| Vintage Pulp | Oct 12 2021 |
She wasn't really all that nice even before the demon showed up.
The tateken style poster you see above was made for the Japanese actioner Yôen dokufu-den: Han'nya no Ohyaku, aka Ohyaku: The Female Demon, set in Edo era Japan, and starring Junko Miyazono, Tomisaburô Wakayama, and Kunio Murai. Miyazono plays woman who as little girl survived when her prostitute mother jumped with her off a bridge, and as an adult carries a scar on her back from this traumatic suicide. She's grown up to be an acrobat, but is treated shabbily by men just as her mother was.
She flees her circus life and hooks up with a handsome young samurai, only to learn that he plans to steal gold being transported via caravan from a government mint. She begs to help her young lover, as he also takes on a partner who tried to rob the same mint twenty years earlier, losing an arm in the process. His knowledge will hopefully be key, but like any heist, there are hidden dangers. It's a given some will come from the protectors of the coveted goods, but sometimes they come from partners in positions of trust. That's all we'll say about the plot, except that Miyazono is never actually possessed by a demon. What happens is she gets a demon tattoo on her back, which we guess symbolizes her transition from somewhat shady to fully vengeful.
The movie was made by Toei Company and was the first in a trilogy of films that are often cited as precursors to the studio's famed pinky violence cycle. We can certainly see the similarity, though this film is black and white rather than the vivid color you get with pinky violence. But all that really matters is that it's entertaining, starting fast, incorporating nice sword action, and covering a lot of thematic ground. Very enjoyable stuff. It premiered in Japan today in 1968.
JapanToei CompanyYôen dokufu-den: Han'nya no OhyakuOhyaku: The Female DemonJunko MiyazonoTomisaburô WakayamaKunio Muraiposter artcinemamovie review
| Vintage Pulp | Oct 12 2021 |
Qipao! Qipao! The cheongsam killer strikes.
Two companies, same release date, but we've confirmed it with our Japanese sources, so don't blame us if it's wrong. Onna mekura hana to kiba, aka Blind Woman: Flower and Fangs also premiered today in 1968, starring Koreharu Hisatomi, Isao Yamagata, Ken Sanders, and Chizuko Arai, who you see fronting the poster in a killer silk cheongsam. For the boys out there, that's a traditional dress of Chinese origin also known as a qipao. Hope that enriched your day. Arai plays a blind woman on a vengeance spree. We couldn't find a copy to watch, but the poster sure makes us curious.
JapanShochiku Company LimitedOnna mekura hana to kibaBlind Woman: Flower and FangsKoreharu HisatomiIsao YamagataKen SandersChizuko Araiposter artcinema
| Vintage Pulp | Sep 27 2021 |
She's pure pinku power in a pint-sized package.
This fantastic poster was made to promote the roman porno movie Joshidaisei: Sexy Dynamite, which was known in English as Female Coed: Sexy Dynamite, and starred the amazing Mari Tanaka, one of our favorite pinku actresses. Just as a reminder for the uninitiated, pinku is a Japanese film genre roughly analogous to sexploitation, though the definition can be more exclusive depending on where you look. Also, the films are not explicit, but manage to imply plenty with camera angles, props, and physical acting. Sexy Dynamite isn't available to us, sad to say, but we had to show you the poster anyway because it's so unusual. If we ever track down the film we'll update this entry. In the meantime, as consolation, check out the promo image of Tanaka below. Want to see more of her? Click her keywords below and start scrolling. Joshidaisei: Sexy Dynamite premiered in Japan today in 1972.
JapanJoshidaisei: Sexy DynamiteFemale Coed: Sexy DynamiteMari Tanakaposter artcinemapinkuroman pornosexploitationnudity
| Vintage Pulp | Sep 22 2021 |
The Zu animals break loose and Tokyo is never the same.
Above is a promo poster for Toei Company's pinky violence hit Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku, aka Tokyo Bad Girls, aka Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams, which premiered in Japan today in 1970. We already talked about the movie years back and showed you the tateken sized promo poster. Because we had this second piece of art, today we decided to be completist. Reiko Oshida and Keiko Fuji are still the main graphic elements, but some of the other bits have been rearranged. You can see the first piece, and also read about the movie, at this link.
JapanToei CompanyZubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hirakuTokyo Bad GirlsDelinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night DreamsReiko OshidaKeiko FujiMasumi TachibanaYukie Kagawapinky violencepinkuposter artcinema
| Femmes Fatales | Sep 1 2021 |
Whew! That's better. I was sweating like a Texas fry cook in this outfit.
Above is a fun photo of Japanese actress Yûko Iruka suddenly realizing the shortcomings of wearing leather during summer. We last saw her headlining the 1977 girl gang movie Jigoku no tenshi: Akai bakuon, aka Hells Angels: Crimson Roar, and we were thinking we'd check her out in another flick, but it looks like she made only the one. Considering the crazy things actresses were asked to do in Japanese genre films, she may have gotten off easy. We have no date on this image, but we figure it's from around the same time as her movie.
| Intl. Notebook | Sep 1 2021 |
Monroe counts the days for Japanese film fans.
