| Vintage Pulp | Nov 12 2019 |
They don't have much in the way of maternal instinct but they make up for it with eagerness to please.
In the nudie flick The Muthers, which opened this month in 1968, two groups of people located somewhere in Southern California between No Budget and No Inhibitions spend an inordinate amount of time putting the ’60s ethos of free love to the test. You have the teens, who party and get laid, and the mothers, who do the same, but with more skill. The movie is just a lighthearted little softcore romp, quaint by today's standards, but notable for the fun attitude it brings to the proceedings. The plot, such as it is, eventually coalesces around one teen's feelings of neglect and tendency toward self-destruction, and the title derives from the fact that for some reason she can't spell “mother” properly.
But don't let our suggestion that there's a plot scare you—this flick is just one long sex scene after another. None of it is explicit, or even frontal for that matter. Mainly the performers just grind and wiggle. But it's still pretty stimulating because one of the moms is Virginia Gordon. For those unfamiliar, Gordon was an in-demand nude model, who, like a fine reposado tequila, just got more golden and more potent as time went by. She's in her thirty-second year in this film, and her body makes every other performer, including those twelve years younger than her, look like walking cookie dough. Safe to say your muther—or mother, even—never looked like that.
I know—you can't take your eyes off them, can you?
Grinding is how I keep my muscle tone. Three-hundred fifty reps to go.
The MuthersMarsha JordanKathy WilliamsVirginia Gordonposter artcinemanuditysexploitationmovie review
| Vintage Pulp | Nov 6 2019 |
Unforgettable, that's what you are...
The most beautiful Technicolor lithograph model in history is back. This shot, entitled “Fan Fare,” is from 1952 and features an unidentified woman posing with a fan and lace gloves. The image was made during the same session as the previous litho—we know because the gloves are the same, the hair-do is close to identical, and the little choker and earrings are the same. What did change is the color of the background, from blue to red, but that could be a case of pre-press wizardry. We've seen it before. We'd love to know who this unforgettable model is, but that probably isn't in the cards. Oh well. It's nice to have seen her again. Definitely check out the earlier litho here.
| Femmes Fatales | Nov 5 2019 |
Don't let my title fool you. I'm not here to play and I'm definitely not about to mate with you.
This rare shot shows Playboy Playmate of the Year and actress Claudia Jennings in danger mode, a facet of herself she showed quite often in her various gun toting roles in b-movies, including Deathsport, The Great Texas Dynamite Chase, and 'Gator Bait. This is from 1969.
| Sex Files | Nov 1 2019 |
Like the saying goes, if it feels good just do it.
Berlin based Goliath Books has developed a specialization in art volumes exploring the sexual practices and quirks of the past. Previous Goliath releases have focused on the Marquis de Sade and the underground porn of the Third Reich, among other subjects. Now the company has published a new collection authored by Richard Battenberg entitled A Visual History of Lovemaking Toys, with photos and illustrations proving that ingenious folk have been using sex devices to spice up their private lives for a very long time. Two-hundred and forty images, mostly vintage but also recent, show various uninhibited pleasure seekers using dildos, strap-ons, candles and more.
The images are shocking, funny, educational, and sometimes just plain weird, but more than anything else the five hundred plus years of erotic history examined serve as a reminder that time goes by, societies evolve, and nations rise and fall, but people don't really change much when it comes to their bodily needs. These days up to half of Brits and possibly two thirds of Americans own sex aids. It really gives the term Toys R Us a whole new meaning. We have a few scans from inside the book below, and needless to say, you should probably make sure nobody is looking over your shoulder when you view them. You can find more info about this and other items at Goliath Books.
The images are shocking, funny, educational, and sometimes just plain weird, but more than anything else the five hundred plus years of erotic history examined serve as a reminder that time goes by, societies evolve, and nations rise and fall, but people don't really change much when it comes to their bodily needs. These days up to half of Brits and possibly two thirds of Americans own sex aids. It really gives the term Toys R Us a whole new meaning. We have a few scans from inside the book below, and needless to say, you should probably make sure nobody is looking over your shoulder when you view them. You can find more info about this and other items at Goliath Books.
A Visual History of Lovemaking Toys ISBN: 978-3-948450-07-6 €29.99
| Femmes Fatales | Oct 24 2019 |
Feeling sleepy? Here's a little eye opener for you.
