Emmanuelle on Taboo Island

Goddess Gemser was the only reason to see this.

The other semi-good things were the island cinematography, and Arthur Kennedy's performance.

Kennedy was the best actor here, even if he chewed the scenery a bit much.

Gemser practically phoned in her performance, but she still looked great. The island look works for her.

Basic plot? A dude runs away from his problems in an unnamed city and accidentally shipwrecks himself on a local island. This island couldn't have been too far away since he only had a little speedboat. This island inhabitants were Kennedy, Gemser as his daughter, and a son around the same age.

You take it from here. It's not bad, but rent it, no need to add it to your collection.

This is what happens when a film maker has money but no style. Laura Gemser is naked but she's a method actress and looks like she's in need of serious nourishment beyond raw fish and coconuts. Dead skinny, not sexy. Arthur Kennedy provides some acting backbone but ends up playing himself. The scenery is pretty but is prettier elsewhere, including The Blue Lagoon, whose stars are better fed; and Call Me Savage, whose stars are better looking. As far as erotic beach movies are concerned you're better off renting Our Girl Friday with Joan Collins. This director also made Trinity is Still My Name, one of the best spaghetti westerns. Both movies are aimed at, and will score well with 12-year-olds. This is not a derogation, just a statement of fact.

Emmanuelle on Taboo Island has absolutely nothing to do with the Emanuelle series - it's just another attempt to pass a Laura Gemser film off as an Emanuelle film in order to sell it. I've got no problem with this in theory and indeed some of the 'fake' Emanuelle films (fake rip-offs of rip-offs could only be made in Italy) are very good - but that is not the case here, as Emmanuelle on Taboo Island is really very boring. The plot takes the familiar idea of a man being washed up on a desert island. He turns up on an island (presumably called 'Taboo Island') and soon falls in love with a native, played by Laura Gemser; but this doesn't go down too well with the girl's family. There's really nothing to recommend this film for - even the fact that Gemser spends most of the film naked isn't a good reason to see it. The plot is very boring and no attempt is made to spice things up, which is a shame for the audience. It all basically just drones on - we are not even given any reason to care for the characters - until we reach the ending, which really couldn't come soon enough. This film might be of interest to hardcore Laura Gemser fans; but everyone else had best stay clear of it.

Heroin addict Daniel (Paolo Giusti) is knocked unconscious on a boat and winds up marooned on a tropical island inhabited by elderly escaped criminal Antonio (Arthur Kennedy) and his two grown up children, Haydee (Gemser) and Juan (Nicola Paguone). Daniel's presence on the island is naturally a concern for Antonio, who is still wanted by the law, but it also causes problems for Juan, who gets a little jealous when Haydee falls for the new arrival and no longer wants to play his special 'game' with him.

Emanuelle on Taboo Island is another random Gemser film that has since been retitled to cash in on the success in her Black Emanuelle series; but whilst it does admittedly offer Gemser fans plenty of opportunity to admire the dusky beauty in the buff, the movie itself is something of a bore, preferring to focus on the sensuality and romance of the situation rather than its more interesting and much sleazier themes (its main character's drug habit and the incestuous relationships between brother and sister, and father and daughter).

Towards the end things liven up a tad, with Antonio convincing Juan to try and kill Daniel so that they can get things back to how they were before he arrived on the island (you know—a spot of fishing, an afternoon nap, a bit of rogering a close blood relative): however, Daniel manages to talk sense into Juan, and so Antonio tries to finish the job himself. After a cliff-top tussle, the old man falls to his death.

The film closes with Daniel deciding to leave the island without Haydee, because he believes that, on the mainland, 'day by day, her smile will fade'. Instead she gets to stay with Juan, presumably to rekindle her incestuous affair and breed a small army of monstrously deformed children.

This Italian exploitation film, obviously inspired by the hugely successful "Blue Lagoon" of the previous year, must have been really gorgeous in it's original form. This island romance/adventure tale, concerning a handsome guy, who washes up on shore, to find himself stranded with Island native girl, Laura Gemser, was originally filmed in "scope;" the aspect ratio used to film huge epics. The island scenery, the deep blue waters and beach vistas, are unfortunately lost forever, as there has yet to be an acceptable video release of this movie. Dvd's from all regions of the world offer the same tired, faded, washed out print that is chopped down to 4x3 format. It is a shame, because "Emanuelle On Taboo Island" is one of the better films of this genre. Daniel (Paolo Giusti) and the beautiful Laura Gemser are not quite alone on the island. She has a brother, and their strange, incestuous relationship provides another level of drama and shock value , while Arthur Kennedy provides the gravitas with his respectable acting skills. As the father of the incestuous young ones, he is quite a formidable character, who doesn't take to the stranger invading their island paradise. It seems that "daddy" is a wanted fugitive, and he sees the intrusion of this outsider as a threat to his freedom. Sadly this film has a ridiculously low score here, and I'm sure the reason is that few people have ever seen it in it's original glory. Because first and foremost, "Emanuelle On Taboo Island" is a piece of visually stunning escapist fantasy, and it is a well-made erotic film. I hope it finds it way to a pristine BluRay edition, in the form that it was intended to be viewed.