Vintage Pulp

June 18 2024

POWER AND PASSION

Mount Naomi erupts with deadly consequences in pinku revenge opera.

The Japanese appetite for pinku films was unquenchable. Conversely, ours is mostly quenched, but when we see a poster this striking we have to share it, and that means glancing at the movie that spawned it. Oryu joen: shibari hada, which premiered in Japan today in 1975, was known in English as Oryu’s Passion: Bondage Skin, and it came from Nikkatsu Studios as part of its specialized roman porno line, with the so-called Queen of S&M Naomi Tani in the lead role.

Plotwise, the head of a yakuza clan is assassinated and Tani, his loyal charge, vows revenge. Her search for the killer doesn’t go according to the blueprint, and after a betrayal she ends up in a dank bdsm dungeon along with her sister Terumi Azuma, subjected to rope discipline and forcibly dildoed and dp’ed with yam batter as a lubricant. Yam batter. You know how it goes in those pinku dungeons. Note: for novices, roman porno films are not porn. The term is short for “romantic porno,” and they’re r-rated, equivalently. Or more likely, they’d not be able to obtain ratings at all under the U.S. system. Just thought we’d reiterate that.

Anyway, Tani eventually slips her bonds with assistance, and her long delayed revenge occurs, bloodily. No spoiler there. You knew it had to happen. We can’t recommend this flick. There’s really nothing worthwhile about it unless you’re a fan of the form. Even then it’s middling. Yes, Tani was the Queen of S&M, but she made more than one hundred films, so some will have the feel of going through the motions. Even so, you do get several of the expected roman porno tropes. Like action movies offer gunfire and romance movies offer kisses, it’s what you sign up for. Knock yourself out.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Oryu joen: shibari hada, Oryu's Passion: Bondage Skin, Naomi Tani, Terumi Azuma, pinku, roman porno, bdsm, poster art, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

June 3 2024

HER STOCKING STORY

You've garter see it to believe it.

This sensual promo image stars Japanese actress Izumi Shima and was made for her roman porno film Wakazuma ga nureru toki, known in English by the evocative title When a Young Wife Gets Wet. The large text at the right side of the poster says, “When a woman smells mysterious.” So Shima is wet and mysterious. Sweet. We talked about the movie a couple of years ago, so if you want to know more feel to look here. But you can probably guess what it’s all about.

The boys at Nikkatsu Film were true wordsmiths when they put their minds to it. In the smaller text they get lyrical: This year, Izumi Shima has become even bigger as she continues to star in movies. The charm wafts from her kimono, the sexiness spilling out from her see-through nightgown, and the mysterious adult charm that overflows from her black slip. Her limbs, like ripe fruits, are displayed on the screen without hesitation. Let me show you!

They had us at wafts.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Wakazuma ga nureru toki, When a Young Wife Gets Wet, Izumi Shima, roman porno, pinku, nudity

Vintage Pulp

March 25 2024

DIAMONDS AREN’T FOREVER

The deeper into the Underworld you go the hotter it gets until everyone—and everything—is liable to get burned.

The two tateken style posters you see above were made for the Japanese crime drama Ankokugai no bijo, the title of which means “beauty of the underworld,” and which was known in English as Underworld Beauty. The movie is about a bunch of gangsters chasing after some diamonds. Co-star Tôru Abe has them first, but when the yakuza catch up to him, he swallows them and jumps off a roof, ending up in a hospital. He soon dies and the treasure is cut out of his body, but that’s merely the beginning of a struggle to retain their possession. Abe’s sister, played by Mari Shiraki, is the underground beauty of the title, and gets tangled up with the mobsters. They say diamonds are forever, but we’re told early in the film when it seems as if the coveted stones might go into a crematorium with Abe’s body, that they can actually burn. That’s clumsy foreshadowing, but Underworld Beauty still manages to be an interesting and mostly satisfying film. It premiered today in 1958.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Ankokugai no bijo, Underworld Beauty, Michitarô Mizushima, Mari Shiraki, Shinsuke Ashida, Tôru Abe, yakuza, poster art, cinema, movie review

Modern Pulp

March 8 2024

TOKYO PAYBACK

In Japan business is warcomplete with innocent bystanders.

