(1978)
(aka. EMANUELLE AND JOANNA) Reviewed By-Devin Kelly
CAST: Sherry Buchanan, Paola Montenero, Brunello Chiodetti, Ann Janette La
Vorgna, Caterina Zago, Marina Frajese, Daniele Dublino, Mauro Frittella,
Goetz Groh
DIRECTOR: Franco Rossetti
PRODUCER: Franco Rossetti
L'Anaconda Film
RUNNING TIME: 86 min. 30 seconds
VIDEO SOURCE: Private Screenings
Ahhh, the late 70's - a primetime favorite stop in a decade of decadence for
hours of slimy taboo film fun. It seemed by the time 1978 rolled around,
everyone was diving in for a dip, even veteran spaghetti western dabblers
like Franco Rossetti (albeit, hiding under a Fred Gardner pseudonym). And
man did he ever take a head first swan dive into the grime! Thanks Freddie!
Here we have the delectable Sherry Buchanan (ZOMBI HOLOCAUST '79, ESCAPE FROM GALAXY 3 '81) in definitely one of her more uninhibited performances, as Emanuela - a pretty young housewife married for two years to Robbie (Brunello Chiodetti), a man who in a short period of time has become the
marital equivalent of the scum of the Earth. He cheats on her, insults her
friends and family, takes sex from her whenever he pleases, and to top it
off, has casually brushed off their planned two year anniversary party,
leaving her to host a house full of guests alone. Prince Charming certainly
doesn't live here.
For some time now, Emanuela's sister Giovanna (Paola Montenero) has been
unseen, breaking contact with Emanuela and their mother (Caterina Zago) and
simply vanishing off somewhere unknown to them. Emanuela has a strange
intuition telling her that Robbie's been in contact with her...mostly of the
physical variety. Robbie angrily denies it, shouting back at Emanuela with,
"How many times do I have to tell ya?! I DON'T LIKE GIRLS WHO ARE BUILT LIKE LITTLE BOYS!!". Geez, that must have really reassured her that he's not
screwing around. It can't be bothering her too much however, when seconds
after the argument about his gigolo practices, she's letting Robbie give her
the high hard one up against the piano.
Emanuela's not satisfied with her husband's half-assed explanations about
Giovanna though. She wants to know what her traveling twin sister has been
doing with her free time. As she soon discovers, it's not what she's doing
with her free time, but rather WHO she's doing. Emanuela gets an idea of
what Giovanna might be up to, and sure enough after staking out a few
places, spots the short haired sibling - jamming her tongue into the mouth
of a female friend! This prompts her to investigate further and Emanuela
finds herself knocking at the enterance of a mysterious "establishment".
Upon being welcomed in by an exotic French speaking black woman named
Angelique (Ann Janette La Vorgna), Emanuela quickly comes to the realization
that she's entered the walls of a kinky brothel; one that caters to all of
one's wildest urges.
Reluctantly, after she introduces herself as Giovanna's sister, Emanuela
allows Angelique to take her on a tour of the perverse abode. Sexual
oddities are a dime a dozen here and Emanuela receives a dose of the bizarre
when she comes face to face in one room with her friend Rossella (Marina
Frajese) and her apparent double life, making fetishes a reality for
Giovanna's clients. Emanuela herself is already somewhat of a masochist, but
even an S&M dishing, whip-cracking Marina Frajese (PLAY MOTEL '79, LA ZIA
SVEDESE '80) is too much for her. Just as she tries to leave though, she
comes face to face with Giovanna, who has no shame in speaking of her new
life. "I'm just a simple sadomasochist", she tells Emanuela. Can the
tempting taste of sexual sin lure in her paternal twin to a life of lust and
self-satisfaction as well? Emanuela's curiosity has been peaked.
