Vintage Pulp

December 18 2010

OH RATS

Another loner is tormented until he kills. Do bullies never learn?

We found this Japanese promo art for the original version of Willard. In the film, a young man trains a pack of rats to do his bidding, which is all fun and games at first. But complications arise when Socrates, who is basically the Frank Sinatra of this pack, is killed, leaving Ben, the impulsive Dean Martin rat, to take over. Eventually Willard sends the pack to dispose of his tormentor, played by Ernest Borgnine, and let’s just say they turn him into a tartare that makes those cooking rats from Ratatouille look like real culinary hacks. But Ben is a mercurial rodent, and when he subsequently feels rejected by Willard, well, we think you gnaw what happens next. Willard and his rat pack swarmed Tokyo for the first time today in 1971.

Japan, Tokyo, Willard, Ratatouille, Ernest Borgnine, poster art, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

September 29 2010

CLASS ACTION

Think you hated school before? Just wait.

Above are two posters for Norifumi Suzuki’s pinky violence flick Kyôfu joshikôkô: Onna bôryoku kyôshitsu, aka Terrifying Girls High School: Women’s Violent Classroom, with Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto. This was first in a four film series, followed by Lynch Law Classroom, Delinquent Convulsion Group, and Animal Courage. Sugimoto is the ringleader of a girl gang at Seiko High School, beating up other students, bullying them for money, bombarding a teacher with condoms and panties, leaving a dead cat hanging in class, even engaging in a little blackmail. Why is Miki such a problem? A couple of years earlier she was raped, and now she has changed from, in her words, “the raped to the one who rapes.” Do you have any doubt at all that a man wrote that?

So okay, Miki, driven by past trauma, runs the school like a despot queen, but her reign of terror hits a snag when another very tough girl is transferred there. That would be none other than Reiko Ike, who joins forces with Miki’s main rival. It’s pure pinky violence action from that point on, as faces are slapped, hair is pulled, dresses are ripped, and boobs are burned with cigarettes. They play rough, these high schoolers. Meanwhile a new teacher known as a disciplinarian comes to Seiko High and tries to be understanding with these she-devils, but when pushed past his breaking point is soon body slamming them. Never one to back down, Miki arranges for the teacher’s wife to be gang raped. She wants to retain control of her high school fiefdom and there’s no limit to what she’ll do. But Reiko? She has a totally different agenda.

Both Sugimoto and Ike were nineteen when they made this film, and both look perfect for their roles—young but a bit hardened. Since pinku movies involve a lot of steely glares, they depend greatly upon the actresses’ ability to impart meaning with facial expressions. Sugimoto and Ike are both good at that. These are also physical movies, with gang fights that resemble choreographed group dances. Ike was particularly adept at this and would later film one of the famed fight scenes in film history in 1973’s Sex and Fury, a nude sword battle against a half dozen men who surprise her in the bathtub. She and Sugimoto rode their many abilities to greater stardom throughout the mid-1970s. Working here together, you can really see their talent. Kyôfu joshikôkô: Onna bôryoku kyôshitsu premiered in Japan today in 1972.

Japan, Tokyo, Toei Company, Kyôfu joshikôkô: Onna bôryoku kyôshitsu, Terrifying Girls High School: Women’s Violent Classroom, Norifumi Suzuki, Reiko Ike, Miki Sugimoto, poster art, pinku, pinky violence, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

June 15 2010

SUNGLASS MENAGERIE

Don’t masquerade with the guy in shades.

Above is a poster for Seijan Suzuki’s 1967 underground gangster flick Koroshi no rakuin, aka Branded To Kill, with Jo Shishido and Annu Mari. This is about as stylish a movie as you could hope to see, with some stunning directorial flourishes and a cool jazz score. When Tokyo’s No. 3 Killer misses a mark because a butterfly lands in front of his rifle scope, he must pay the price for his failure. Pretty soon he’s facing off against No. 1 Killer, who was supposed to be a myth but turns out to be very real.

Shot in black and white, Koroshi no rakuin is all shadows, flames and frantic shootouts between guys in skinny ties. Suzuki goes on a whirlwind tour of Tokyo and its environs, seeking out every unusual backdrop imaginable for his meticulous and surreal set pieces. We think the movie is worth viewing for the fire stunt alone—a gangster holes up in a WWII bunker, and when it catches fire he flees while fully aflame and manages a fifty yard sprint down a rocky slope, running so fast that the wind of his passage pushes the flames behind him like the crest of some exotic bird.

Like everything else in Koroshi no rakuin, the moment is over all too quickly. That could also be said of its theatrical run—the film was a flop, and its failure resulted in conflicts between Suzuki and his studio Nikkatsu that got him blacklisted for ten years. In a sense, we can understand Nikkatsu’s disappointment—it’s clear Suzuki didn’t take his assignment to direct a gangster film as literally as he might have. But as always, the most important critic of all is time, and Suzuki’s nervous, absurdist, disjointed noir masterpiece has survived. Koroshi no rakuin opened in Tokyo today in 1967.

