate Myself; Goodbye and Farewell)
Songs Performed By: Armonium (Celebrate Myself; Goodbye and Farewell)

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Franco Bormi
Boom Operator: Giannetto De Rossi
Dubbing Supervisor: Nick Alexander
Special Sound Effects: Cine Audio Effects
English Dubbing: Venus Studios

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Maurizio Trani
Hair: Giancarlo Marin, Mirella Sforza
Wigs: Maggi
Costume Designer: Luciana Marinucci
Costumes: Cantini & C.
Seamstress: Anna Rasetti
Footwear: Pompei

VISUAL EFFECTS
Optical Effects: Giannetto De Rossi

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Marco Dentici
Set Decorator: Enrico Luzzi
Set Builder: Oraste Quercioli

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Claudio Bernabei
Production Assistant: Umberto Bellucci
Unit Publicist: Pierluigi Villani
Still Photo Library: Il Fotografico

LOCATIONS
Locations: New York City, New York, USA; Venice, Veneto, Italy; Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Studio: In.Ci.R. De Paolis, Rome, Italy

CAST

Laura Gemser (Emanuelle)
Gabriele Tinti (Alfredo Elvize)
Roger Browne
Riccardo Salvino
Lars Bloch
Paola Senatore (Laura)
Maria Piera Regoli
Giulio Bianchi
Efrem Appel
Matilde Dell'Aglio
Carlo Foschi
Maria Renata Franco
Giulio Massimini
Stefania Nocilli

UNCREDITED CAST

Salvatore Baccaro (uncredited)
Lorraine De Selle (uncredited)
Gota Gobert (uncredited)
Marina Hedman (uncredited)
Rick 'Ercolino' Martino (uncredited)

PLOT SUMMARY

Journalist Emanuelle goes under cover in a modern-day harem and exposes what really goes on at diplomatic parties in Venice. She then gets involved with a corrupt American politican and finds herself entangled in conspiracy run by men who are abducting young women and murdering them in snuff films.

CAPSULE REVIEW

One has to admire Massaccesi/D'Amato – surely no-one else could have made a film chock full of sex, sadistic murder, violence and bestiality and still made it as dull as Emanuelle in America. The hard-core inserts are full of ugly people and are unerotically filmed, the "snuff" sequences is as nasty as you'd hope for but appears only briefly, and the ending is just insane. Like much of the director's work from this period it looks as if he'd spliced footage together froim several vaguely related films.

Austria
DVD Distributor: Astro Records und Filmworks

Brazil
Video Distributor: Poletel

Canada
Theatrical Distributor: International Film Distributors (1979)

Denmark
Video Distributor: A-B-Collection
DVD Distributor: Dansk Video Distribution

France
Theatrical Distributor: R.I.D. (1982)
Video Distributors: Prosperine; GCR
Television Distributors: M6

Italy
Theatrical Distributor: Fida Cinematografica (1977)
Video Distributors: Mitel Video; Number One Video

Netherlands
Video Distributor: VFP

Portugal
Theatrical Distributor: Mundial Filmes

Russia
Video Distributor: ORT

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Cinecenta Film Distributors
Video Distributors: VPD; Rogue

USA
Video Distributors: VidAmerica; Threat Theatre
DVD Distributor: Blue Underground

Venezuala
Video Distributors: Telehobby International

Australia
Rating: R

Canada
The Ontario Censor Board used a promo reel of the 'snuff' footage from Emanuelle in America to demonstrate to visitors the kind of thing the board were called upon to protect the good citizens of Ontario from. It has been suggested that David Cronenberg saw this footage during a tour of the Board and it played a large role in his decision to make Videodrome (1983).

Denmark
Rating: 16

Finland
Rating: K-18

UK
Rating: 18

USA
All of the faked 'snuff' movie footage was removed from US theatrical prints.

TIMELINE

1976
December
21: Italy – passed by the ratings board

1977
January
5: Italy – theatrical release

April
15: West Germany – theatrical release

1979
January
8: Finland – theatrical release

1982
September
1: France – theatrical release

POSTER TAGS

She does it all for old glory!

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Black Emanuelle en Amerique - French video title
Black Emanuelle: Stunden Wilder Lust - German title
Brutal Nights
Emanuelle En America
Depraves, Les
Depraves sexuels, Les

LINKS

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Joe D'Amato Totally Uncut (1999)

REFERENCES

PERIODICALS

Continental Film Review vol.24 no.7 (May 1977) p.19 (UK)
article

Continental Film Review vol.24 no.10 (August 1977) pp.28-30 (UK)
illustrated review

Delirium no.2 (UK)
credits, review

European Trash Cinema vol.2 no.10 pp.34-35 (USA)
review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.44 no.524 (September 1977) p.191 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Screen International no.97 (23 July 1977) p.14 (UK)
review

Spaghetti Cinema no.8 (October 1985) pp.18, 20-21 (USA)
article (Emanuelle and the Spaghetti Cinema by William Connolly)

BOOKS

aka: Joe D'Amato p.16
note

Killing For Culture pp.38-44, 330
review

The X-Rated Videotape Guide Volume I p.84
credits, review

OTHER SOURCES

Sex, Shocks and Sadism p.27 (USA)
credits, review

KEYWORDS

gore, journalists, politicians, sadism, porn, sex, snuff films, torture

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009