This brilliant promo was painted for Hana to hebi: Shiiku-hen, known in English as Flower and Snake 3: Punishment. It starred Minako Ogawa of Dan Oniroku ikenie shimai, aka Sisters To Be Sacrificed, and in fact the same painter must have produced both posters. Have a look. The central figure is almost identical, no? Right down to her hairy armpits. Since there’s no official info on who the artist is we’ll throw in our two cents. It was bondage painter Kaname Ozuma. He painted at least one other poster for the Flower and Snake series, which you can see here. In the meantime this piece is literally nowhere else to be found in the quality you see here. At least, as far as we can tell.

We watched the film and it’s a typically perverse roman porno tale about a powerful businessman married to Minako Ogawa, who he stole from a subordinate who was helpless to prevent it. When he later declines to help a business associate out of a jam that person has Ogawa kidnapped—literally thrown into a giant bag—taken to an isolated house, sexually assaulted, and coercively trained using bondage, a kielbasa, and other esoterica in order to turn her into a performer for live sex shows. That’s a hell of a twisted retaliation for being refused financial help, but twisted is what roman porno is all about.

Of technical note is the fact that, though it was illegal to show pubic hair in Japanese movies, the ever clever roman porno filmmakers found a loophole. They have Ogawa’s captors, as part of her torment, cut off her pubic hair with scissors. Though it couldn’t be shown attached to her body without bringing down the wrath of censors, they got away with showing it falling into bathwater. You gotta give the pervs credit. They were always thinking outside the—er—box. Hana to hebi: Shiiku-hen premiered in Japan today in 1986.

After a long day on the set filming sex and bondage…

I’m very happy to spend the evening doing this.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Hana to hebi: Shiiku-hen, Flower and Snake 3: Punishment, Minako Ogawa, Yuri Yau, Mariko Kajikawa, Kaname Ozuma, pinku, roman porno, sexploitation, bdsm, nudity, poster art, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

December 15 2023

BAD STUDENTS

Why study when you can party?

Joshi gakuen: Yabai sotsugyô is known in English as Hazardous Graduation, and is the sequel to Joshi gakuen: Warui asobi, aka Girls’ Junior High School: Dangerous Games (1970) and the predecessor of Joshi gakuen: Otona no asobi, aka Girl’s Junior High School: Too Young to Play Like This. In brief—it’s too dumb to recommend. Like the other films, this one stars Junko Natsu, and plotwise she and her coterie of rebellious followers resist attempts by school adminitrators to teach sexual abstinence. They of course prove that adults are hypocrites. While the movie isn’t worth watching (there’s even a cake fight, for fuck’s sake), we decided to share the poster anyway because Natsu is an important action star who would later feature in important films such as Bad Girl Mako and Wolves of the City. Joshi gakuen: Yabai sotsugyô premiered today in 1970.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Joshi gakuen: Yabai sotsugyô, Hazardous Graduation, Joshi gakuen: Warui asobi, Girls' Junior High School: Dangerous Games, Joshi gakuen: Otona no asobi, Girl's Junior High School: Too Young to Play Like This, Junko Natsu, Jirô Okazaki, Seizaburô Kawazu, poster art, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

October 27 2023

EROS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE

1001 nights is not nearly enough time with Ayako Meki, Erina Miyai, and Izumi Shima.

A few years ago we shared an ultra rare tateken promo for the 1001 Nights inspired roman porno flick Tokyo eros senya ichiya. That poster was a follow-up to a standard poster we’d shared back in 2017. In both cases the movie was unavailable for us to watch. Well, above you see a magazine page featuring the movie’s co-star Ayako Meki. This isn’t directly a promo for the film, but she’s dressed in character. The text says “because you look 21,” which is weird, and goes on to describe her as “an exciting new power.” We’re showing this to you because the movie premiered today in 1979, and this time we did have a copy to watch.

Known in English as Eros Nights in Tokyo, the story here involves lonely young Kiyoyasu Adachi and three women in his life—Izumi Shima, Ayako Meki, and Erina Miyai. We can’t fault the guy’s taste, but we do take exception to his methods. He succumbs to creepy urges such as spying on Shima (who’s his stepmother), attempting to force a kiss upon Meki (which devolves into a full-scale perv attack), and looking up the skirt of Miyai (who’s mentally disabled). Later he grows a bit more subtle in his attempts to indulge his urges, such as when he convinces Shima to accept a personalized wash, full body massage, and more. After that nipply nuru session, his stepmom is fully on board with further advances.