When it comes right down to it, IL MONDO PORNO DI DUE SORELLE is wall to
wall nasty...but to European exploitation fans of course that's a good
thing. Even in what appears to be a slightly trimmed version (the only North
American release of the film from those Italian sexhounds at Private
Screenings), this is pretty strong stuff on the sexual level. Story
wise...ah hell, that never mattered much with these things anyway. The cast
is quite yummy, with Sherry Buchanan being a bad girl this time around,
shedding a few more clothes than usual. Oh well, it's definitely better than
shedding her scalp, as she did in ZOMBI HOLOCAUST at the hands of Donal
O'Brien. I've always been a big fan of the pleasant Ms. Buchanan, and here
it's nice to see another side of her besides the sweet smiling beauty we're
used to. Her interactions with smut flick familiar Brunello Chiodetti
(KILLER NUN '78, SESSO ALLEGRO '81) are pretty damn unintenionally funny as
well, especially during one scene when she refuses to put out. "What's going
on with you? What is it?!", he asks, to which she digs deep inside and
shouts "You turd!!" at him. Dialogue any age can pick up on.
Paola Montenero (THE OTHER HELL '80, DOLCE GOLA '80) is perfect for the role of whorehouse head Giovanna, giving off that expected dirty vibe, although
at times looking kind of spaced-out. Eagle-eyed Euro-watchers will recognize
Montenero as Paola Rubens from Mario Bava's A BAY OF BLOOD (1971) where
you'll recall she gets impaled in two ways at once - one of them being not
so pretty. Montenero would go on to wed director Massimo Pirri after taking
a role in his CALAMO (1976). The marriage later disolved, in part to
Montenero's heroin habit. Odd that Pirri would go on to shoot EROINA (1983)
some years later, a film centered around needle users Corinne Clery and
Helmut Berger. Perhaps the film was life inspired for Pirri.
Brunello Chiodetti, as I said, is such a dirtbag here. He makes George
Eastman's character in D'Amato's EMANUELLE'S REVENGE (1975) look like Mr. Right. Gotta love the way he so discreetly treats his wife Buchanan like
nothing more than a fuck toy, with his top pick-up lines including stuff
like, "C'mon get undressed. I'm really in the mood to show you a thing or
two". Get in line ladies, he's available! Chiodetti was so good at these
roles though (not sure whether that's a compliment or not) and became pretty
sought out by directors on the Italian sexploitation scene. Look too for
brief parts for the always agressive Marina Hedman (as Marina Frajese),
popping up in a few scenes doing her usual thing and scaring the shit out of
sexy Sherry, and the fun to watch Daniele Dublino (RETURN OF THE 38 GANG
'77, CONTRABAND '80) also as Buchanan's sexully repressed, scar-faced friend
Andy, who disapproves of her marriage to Robbie. "There's only one
explanation for all this...you take pleasure in it!", he tells her. Veteran
actress Caterina Zago (CATTIVA '91) is worth mention too as Emanuela and
Giovanna's horny mother, and for an older lady, she sure still could make
men walk funny. Caterina looks damn good here.
Franco Rossetti throughout his career was mostly a script writer of
spaghetti westerns (among them including the classic DJANGO '66), really
only directing a small list of films. Here he delivers pretty much what he
set out to - a no frills, no gimmicks sex film. Anyone throwing IL MONDO
PORNO DI DUE SORELLE on for a watch shouldn't be expecting anything more,
but do expect some above average performances as the cast is pretty good for
such a low-budget sexploiter as this. Also, there are a good number of
eye-raising sights on hand during the brothel sequences, with everything
from a grown man breastfeeding like a baby off of Marina Frajese's tit, to
Paola Montenero showing her fellow deviants how to properly fist-fuck. Yeah,
probably not a good idea to have this one on while mom's around. Also of
interest to me from Rossetti's directorial filmography are the
Italian/Spanish western EL DESPERADO (1967) (THE BIG RIPOFF) starring Andrea Giordana, as well as his early crime film DELITTO AL CIRCOLO DEL TENNIS (1969). The cinematography from Pier Luigi Santi and weird lighting touches add an even more unique and slutty feel than your average romp. The Enzo Petti score has some good porn funk easy listening to feed off of too.
IL MONDO PORNO DI DUE SORELLE is sure to please it's target audience and
Sherry Buchanan fans alike. Sources have listed the Italian print as running
up to 93 minutes in length.
3 BITCH SLAPS