Japan, Tokyo, Koroshi no rakuin, Branded to Kill, Seijan Suzuki, Jo Shishido, Annu Mari, Mariko Ogawa, poster art, cinema, movie review

Sex Files

May 7 2010

LEGALLY BLONDE

East meets west in Asakusa, Japan.

Here’s something you’ve probably never seen before and which we’re glad to say we’re posting for the first time on any website. They’re…well we aren’t really sure. But we think they’re advertising posters for a Japanese strip club in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, circa 1970s. Asakusa is one of the city’s main centers of geisha culture, but you’ll notice the posters don’t feature geishas, but western women, called “kinpathu (kinpatu)” or “blonde” on one poster, and “gaitin (gaijin)” on another. One of the women goes by the name Anna Margaret, the Queen of Enchantment, and that’s as far into this as we need to go to draw conclusions. For Americans, going to strip clubs has an unshakeable aura of sin clinging to it, but apparently in Japan, it’s kind of like going to Disneyland. At least, that’s the fun-loving feeling we get from the posters. We’ll ride the spinning teacups while you give the gaijin a try, and later we’ll all meet in front of the Magic Castle, ’kay?

Japan, Tokyo, Asakusa, prostitution

Vintage Pulp

June 20 2009

TRAVELING LIGHT

Classic movie teaches us you only need two things in this world—a tuxedo and a gun.

There really isn’t much to say about it except that most critics rank it as one of the top five motion pictures ever made. So it’s befitting that the promo art is among the best we’ve seen. Below we have two Japanese posters for Casablanca, the classic war adventure set in exotic French Morocco. It premiered in Tokyo today in 1946.

Japan, Morocco, Tokyo, Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, poster art, cinema

Vintage Pulp

March 17 2009

NATURAL BORN ’ZILLA

I am the lizard king, I can do anything.

Today’s nuclear theme continues with this poster for the Japanese monster flick Gojiratai Megaro, aka Godzilla vs. Megalon. If the title of the film sounds like a WWE undercard, then it’s fitting the climax consists of a tag-team wrestling match pitting Godzilla and a giant robot named Jet Jaguar against the fearsome twosome of Megalon and Gigan. Of course, if this were a wrestling match neither of the villains would be able to tag in or out, because neither has hands. Instead Gigan has at the ends of his arms what look a bit like Viking mead horns, and Megalon sports models of the Chrysler Building. The story here involves the aquatic Megalon deciding to destroy Tokyo in retaliation for nuclear testing that has endangered the seas, which actually makes him the good monster, in our view. Godzilla, on the other claw, is radioactive by nature, which presumably means weakness, baldness, anal bleeding, and slow, agonizing death follow wherever he goes. But none of this truly matters. All that matters is this is the Godzilla film with the kick. The kick. Don’t know what we mean? Your online search terms are: “Godzilla,” and “kick.” Trust us, you’ll almost believe a lizard can fly. Gojiratai Megaro premiered in Japan today in 1973.

Japan, Tokyo, Gojiratai Megaro, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Jet Jaguar, Gigan, poster art, cinema, movie review

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

March 23

2011—Elizabeth Taylor Dies

American actress Elizabeth Taylor, whose career began at age 12 when she starred in National Velvet, and who would eventually be nominated for five Academy Awards as best actress and win for Butterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, dies of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles. During her life she had been hospitalized more than 70 times.

March 22

1963—Profumo Denies Affair

In England, the Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, denies any impropriety with showgirl Christine Keeler and threatens to sue anyone repeating the allegations. The accusations involve not just infidelity, but the possibility acquaintances of Keeler might be trying to ply Profumo for nuclear secrets. In June, Profumo finally resigns from the government after confessing his sexual involvement with Keeler and admitting he lied to parliament.

March 22

1978—Karl Wallenda Falls to His Death

World famous German daredevil and high-wire walker Karl Wallenda, founder of the acrobatic troupe The Flying Wallendas, falls to his death attempting to walk on a cable strung between the two towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Wallenda is seventy-three years old at the time, but it is a 30 mph wind, rather than age, that is generally blamed for sending him from the wire.

March 22

2006—Swedish Spy Stig Wennerstrom Dies

Swedish air force colonel Stig Wennerström, who had been convicted in the 1970s of passing Swedish, U.S. and NATO secrets to the Soviet Union over the course of fifteen years, dies in an old age home at the age of ninety-nine. The Wennerström affair, as some called it, was at the time one of the biggest scandals of the Cold War.

March 21

1963—Alcatraz Closes

The federal penitentiary located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay closes. The island had been home to a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison over the years. In 1972, it would become a national recreation area open to tourists, and it would receive national landmark designations in 1976 and 1986.

March 20

1916—Einstein Publishes General Relativity

German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity. Among the effects of the theory are phenomena such as the curvature of space-time, the bending of rays of light in gravitational fields, faster than light universe expansion, and the warping of space time around a rotating body.