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Last year we shared two posters for the Kyoko Izumi ama movie Zoku-zoku-Kindan no suna: Akai pantsu, aka Woman Diver’s Beach: Red Pants, and today we have a third poster. You can see the others, and learn about the movie, at this link. And if you don’t know what an ama is look here. Zoku-zoku-Kindan no suna: Akai pantsu premiered in Japan today in 1959.
Manatsu no joji, aka Midsummer Affair—Underwater Series Part 4, appeared in 1960 from Shochiku Company Limited, and above you see two nice promo posters for the movie. These epics are, of course, nothing without franchise star Kyoko Izumi, and here she plays a woman discovered adrift on the sea. She tells her rescuers that her husband, less lucky, drowned trying to save her.
But some elements of her story don’t add up—for instance she claims to be a poor swimmer, but soon it becomes clear that she’s quite at home in the water. Suspicions arise that Izumi has committed foul play, a fact soon clear enough to the audience. Meanwhile a swimwear fashion show and a bitter rivalry between two female aquatic teams give her the cover she needs to try to eliminate the person most intent on proving she murdered her husband. All she has to do is point and shoot—with a poison filled syringe.
Will she get away with this crazy scheme? We’re not telling. This was the last film in this franchise, but she did act in one more ama film, 1963’s Ama no kaishinju, which was made by a different production company. So it looks like this’ll do it for the series, except for an alternate poster for part 3 we have hiding somewhere. We’ll get that up at some point.
Yes, it’s another movie from the Underwater Series. We already shared posters for installments two and three, which premiered in June 1958 and June 1959 respectively. The makers of these films really liked June premiere dates, because Ama bune yori: Kindan no suna premiered today in 1957. This is the film, based on a novel by Keitaro Konda, that launched the series. It tells the story of man who returns to his home fishing village after five years away and rekindles his relationship with a local ama, played by series star Kyoko Izumi. Problem is he isn’t the one interested in Izumi, and the resulting love triangle eventually leads to tragedy, as is common in these movies.
Incidentally, we can’t be sure what the western title was for this, or whether there was one. Many of these obscure Japanese flicks never played outside Asia, and this may be one. In fact, there’s so much conflicting information on this we can’t be 100% we got everything right. We may have to make a correction later, but the main thing is to enjoy the striking poster art. Actually, we’re feeling pretty good about uploading all these ama posters, because some of them weren’t available online. There are still more films from the genre for which we have art to share, so keep an eye out for that down the line.
Update: the English title for this was apparently, simply, Underwater Romance.
Last week we talked about the 1959 drama Zoku-zoku-Kindan no suna: Akai pantsu, third film in the Shochiku Co. franchise sometimes referred to as the Underwater Series. You know we’re sticklers for talking about movies on their premiere dates, which is why today we’re looking at Zoku kindan no suna, which opened in Japan today in 1958. In the west the movie was known as Forbidden Sands or The Prohibited Man’s Sand, and like the others in the series deals with the loves and troubles of an ama—a female skin diver.
Two bank robbers steal seven million yen, which we think is like forty or fifty bucks, and hide out on an island peopled by amas and their families. The crooks pretend to be a marine biology professor and his assistant, and they don scuba gear and hide the cash in some underwater caves known as the Dragon’s Caves—a name which just screams trouble. They’re convinced the treasure is inaccessible, but these amas are really good, and one in particular has no trouble at all making especially long dives.
One of the crooks takes a shine to her, and warns her to stay out of the caves because they’re dangerous, but the shine is mutual, so surprise surprise, as a gift she decides to swim down there to find rare specimens for his phony marine research. Yes, theft is one thing, but lies are a whole other bucket of starfish. Zoku kindan no suna is a recommendable flick, but be forewarned that if you’re in the States it might be even harder to find than that loot in the Dragon’s Caves. But at least you can enjoy the posters. We aren’t done with this series, so keep an eye out for another installment in a bit.
These two beautiful posters were made for the film Zoku-zoku-Kindan no suna: Akai pantsu, which translates to something about “prohibited man’s sands” something or other, but which seems to be known in English as Woman Diver’s Beach: Red Pants. The movie is third in a series starring Kyoko Izumi, and as you might guess it deals with an ama—a female diver for clams, treasure, and other valuable submerged items. The plot is a bit convoluted, but basically a villager gets into a fight and accidentally kills a man only to have the man’s fiancée show up and, affected by the villager’s anguish over his deed, begin to feel sorry for him, then begin to feel affection him. There’s much more to the film—for example, both the villager and fiancée are the focus of unrequited love from other quarters, and this will lead to serious complications and even some gunplay, but what you get for the most part is a star-crossed love story. The “red pants” reference, by the way, is for the color of shorts the fiancée wears. We have a poster for a couple of the other films in this franchise and you’ll be seeing those soon. This one premiered in Japan today in 1959.
American sci-fi/horror author Howard Phillips Lovecraft dies of intestinal cancer in Providence, Rhode Island at age 46. Lovecraft died nearly destitute, but would become the most influential horror writer of all time. His imaginary universe of malign gods and degenerate cults was influenced by his explicitly racist views, but his detailed and procedural style of writing, which usually pitted men of science or academia against indescribable monsters, remains as effective today as ever.
French pulp artist Michel Gourdon, who was the less famous brother of Alain Gourdon, aka Aslan, dies in Coudray, France aged eighty-five. He is known mainly for the covers he painted for the imprint Flueve Noir, but worked for many companies and produced nearly 3,500 book fronts during his career.
In the U.S. a Dallas jury finds nightclub owner and organized crime fringe-dweller Jack Ruby guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. Ruby had shot Oswald with a handgun at Dallas Police Headquarters in full view of multiple witnesses and photographers. Allegations that he committed the crime to prevent Oswald from exposing a conspiracy in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy have never been proven.
In Tennessee, the case of Scopes vs. the State of Tennessee, involving the prosecution of a school teacher for instructing his students in evolution, ends with a conviction of the teacher and establishment of a new law definitively prohibiting the teaching of evolution. The opposing lawyers in the case, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, both earn lasting fame for their participation in what was a contentious and sensational trial.
Franklin D. Roosevelt uses the medium of radio to address the people of the United States for the first time as President, in a tradition that would become known as his “fireside chats”. These chats were enormously successful from a participation standpoint, with multi-millions tuning in to listen. In total Roosevelt would make thirty broadcasts over the course of eleven years.
