 When you gamble with her you're gambling with your life. 
Hibotan bakuto: oryû sanjô, which in English was called Red Peony Gambler: Oryu's Return, is the sixth of eight films in the Red Peony Gambler series. Uploading its special round promo poster in one piece makes it kind of small, so we've also broken it into two pieces so you can pull them off the page and paste them together if you're inclined. It's an incredibly  rare piece, so credit would be appreciated. The movie premiered today in 1970, and stars Junko Fuji, a prolific actress who made more than ninety films during a busy run between 1963 and 1972, and another dozen or so after that. The plot here involves a greedy yakuza cartel and the downtrodden farmers who oppose the imposition of a new tax. The farmers are basically planning to strike in protest, which angers the yakuza because they stand to loose profits with the yearly village festival approaching. Drastic measures seem to be the only solution, but Junko stands in the way with guile, guts, gambling skill, and gunplay. And as a fallback position she's good with fists and sword. Hibotan bakuto: oryû sanjô isn't quite top tier pinky violence, but it's beautifully shot, the blood flies high and far, and ultimately the film is a winner.   
 If it were easy to steal anyone could do it.  
We have some nice pinku posters lined up for this month, and above you see the first of those—the tateken and standard promos for Suke Yakuza, aka Female Yakuza Convict, aka Female Prisoner Yakuza, which premiered in Japan today in 1974 starring Yoko Horikoshi and Reiko Ike. Though we can't be sure, we don't think this movie has been released on DVD, because we couldn't find it—the first time that's happened with one of Ike's films. No copy means no firsthand rundown, but we can tell you what the Japanese websites say. It's about bank robbers who steal 30 million yen and try to elude the cops and escape with the cash. Of the three, only one manages to avoid capture. Horikoshi, a female accomplice, is tossed in a women's prison where she meets Reiko, and the two of them manage to escape. Their plan is meet up with the robber who avoided capture, get ahold of the cash, and get for away from the big city, but mishaps and twists follow. Basically, it's sounds like classic Toei pinky violence, but sadly we may not get to see this one unless we go to Japan. But the posters sure are pretty. We have bonus material below—production photos, a Horikoshi promo poster, and a Reiko promo shot from wherever.       
 How many licks does it take to get to the center of Yuki Morisaki?  
Above are a couple of attractive posters for a film that doesn't have a ready English title, but the translation from Japanese would be something like Shimojiro Shimoji (secret) Search for Kannon. According to the very reliable JMDB.com this one premiered today in 1975. As some of you doubtless know, Kannon or Guanyin is a figure from Buddhism, and is apparently associated with compassion. We haven't seen this movie, but online sources say it deals with a man (played by Gorô Ibuki) who is a genius at cunnilingus searching for a special woman (played by Yuki Morisaki) who is possibly a reincarnation or aspect of said Kannon. The posters get the cunnilingus part of the movie across, if nothing else—notice how Gorô's naughty little tongue is out. His goal is somehow to impregnate Morisaki and be reincarnated as a great military leader, a curious choice of second life. If we could be reincarnated we'd come back as a Premier League striker and a power hitting second baseman. Actually, better yet, we'd just be born rich. Then we'd buy box seats at Premier League and MLB games and tell anyone who asked how we got rich that we were self-made geniuses. What would be a real genius move is finding this movie. We'll dig, but we make no promises.
 The cat is definitely out of the bag. 
This cool poster is for the Japanese roman porno flick Bakeneko Toruko furo, aka A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse, a movie you should think of as an off-the-program addition to the website today, as it is not playing at Noir City. Obviously, the poster reveals that this is a ghost cat movie, and the title does too—a bakeneko is a cat that has changed into a yōkai, or supernatural creature. They made plenty of these ghost cat flicks in Japan, including Kaidan nobori ryu, aka Black Cat’s Revenge, which we talked about a while back.
This one stars Naomi Tani, Misa Ohara, Yumiko Tateno, and the luscious Terumi Azuma. Tani is whipped to death, no thanks to her husband, and comes back to haunt her killers as an avenging cat spirit. If you're a cat person, you might be thinking you'd love this. But the thing about these movies is the cats are basically just thrown into shots from off camera by production assistants, or sometimes suspended from wires, and there's no doubt their treatment was not very kind. It's good they have nine lives, because to us it looks like they need all of them to get through these movie shoots. Below you see two more posters for the same film, alternate versions that are completely different from the one above. All three pieces are visible around the internet, but the red ones have never before been shared at this size or clarity. Watch the movie if you can. You'll find it interesting, especially the bathhouse elements (hint, hint). Whether you can watch it or not, please be kind to cats—they're a little evil in normal form anyway, but as bakeneko they're just plain lethal. Bakeneko Toruko furo premiered in Japan today in 1975.  
 Yumi Yumi Yumi puts her knife in your tummy.  
A couple a years ago we wrote briefly about and shared a poster for the Yumi Takigawa headlined pinku flick Shin joshuu sasori: 701-gô, aka New Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701. Above is another poster from the film, actually the standard poster, as opposed to the bo-ekibari, or horizontal two-piece we showed you before. It's a great image, as is the very Yumi shot of Takigawa accompanying it. See the other poster here.
