Black Emanuelle's Box Volume 1

I received Black Emanuelle's Box, Vol. 1, released by Severin Films and distributed through Ryko, the other day through Amazon and was immediately excited to break it open. The shrink wrap made it look nice in its pristine condition, like a nice black brick (but much lighter). Knowing this was a limited edition of only 4,000 units, I poured over the text on the back of the box to see if there were any indication of numbers or what the limitations were. Aside from what is nicely stated on the front top banner, no such fact can be found on the box itself of its limitations. It does state, however, that it has: "Limited Edition Collection Features: A Never-Before-Seen Interview with Cult Director Joe D'Amato & All-New Soundtrack Compilation CD!" I was let down that these were not numbered or at least officially stated on the box. But even disappointments can be filled with surprises.

I did make an inquiry to Severin about the limitations of the boxed set. But I was also curious if this boxed set would potentially be double-dipped later on, and if there were in fact only 4,000 made as noted on the website. While the response answered one of my questions, it was evasive about others. The response stated:

No concrete plans to release the discs individually at this point. The soundtrack CD would definitely not be available in a single disc version though.

So in the meantime, this will have to satiate my Emanuelle Fever. They did, however, release Emanuelle Around the World, the XXX version with the pornographic inserts in a seperate DVD, sadly, not available in this set.. Upon opening, there is a window that opens and inside you catch a nice photo of Laura Gemser nude from the waist up. The 3 DVD's were not individually shrink wrapped and stuck inside was a pack of postcard sized reproductions of some rare European releases of Emanuelle movie posters - these were shrink wrapped. The box itself is the usual thin cardstock with an open end on one side to file the DVDs, and then a flap on the other side. The "door" on the front is folded for durability with a piece of velcro to keep it snuggly closed.

In all the previous Severin releases, none of the DVD's contained inserts about the DVD. They make no exception for this set either. Only one DVD comes with an insert which only displays soundtrack art for all three movies on one side, and the track listing of the CD on the flip-side. A 2-disc case for Emanuelle Around the World contains the special CD soundtrack. Visually, the box is great to look at, hold, touch and adore. The black background with the bold red type on the front really stands. It is easy to read and curious to note that it does not end with the usual suffix of "set", but rather "Box", which might be suggestive of the sexploitive nature of the films. The Emanuelle Around the World (Emanuelle - perch?� violenza alle donne? ) cover insert art is from the USA one-sheet release which was in 1980, although released in Italy in 1977. Emanuelle in Bangkok (Emanuelle nera orient reportage), released in 1977 in the US (1976 in Italy). The cover art insert appears to be from the soundtrack release with background color splashed in. The original USA 1-sheet movie poster art from 1977, perhaps, does not have the color balance due to the physical size of the poster to make the same impression. Lastly, Sister Emanuelle (Suor Emanuelle) was released in Italy in 1977, but never had an American outing. This is the first appearance on DVD and had a small run on VHS from Luna Video, which accordingly ran at 91 minutes (IMDB states 88 minutes), while this DVD runs at 92. The image seems to come from, or inspired by, the German 1-sheet, but not exclusively. The photo of the DVD cover shows a background scene, so possibly a lobby card or a still from the movie. Of the three covers, Sister Emanuelle is the least interesting and most generic, but the yellow border helps maintain the bright color scheme of the set.

There are 6 cards total of original movie posters. Each is has a glossy coating on one side, blank on the other, printed on white card stock. You are treated to 2 variations of the movie posters for each movie from various foreign origins.

The CD soundtrack compilation is a funky special extra feature and you can hear some rare tracks from the films, which runs at a full 70 minutes! I was listening to the music on Emanuelle in Bangkok (track 10 titled Sweet Living Thing) and this was the repeating theme throughout the film. What troubled me was that I knew that I had heard it before, but could not place it. Then, the light shone and I it was suddenly dawned upon me a revelation of where the music that was so familiar to me came from. It is also used in the "theme" to many of Alpah Blue Archives Porno Superstars collection. I found it humerous in a way, because I always wondered where Alpha Blue gets some of their cheesy 70's music - now I know. So that was a nice moment of associative media (yes, thats my own modern psychological terminology). The printed image on the disc itself is also cool as it shows a graphically designed snake wrapped around a female torso looking desirably into the Garden of Eden. Incidentally, it also seems to suggest that it would bite itself (i.e. ourorobos, which, is a symbol of the female energies, according to some occult thought.

But all in all, you have a very sexy and professional box here to play with. Laura Gemser is sleek and beautiful in all her glory toting her usual camera taking pictures of everything that might be of interest to whomever she reports to. There is plenty of nudity for everyone, so dont worry if you missed a scene, there is more to come. It is worth noting that Emmanuelle is spelled either with 2 M's or 1 M( this collection is with 1 M). There is little distinction in the quality of the film, but in legalities of the name. The DVD's offer minimal in the way of extras. The rare Joe D'Amato interview where he speaks in English is a nice feature, even if at 11 minutes. The deleted scenes to Sister Emanuelle are curious, but are not cleaned up to the standards of the film itself, and that is quite evident when you watch it. I dont know if all were mastered this way, but my copy showed 4 deleted scenes, 2 of which were programmed to show the same scene, so it seemed a minor mistake. Each DVD comes equipt with the appropriate trailer of the film, but generally, the extras are pretty thin.

Overall: This is definately a great box set despite some shortcomings. I wish this set had some liner notes or some more information to fill the gaps in to show its contextual importance and influence in the sexploitation and Emanuelle genres. The fact that no info about the films themselves are not revealed leaves them in a sort of limbo in an age of information gathering. While collectors of Emanuelle and Severin's films will have unbreakable interest in such a pretty set, the major hesitation for collectors will be whether or not 4,000 are actually printed, and the potential for single disc editions being available later. But I would not let this deter me, as stated above, there are no concrete plans to put them out as single discs, so there is certainty in the moment. The photocards are a nice touch, as is the CD soundtrack adds to the uniqueness of the set (similar to Severin's previous release of Perversion Story which was released with a CD soundtrack).

The major drawbacks is that what is stated as the limited edition are the CD soundtrack and the interview with Joe D'Amato. I can excuse the CD, but an 11-minute extra feature as part of a limited edition seems incidental. But as far as the set is concerned, even if more than the number issued is more than the number stated (which is somewhat expected), I would still look into this set. The exploitation cinema has a bigger following than the surface might show. Consider the Ilsa Collection and the previous Emmanuelle Collection sets, both have been discontinued and had no stated limited edition, but show high collectibility. And so, with that in mind, here is a set that is stating its limited, despite it not numbered or marked on the box itself of how limited the set really is. Laura Gemser has a large following, as does her movies, which puts everything in place for a great collectible. But what is just as good as that, is that this set has the curious words printed on the lower front of the box, "Volume 1". Now, that could only mean "1" thing.

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