By now it’s clear to the viewer that fantasy has overtaken reality for Adachi. We’ve seen this line crossed in numerous films, and it’s usually a subtle trip across the border. When did it happen here? It’s hard to be sure, but probably sometime after Adachi was chased by a policeman that somehow multiplied into an entire Keystone Kops style squad, and sometime before he was showered with a fortune in gold coins from a fountain.

All this stuff is mostly played for laughs, and indeed there are some legitimately funny moments, though not nearly as many as the filmmakers intended. We’re talking about a Nikkatsu Studios roman porno production, which means that even as comedy it has the usual trappings of that genre, and those trappings just aren’t humorous. For example, there’s an attempted gang rape, which Adachi foils in full gangster mode, as the entire situation morphs into a set piece right out of American grindhouse cinema. Funny? No. Creative. For sure.

As we’ve mentioned before, by 1979 Nikkatsu was trying new ideas for its roman porno line, and Tokyo eros senya ichiya certainly qualifies. It’s hard to judge such an outrageous flick objectively, so we won’t try except to say that it’s well made, as these films always are. We will mention, though, that we were disappointed none of the stars wore a harem costume. It turns out that 1001 Nights was a more oblique inspiration than we assumed. Have a look at the other posters here and here and you’ll see what we expected. Do we recommend the film? Yes, of course. It has Izumi Shima. Full stop.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Tokyo eros senya ichiya, Eros Nights in Tokyo, Izumi Shima, Megi Ayako, Ayako Meki, Irina Miyai, pinku, poster art, cinema, roman porno, movie review

Vintage Pulp

October 23 2023

CATLIKE REFLEXES

For her taking risks is just feline nature.

This poster was made for Toba no mesu neko: Suhada no tsubo furi, known in English as Cat Girls Gamblers: Naked Flesh Paid into the Pot, the second of three Cat Girls films. We shared a poster for the first back in 2014 before we could access the movies, but now we have them, so we screened part two last night. The lead in this and the other installments is Yumiko Nogawa, who plays a wandering gambler whose murdered father was a famous maker of rigged dice. After Nogawa’s lover is killed in a dice game she swears never to play again, takes a job working at a Turkish bath, and seems to be dedicated to living a quiet existence.

But her idyll is turned upside down when she shelters a recently paroled criminal who wants to gain control of a yakuza territory he’d been promised before going to prison. The crime boss currently running the territory has no intention of giving it up, and Nogawa seems likely to be dragged into the middle of the conflict. As it turns out, she’s working in the Turkish bath only as a means to find her father’s killer. Since her interests and those of her new friend are aligned, they hatch a plot that just might give them both what they want.

This is a solid effort from Nikkatsu Studios, before the front office bigwigs had their roman porno revelation and leaned hard into sexploitation for the entire 1970s and beyond. Shot in black and white, the feel is arthouse, with a police subplot giving it shadings of an American detective drama. Nogawa, a movie veteran who began her career with 1964’s famed Nikutai no mon, is self-assured as the headliner, and the entire supporting cast is good. A climactic fight perhaps won’t seem convincingly choreographed to modern viewers, but we recommend taking a chance on this gambling drama anyway. Toba no mesu neko: Suhada no tsubo furi premiered in Japan today in 1965.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Toba no mesu neko: Suhada no tsubo furi, Cat Girls Gamblers: Naked Flesh Paid into the Pot, Yumiko Nogawa, Hideaki Nitani, Tatsuya Fuji, poster art, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

August 4 2023

HER PERSONAL SPACE

How can you think about sex when as we stand here quantum gravity won't fit into the standard model of quarks and leptons?

Above is an alternate poster made for Joshi daisei: Sex kaki seminar, which was also known as Joshidaisei: Sex kaki zeminaaru, and premiered today in 1973. It starred Masumi Jun, Isao Hayashi, and Setsuko Ôyama, who portray three collegians who sign up for a seminar that gets weird. It had no Western release, therefore no English title, but the Japanese would translate to something like “female college student sex summer seminar.” See another poster and learn a bit more about the film here.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Joshi daisei: Sex kaki seminar, Joshidaisei: Sex kaki zeminaaru, Masumi Jun, Setsuko Ôyama, Isao Hayashi, poster art, pinku, roman porno, cinema

Intl. Notebook

August 1 2023

FERAL CATS

Hiss hiss, bang bang.

The fun pinky violence actioner Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo, aka Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo, premiered today in 1970, so we have for you all the promo images were able to find. You see Meiko Kaji, Tatsuya Fuji, Bunjaku Han, Sôichirô Maeno, and others. We wrote in more detail about the movie at this link.