Above is a September/October calendar page printed by the Japanese film magazine Eiga no tomo, or “friend of movies.” And who is that ushering summer out and autumn in but Marilyn Monroe? As you've surely noticed by now, Monroe was a huge star in Japan. This is just one of many unique items we've located, along with this, this, this, and others. Though the calendar is for 1954, the photo dates from 1951, and a dandy one it is.
| Femmes Fatales | Aug 28 2021 |
All will be revealed in the end.
In complete contrast to the above photo of a couple of dead guys, here's something life affirming—a photo of Japanese actress Masumi Jun in nothing but a shirt. It was made for her 1974 roman porno movie Gendai shöfu-kö: no shita no uzuki, aka Modern Prostitution: Lust Under a Uniform, and now we see a bit of what's under the uniform. This is the same image as on the cover of the DVD release, but without text and other distractions. The original poster also features Jun in nothing but a shirt. You can see that here.
JapanGendai shöfu-kö: no shita no uzukiModern Prostitution: Lust Under a UniformMasumi Junroman pornopinkunudity
| Vintage Pulp | Aug 20 2021 |
There's nothing like a walk in the woods to put you in touch with yourself.
Back in 2015 we shared several posters for a movie called Tokyo Chatterly fujin, made in Japan and later released in English as Lady Chatterley in Tokyo. Above is the original Japanese poster featuring Izumi Shima getting turned on in the woods. It's an extremely interesting film, inspired by D.H. Lawrence obviously, and dealing with the sexual frustrations and peccadilloes of a beautiful one percenter who can't keep her mitts off the gardener. Or maybe he can't keep his mitts off her. We forget. But we remember we liked it. Of course, we'll watch Shima in anything, so perhaps we're not objective. The movie premiered in Japan today in 1977, and you can read more about it here.
JapanNikkatsuTokyo Chatterly fujinLady Chatterley in TokyoIzumi ShimaD.H. Lawrenceposter artcinemasexploitationroman pornopinkunudity
| Vintage Pulp | Aug 18 2021 |
Sometimes just staying afloat takes everything you've got.
Every once in a while Nikkatsu Studios surprises us with a restrained and serious movie, and Jûhassai umi e, for which you see a poster above, falls into that category. In English it was called Eighteen Years to the Sea, and the long and winding plot starts when top science student Aiko Morishita sees fellow student Kaoru Kobayashi win a game of death against the leader of a motorcycle gang. The game is to see who can wade into the ocean farthest weighed down by rocks and not drown. Aiko gets all hot and crazy watching this macho contest, and later tries the same game with her friend Toshiyuki Nagashima. They only look like they're trying to commit suicide.
The weirdness is just beginning. When a student at Aiko's school jumps to his death from a building, she's not horrified, but fascinated. Aiko and Toshiyuki decide to play another game of death, this time with pills, each taking one at a time, not planning to die, but risking overdoses in the pursuit of... we're not sure. Call it the search for some sort of nebulous existential revelation. In any case, they do overdose, but both survive. Those around Aiko come to understand that she has a screw loose. Meanwhile Kaoru, whose macho contest against the gang leader was the trigger for all that has happened, starts dating Aiko's sister.
We'll stop there with the plot description. Suffice it to say that, via the circuitous route director Toshiya Fujita takes to reach his destination, viewers are reminded that life can be hard—apparently even for gorgeous young college students. We don't mean to be glib. It's just that for uncounted millennia someone from both our mother's and father's branches of the ancestral tree had to survive cold, predators, disease, injury, poverty, human malice, and more, generation after generation, just to have their genes culminate in our existence. We would never risk casting all that hard work and luck aside seeking a fleeting insight. But that's just us.
Fujita, on the other hand, clearly thought he had something deep to say. The running time alone tells you that—Nikkatsu movies were often just over an hour long, but this one unspools for almost double that length, clocking in at an hour and fifty minutes. That's a lot of ennui. A lot of ennui. But Jûhassai umi e is good. Maybe even very good. It premiered in Japan today in 1979.
JapanNikkatsuJûhassai umi eEighteen Years to the SeaToshiyuki NagashimaAiko MorishitaKaoru KobayashiYoshie ShimamuraToshiya Fujitaposter artcinemamovie review
| Vintage Pulp | Aug 15 2021 |
No calm in the eye of this storm.
First of all, we're going to send an e-mail to the World Meteorological Organization lobbying for a hurricane to be named Hitomi. It's gotta happen. But about this poster art, we discussed Hitomi Kozue's roman porno actioner Nikutai hanzai kaigan: Piranha no mure, aka Sex-Crime Coast: School of Piranha a few years ago. Basically, four delinquents who call themselves the Piranhas go on a spree of crime and mayhem around Sagami Bay. The above promo is similar to the regular poster, but because it's monochrome and has some different text elements we thought it worth sharing. Plus we're completist when it comes to Kozue—anything she's in or on, we're all about.
JapanNikkatsuNikutai hanzai kaigan: Piranha no mureSex-Crime Coast: School of PiranhaHitomi KozueMasumi JunRikiya Danposter artroman pornopinkucinema
