Blonde Emmanuelle Review

Distributor: Asterix Home Video Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Softcore, Comedy Also known as: Hot Skin, The Disco Dolls, The Disco Dolls in Hot Skin, Blond Emanuelle Run Time: 73 minutes Rated: not Release Year: 1978 Director: Stephen Gibson (as Giorgio Ferrari) Written by: Stephen Gibson (as Max Thunderbuns and Felicia Bordeaux) (screenplay) (based on novel by), Arnold Herr (as Ann Onymous) (screenplay) Cast: Serena, Ingrid Irvin (as Monique Faber), Mike Ranger, Lesllie Bovee (as Leslie Bovee), William Margold (as Bill Margold), Uschi Digard (as Ushi Digard), Con Covert, Lee J. O'Donnell, Elmer Pasta, Robert Bullock (as Richard Parnes), Pat Manning (as Pat Benco), Sandy Pinney (as Sandra Reagan) Heather Leigh (as Sherry Windom), Maria Tortuga (as Robin Comings), Irene Best, Jan Claude, Bert Davis, Tracy Fonte, John Holmes, David Pinney Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

In Blonde Emmanuelle, Chick Weed (Mike Ranger), and his girlfriend Laura (Lesllie Bovee), run The Disco Doll, a nightclub. Emmanuelle (Serena), who Chick has a bad past relationship with, and her current squeeze Harry Baulls (William Margold) show up trying to borrow money because Harry has embezzled money and there are people after him.

Blonde Emmanuelle is a lighthearted fun adult romp with an enjoyable and humorous story. The film never takes itself seriously, which definitely works in its favor. This is one of those adult films where you just sit back and enjoy yourself. The jokes are cheesy and corny but they still manage to make you laugh. The plot, which claims to be based off a novel by Felicia Bordeaux (who appears to be just as fake as the screenplay writers Ann Onymous and Max Thunderbuns are), is a play on the 1942 Humphrey Bogart classic Casablanca, except far less serious.

Decent attention is put into the locations, acting, and plot to keep the film from looking like a skimpy adult film and more in the realm of the slightly higher budgeted softcore plotted ventures from the time. Which in a way this film is since it was released in an R-rated, a cable, and an X-rated version.

The cast looks good and does a good job with the material. Elmer Pasta and Robert Bullock are great as the Inspector's (Con Covert) men. Margold is excellent as Harry Baulls. The cast does a great job with the softcore material. The version on the Asterix release was the cable version, so the hardcore material wasn't included. However the softcore material present made me wish the hardcore material was.

Director Stephen Gibson did a series of Deep Vision 3D films back in the seventies and early eighties, Blonde Emmanuelle, The Playmates, Hard Candy, and Wildcat Women. He recently made another Hackin' Jack vs. the Chainsaw Chick, which has finished the festival circuit and will be going to the theatrical circuit soon.

Gibson explains Deep Vision 3D, “The Deep vision 3D process was patented (4295153) and was the only color anaglyph 3D at the time. It was developed for the theatrical market because it could play in any theatre or drive-in without a special polaroid installation which is commonplace today. 'No installation' made the process very unique at the time.”

“The films were shot with a single 35mm motion picture camera using the Deep Vision lens assembly on the front,” Gibson continues. “The process locked the 3D image on to a single strip of film and virtually eliminated any Left and Right eye sync problems; a serious issue with typical two strip systems.”

According to Gibson, due to how the process works there are only 3D versions of the film and no “flat” versions.

Asterix has done a disappointing job with their release of Blonde Emmanuelle. This release contains only the unrated director's cut of Blonde Emmanuelle. There were three versions made of the film, the R-rated version, the soft-X cable version, and the hardcore X-rated version. The unrated director's cut is the soft-X cable version of the film. Sadly neither of the other two versions are included on the disc.

Blonde Emmanuelle was shot in DeepVision 3D, which is a form of anaglyphic 3D (the red and blue glasses). Only the DeepVision 3D version of the unrated director's cut is included on the disc. The effect doesn't work very well on the version included and mostly just gives the viewer a terrible headache with very little actual 3D effects. There weren't any “flat” versions ever made for the film. Asterix has included two pairs of paper anaglyphic 3D glasses with the release.

Blonde Emmanuelle is presented in the widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1. For some reason, Asterix didn't make the disc anamorphic. The image isn't in the greatest shape, beyond the 3D not working well. The color appears to be completely washed out during some portions, not that you can really tell color very well while watching wearing the 3D glasses. The transfer also contains artifacts, grain, and print damage. The source for the transfer appears to have been video and not film, there is a lack of definition to the picture, and there are a couple of glitches in the video. This version has an alternate crediting where the director is credited as Giorgio Ferrari, which makes one of the extras make no sense as in the hardcore edit the director was credited as Norm de Plume.

Blonde Emmanuelle is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track, which works relatively well for the material being presented. There are some places where the audio was dubbed, to change Serena's character name from Jennifer to Emmanuelle. Where the dubbing is done is rather obvious, but this is how the track for the version of this film bearing this name is supposed to be. The unaltered audio would have been nice inclusion. The dialog is mostly clear and can usually be clearly understood.

Asterix has included a few extras on the disc, one of which is very worthwhile. There is a feature length commentary track with William Margold for the film, which is excellent. There is an odd trailer included for the feature film on the disc. There are text biographies on the disc for William Margold, John Holmes, Serena, and a fake text biography for Norm De Plume (which only makes sense if one knows he was credited as the director in the hardcore version of the film since the director was credited as Giorgio Ferrari in this version). There is a still gallery. There is also a 19 minute featurette called “Margold's World,” which features footage of William Margold at an adult car wash, adult star bowling night, Margold's office, and more. The piece isn't really that great.

Overall this release is disappointing. Asterix should have included all three versions, or at least the hardcore version along with the unrated director's cut. A better transfer with an anamorphic picture is definitely desired. Outside of the commentary and still gallery, the rest of the extras are really a waste. A commentary from Stephen Gibson would have been great. Margold talks about how some scenes were shot years after the initial shooting, hearing from Gibson on the creation of the film would have been a wonderful addition. Also a piece on his DeepVision 3D process would have been a great addition to the release.

According to Gibson, there is a 3D Blu-ray forthcoming for this title, along with his other titles. Whether the Blu-ray will just contain the just soft-X cable cut or both the soft-X cable cuts and the hardcore X-rated versions is currently unknown nor is the time frame for the release yet known. As of 2018, Stephen Gibson has confirmed that the Blu-rays are still coming; they have just been delayed due to work on Hackin' Jack vs. the Chainsaw Chick.

Blonde Emmanuelle is an amusing adult take on Casablanca. While Asterix has included the 3D version of the film, the hardcore and R-rated versions are sadly missing. With the hardcore sex scenes missing it becomes a little more obvious how the plot was designed to go from sex scene to sex scene but the thin plot is still fun, the film features a great cast, and the humor still works. Asterix has done a disappointing job with the release with problems with the transfer, only a few truly good extras, and the lack of versions present on the release. Director Stephen Gibson said that there is a 3D Blu-ray coming for the title so it is recommended that you not seek out the old Asterix DVD and wait for the Blu-ray.

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