Japan, Hori Production, Nikkatsu, Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo, Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo, Meiko Kaji, Tatsuya Fuji, Bunjaku Han, Sôichirô Maeno, pinku, pinky violence

Modern Pulp

May 31 2023

HER UPTOWN WORLD

Just because she's high class doesn't mean she can't get down.

This lovely poster was made for the roman porno movie Yamanote fujin: Seiai no hibi, known in English as Uptown Lady: Days of Eros, and the star is the incomparable Izumi Shima, centerpiece of at least three dozen films for Nikkatsu Studios in a mere four years from 1977 to 1981. Here she plays the young wife of an old, blind classical dance teacher, and becomes the focus of romantic feelings from her husband’s son from an earlier marriage. The two are around the same age, which is probably one reason Shima begins to have feelings too, though it’s oh so very wrong. Would it be incest to boink your son-in-law? We don’t know the legal ramifications, but it would certainly be a case of bad judgment. This exact type of bad judgment is of course standard territory for Nikkatsu, but under the direction of Masaru Konuma Seiai no hibi is gentler and more poetic than the usual fare. After seeing Shima receive forced enemas in other roman pornos this was a nice change.

Shima eventually gives in to her son-in-law in a hot and sweaty/oily sequence. The encounter features a sixty-nine and some pretty concentrated nipple licking by Shima that sent a ripple through our innards. Some guys don’t like their nipples licked, but we think they’re crazy. In our view, the nipples are a required pitstop on any excursion along the body, whatever the ultimate destination. Shima and her son-in-law have a second encounter, also of the wet and shiny variety, this time in a red-lit room, and once more it’s a well shot and stimulating scene. But it’s here that we must issue our standard warning to novices that roman porno is not porno—the appellation stands for “romantic porno,” and the movies are softcore, with no genitalia displayed. In order to find them stimulating, you have to use your imagination. That might be a problem for anyone under age thirty.

Anyway, for Shima’s husband to not know something’s going on he’d have to be blind—doh! rimshot! Read the premise again. He’s a blind dance teacher. You know that cliché about the blind compensating with their other senses to the extent that they don’t miss their vision at all? This movie hews to that concept. However, Shima’s hubby is circumspect in marriage, if domineering as a teacher, so he doesn’t let on that he knows—at first. Since Shima is not just his wife but also his star student, she has her career as a future natori to consider, and he knows that. How it eventually concludes we’ll leave for you to discover on your own. We can tell you that serious roman porno enthusiasts tend to find this movie too sedate, but the less bizarre approach worked great for us. Of course, anything with Shima works great for us. Yamanote fujin: Seiai no hibi premiered in Japan today in 1980.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Uptown Lady: Days of Eros, Yamanote fujin: Seiai no hibi, Izumi Shima, Megumi Ogawa, poster art, cinema, pinku, roman porno, sexploitation, nudity, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 8

1918—Sgt. York Becomes a Hero

During World War I, in the Argonne Forest in France, America Corporal Alvin C. York leads an attack on a German machine gun nest that kills 25 and captures 132. He is a corporal during the event, but is promoted to sergeant as a result. He also earns Medal of Honor from the U.S., the Croix de Guerre from the French Republic, and the Croce di Guerra from Italy and Montenegro. Stateside, he is celebrated as a hero, and Hollywood even makes a movie entitled Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper.

October 8

1956—Larsen Pitches Perfect Game

The New York Yankees’ Don Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series against hated rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is the only perfect game in World Series history, as well as the only no-hitter.

October 7

1959—Dark Side of Moon Revealed

The Soviet space probe Luna 3 transmits the first photographs of the far side of the moon. The photos generate great interest, and scientists are surprised to see mountainous terrain, very different from the near side, and only two seas, which the Soviets name Mare Moscovrae (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire).

October 6

1966—LSD Declared Illegal in U.S.

LSD, which was originally synthesized by a Swiss doctor and was later secretly used by the CIA on military personnel, prostitutes, the mentally ill, and members of the general public in a project code named MKULTRA, is designated a controlled substance in the United States.

October 5

1945—Hollywood Black Friday

A six month strike by Hollywood set decorators becomes a riot at the gates of Warner Brothers Studios when strikers and replacement workers clash. The event helps bring about the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which, among other things, prohibits unions from contributing to political campaigns and requires union leaders to affirm they are not supporters of the Communist Party.