 Oshida and Co. may have been to reform school but once a boss always a boss. 
First film in what would become the successful Zubekô banchô series, Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku, aka Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams, aka Tokyo Bad Girls stars Reiko Oshida as a parolee from a reform school who takes a job in a Shinjuku hotspot called Bar Murasaki, but finds walking the straight and narrow a difficult ambition to fulfill. As usual in these pinku films set in and around nightclubs, a criminal syndicate wants to take over, which means she's soon stuck between a resistant owner and an insistent Yakuza. Some girls she knows from reform school have also found spots at the club, and in addition to Yakuza problems, Oshida finds herself drawn into the issues of her friends.
But it's good they're around, these girl delinquents, because when the climactic brawl with the villains happens, Oshida will need loyal friends at her side. On the whole Blossoming Night Dreams is tamer than later entires in the Delinquent Girl Boss series, but considering the sexual violence that began to appear, most would consider that a good thing. Of course, it's always important to remember that these films are counterculture in character, replacing the subservient women of previous eras with badass riot girls who always took violent revenge upon men who wronged them. The formula was both exploitative and pro feminist, with the sexploitation putting rear ends in the seats, whereupon the progressive message was hammered home.
Anyway, moving on to the poster, you may notice that, by a quirk of design, Oshida, star of the film, does not appear to be star of the promo art. The topmost position is given to Keiko Fuji. But a closer look reveals that Oshida gets a full body shot in the center foreground of the art, while Fuji is layered behind. It's still unusual that Fuji is placed where she is, though. While she plays Bar Murasaki's headlining performer, she has far less screen time most of the other castmembers. But she's good in her role, Oshida's excellent, Masumi Tachibana, Yukie Kagawa, and the rest of the troupe are having fun, and everyone deserves credit for making the movie well worth a screening. Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku opened today in 1970.             
 She isn't even remotely done with you.  
Way back in 2010 we shared a promo poster for Joshû 701-gô: Sasori, aka Female Convict 701: Scorpion, as part of a collection of promos from the entire Female Prisoner tetrology. If you click over to that group you'll see it right on top. The movie opened today in 1972 with Meiko Kaji in the lead as the iconic character Nami Matsushima, aka Matsu the Scorpion, and the posters above are the second and third we have for this fun movie. If you haven't seen it but appreciate a little Japanese style cinematic mayhem, we recommend you check it out.
 Reiko Ike’s pelvic floor exercises pay off big time. 
Onsen mimizu geisha, which premiered today in 1971, stars an eighteen-year-old Reiko Ike, along with Miki Sugimoto and Junkô Tôda, in yet another tale centered on a Japanese hot spring—Toi Onsen on the Izu Peninsula. So what is this about specifically? Basically, in order to avoid losing the family’s ancestral burial plot to debt collectors, Ike is forced to become a geisha, which turns out to be a natural choice because of the muscle control she has over her vagina. The extraordinarily pleasurable sensation she creates in there is akin to that of worms writhing. Yes, you read that right—worms. Warm ones, of course. And this is where the title of the movie comes from—Onsen mimizu geisha, or “hot springs earthworm geisha.” Do you need to know more? This is a classic, with a lot of goofy humor, plenty of bare skin and bikinis, a strong visual style from director Noribumi Suzuki, and some bizarrely aggressive octopi. And most importantly it has Ike, who’s radiant throughout, never more so than when flashing the viewer during the naughty opening credit montage. Maybe not for everybody, this one, but it certainly worked for us.
           
 Whatever you’re holding, consider yourself trumped.     
Back in November of 2014 we shared a vanishingly rare tatekan style promo poster for Teruo Ishii’s Hijirimen bakuto, aka Red Silk Gambler. Today we’ve finally gotten around to sharing the other five matching tatekans, new to any website, and unwatermarked for your enjoyment. Though that may change soon. The stars of these posters are, top to bottom, Hiroko Fuji, Junko Matsudaira, Mitsue Horikoshi, Eiko Nakamura, and Sanae Tsuchida. By the way, IMDB calls this movie Hijirimen bakuto, but many other sources, especially those based in Japan, call it Hidirimen bakuto. As far as we know, both are technically correct, but maybe one of our Japanese speaking friends can confirm that. You can see our first write-up on this film here.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1924—Leopold and Loeb Murder Bobby Franks
Two wealthy University of Chicago students named Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks, motivated by no other reason than to prove their intellectual superiority by committing a perfect crime. But the duo are caught and sentenced to life in prison. Their crime becomes known as a "thrill killing", and their story later inspires various works of art, including the 1929 play Rope by Patrick Hamilton, and Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film of the same name. 1916—Rockwell's First Post Cover Appears
The Saturday Evening Post publishes Norman Rockwell's painting "Boy with Baby Carriage", marking the first time his work appears on the cover of that magazine. Rockwell would go to paint many covers for the Post, becoming indelibly linked with the publication. During his long career Rockwell would eventually paint more than four thousand pieces, the vast majority of which are not on public display due to private ownership and destruction by fire. 1962—Marilyn Monroe Sings to John F. Kennedy
A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's breathy rendition of "Happy Birthday," which does more to fuel speculation that the two were sexually involved than any actual evidence.
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