Le notti porno nel mondo (1977)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Bruno Mattei

Writer:

Bruno Mattei (writer)

Release Date:

20 December 1977 (Italy)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot Keywords:

Copenhagen Denmark | Sex Club | Sex Education | Fertility | Simulation

Cast

Laura Gemser

...

Herself - Host

Also Known As:

Mondo Erotico (UK)
Sexy Night Report (USA)

Runtime:

83 min | UK:70 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 (nf) | Italy:VM18 | Australia:R

Company:

Esagono Cinematografica

Movie Connections:

Spin off Emanuelle e le porno notti nel mondo n. 2 (1978)

Bruno and Joe are up to their same old tricks

It's very rare when you find a film that so perfectly fits the definition of "sleaze" and "exploitation" more than any other genre of film, so, in a sense, Le Notti Porno nel Mondo is a bit of a distinguished item. Of course, it's absolutely horrible, but it's still very special in the fact that it is completely void of any kind artistic merit, educational value, or cinematic value whatsoever. It was made with only one intention in mind: quick profit off of horny sexual deviants who are promised to see sex with gorillas and bleeding virgins. And who else would it be to have made such a perverse spectacle other than two godfathers of European exploitation: Bruno Mattei and Joe D'Amato, and, not surprisingly, it stars the latter's favorite starlet, the incredible Laura Gemser. Each person in the trio is in rare form, as they collectively compile the most pathetically staged snippets of sex show and titillation from "around the world", or the back of their studio (you know, which ever is more interesting for you to hear).

The film is supposedly a collection of segments documenting the world's most bizarre strip club and night life behavior, but this illusion is quickly shattered when the audience recognizes the same strip club set used in multiple scenes throughout the film. In between the clips, Laura Gemser is all smiles as she adds background information to the events on screen (and, of course, gets naked and changes clothes no less than seven times during the film's duration). During the scenes, she provides cheeky narration (well, what I assume to be cheeky, as the entire film is in Italian) to the already laughable displays before you. The first of said clips is of a strip club, in which a young woman performs a rather dull striptease for some disgusting old gremlins and middle aged men who look like sex offenders. Anyway, a guy in the worst looking gorilla suit this side of Philip Morris strolls out (much to the delight of the crowd) and proceeds to seduce the (at first) terrified young woman. And really, once you've seen the first scene, you've seen them all. Other "interesting" displays include a pathetic sex/magic show, display case strip teases, and New Guinea (I think) natives ripping the head off of a chicken.

Needless to say, this tirade of sexual bizarreness grows very dull very quickly, and one can consider themselves a real trooper if they stick around for more than thirty minutes of the ordeal. Each scene promises new showcases that you've never seen before, and though there lies the possibility that it could be very entertaining and intriguing if each scene wasn't so obviously staged for the camera, the only scene that appears to have the slightest hint of genuine footage is the bleeding virgin/chicken blood dance set somewhere in the Pacific islands. So the only real alternative option for this film is for one's own private reasons, but the juxtaposition of erotic strip show with old and decaying slime-balls and hairy sex addicts (plus some animals here or there) makes for an uncomfortable setting for personal gratification (unless you happen to be into old, hairy men, in which case, that is your prerogative). I have a sense that anyone who spent money to see this in theaters (or hell, even on video) walked away with the distinct feeling that they had been severely ripped off.

However, the film has one saving grace, and that is Bruno and Joe's dedication to pure sleaze to satisfy their own greed and lack of professionalism. These men were born for us wanderers of underground cinematic waste, and the fact that they dedicated their own time to bring us such a blatantly despicable and exploitative time waster is truly touching. And hey, not every segment is boring dreck; each scene includes some amount of very beautiful women (some of whom seem VERY uncomfortable in what they're doing, and some of whom really don't), and if you happen to be into canine cunnilingus, well, this is the film for you. Even if the scarring images of hairy old Italian men isn't really your cup of tea, the film is still left as an interesting (albeit very dull) mark in the history of (s)exploitation cinema, and is perhaps the most pure definition of (s)exploitation there is. As illustrated in the closing dialogue (where Laura Gemser "accidentally" has her left breast fall out of her dress, with the accompanying smile and "Oops!"), this is meant as nothing but guilty pleasure entertainment.