Pulp International

Apr 29 2024

Oh, big deal. I have one too. It even lights cigarettes.

The above image of what appears to be a low intensity armed standoff was made to promote the 1965 Cold War spy flick The Ipcress File, which we hear is one of the more interesting films from a teeming genre. The photo shows Sue Lloyd, who appeared in about twenty-five films, including Revenge of the Pink Panther, No. 1 of the Secret Service, and the Joan Collins vehicles The Stud and The Bitch. The Ipcress File was headlined by Michael Caine, which makes it a mandatory watch. We'll do that at some point. We have another Lloyd promo from the film below.

The Ipcress File Revenge of the Pink Panther No. 1 of the Secret Service The Stud The Bitch Sue Lloyd Michael Caine Joan Collins

Femmes Fatales

Aug 24 2023

If you think these are big you should see the sack I carry them in.

This photo features pre-Code actress Doris Hill in a shot made by photographer Eugene Robert Richee. She looks about to bowl, but we think she's holding balloons, not balls. Anything else would be too heavy. Usually when we say someone is pre-Code we mean they got famous before the Hays Code took effect and continued acting afterward, but in Hill's case everything she did was pre-Code, with her entire career spanning 1926 to 1934. Among her films: Thief in the Dark, The Studio Murder Mystery, and Darkened Rooms. We thought because of the unusual background on this photo that we'd be able to pinpoint what film it was made for, but we had no luck. But we can tell you the date. Most sources say it's from 1929.

Hays Code Thief in the Dark The Studio Murder Mystery Darkened Rooms Doris Hill Eugene Robert Richee

Femmes Fatales

Nov 12 2021

I like my men stirred, not shaken.

Above you see Japanese actress and singer Rushia Santô, who we last encountered in the film Onna kyôshi: Seito no me no maede, aka Female Teacher: In Front of the Students. As an actress she worked in the misleadingly named genre of roman porno (romantic pornography), which consists of non-explicit but highly sexual dramas and comedies. She made only six movies. That's not many, but with titles like Mischievous Lolita: Attacking the Virgin from Behind (Itazura Lolita: Ushirokara virgin) and Sexy doll: Abe Sada sansei, we'd wager her imprint on Japanese cinema was indelible. This shot is from around 1982.

Japan Onna kyôshi: Seito no me no maede Female Teacher: In Front of the Students Itazura Lolita: Ushirokara virgin Mischievous Lolita: Attacking the Virgin from Behind Sexy doll: Abe Sada sansei Sexy Doll: Sada Abe III Rushia Santôroman porno pinku nudity

Vintage Pulp

Apr 9 2021

When they say high school is torture usually they're kidding.

The beautiful Rushia Santô made only a few films during her brief career. One of them was the Nikkatsu Studios roman porno flick Onna kyôshi: Seito no me no maede, aka Female Teacher: In Front of the Students. Santô plays a high school teacher, and since her school looks like a prison it's no surprise she experiences a prison style shower rape. The student she eventually accuses of attacking her—Tôru Nakane, who the audience knows is innocent—retaliates by grabbing her and keeping her prisoner over spring break. This being a Nikkatsu film, that imprisonment naturally involves making Santô realize she's a sex maniac, and by the end of the break Santó, the studly Nakane, and his girlfriend Rina Oka are humping like rabbits.

The mystery that isn't a mystery is finally solved in the last part of this 70-minute sprint. There are some weak attempts at humor here and there, such as during a sex scene between Nakane and Oka when he's simultaneously eating a sticky bun and she's eating a banana, but the moment for cinematic discussions of whether some women like to be submissive—still ongoing as recently as in 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey—has definitively passed. As far as we're concerned anything done between consenting adults is fine, but consenting is the operative word. Nikkatsu films often play around with that concept, but these days such explorations are discordant, to say the least. Like all the obscure movies we watch, we're looking for forgotten gems. This is no gem, and maybe just needs to be forgotten. Onna kyôshi: Seito no me no maede premiered in Japan today in 1982.