This photo came from a 1974 issue of the Italian edition of Playboy. It had a header in a cool custom font and a blurb below that, but we cleaned those off the image so you could focus on its star—the unusually lovely Brazilian model and actress Zula, who was aka Vera Lucia, and was born Vera de Oliveira. The text we wiped suggested Zula would be the next Zeudi Araya, but it never quite happened. Even so, the careers of the two Z's were similar. Both were afro-immigrants who played exotic fruit in Italo b-movies. Many women were tapped for roles of that type, regardless of ethnicity, because the 1970s were the heyday of gratuitous everything in Italian cinema. A few flicks transcended their genres to become well regarded, but unfortunately neither Zula nor Zeudi were in any of them. Zula transcended the hell out of photography in this shot, though, didn't she? She also rocked Alain Delon's world for a while, and if you've seen the young version of him, that's no surprise at all. For a look at the other Z check here.
| Femmes Fatales | Oct 10 2019 |
One of her friends should have intervened before things went this far.
This photo shows Japanese CM model Kenī Sari, who has almost everything she needs for the beach—an umbrella, a copy of Elle magazine, sunscreen probably, maybe a bottle of water. But somehow she's forgotten half of her swimsuit and—wouldn't you now it?—nobody has told her. Luckily it's always summer here at Pulp Intl. This great photo was published in the magazine Weekly Playboy in 1978.
| Modern Pulp | Oct 9 2019 |
The more you Zoom the weirder everything looks.
Above is a poster for Zûmu appu: Bôkô hakusho, aka Zoom Up: Sexual Crime Report, the fourth film in the Zoom Up series. This installment starred Yuki Kazamatsuri and Rie Hirase, and premiered in Japan today in 1981. Where do we start with this? Kazamatsuri plays a disc jockey married to a powerful businessman. One night on her way to the radio station she's raped by a gang of creeps on motorcycles, and it turns out this was not a random attack. That's already a spoiler, so we'll stop there.
As always, we try to remember that Nikkatsu Studios was in the business of making money. The directors and screenwriters had a lot of artistic freedom, and occasionally tried to embed social commentary and deep metaphor in these films. But you know how it goes with metaphor—if you suspect it's there you'll look for it until you strain your brain. Broadly speaking, roman porno avoids the feminist patriarchy smashing of pinky violence films, usually denying women any sort of cathartic retribution. We stress usually. Even in this retrograde genre women sometimes get the opportunity to make men eat cold steel, or hot lead, as the case may be. Which path does Zûmu appu: Bôkô hakusho take? We ain't saying.
If you look around the internet the very few reviews of roman porno films you find are by males, usually in Japanese. We sometimes add to the all-male chorus, but just as often we keep our write-ups vague, focusing mainly on the poster art. We hope one day there'll be a more diverse online analysis of these, particularly of two types: in English from Japanese viewers who can provide social context we can't; and from women. The latter you might expect us to get from PI-1 and PI-2 (did we mention they're out of town?), but they refuse to watch these. Maybe, truly, that's the most incisive analysis of all.
Wait, so this is all a cinematic metaphor?
Ahh, a wonderful, relaxing metaphor for womblike security.
Oh no! A terrible, disturbing metaphor for survival in a hostile world!
Lalalala... slurp.... gurgle... metaphor.... lalalalalala...
Shhh... trust me. This is a metaphor you're really going to enjoy.
Maybe these metaphors will be clearer without my glasses.
JapanNikkatsuZûmu appu: Bôkô hakushoZoom Up: Sexual Crime ReportYuki KazamatsuriRie Hiraseposter artcinemapinkusexploitationroman pornonuditymovie review
| Vintage Pulp | Oct 6 2019 |
No wonder divorce rates are sky high.
Did we mention that the Pulp Intl. girlfriends are out of town? No? Well, they are, so it's time to screen the craziest shit vintage cinema has to offer—’70s roman porno. We don't truly understand the films, but we try. What we do understand is that on some level the previous decades' restraint in Japanese cinema was being challenged by filmmakers given almost total artistic control, as long as the films had four sex scenes per hour. So what you get is a lot of daring explorations of previously untouchable themes, and a lot of visual artistry designed to titillate without violating censorship restrictions. Japan's oldest studio, Nikkatsu, made these films, and many were hits with both audiences and critics (who we suspect in both cases were preponderantly male).
The above poster was made to promote Dan Oniroku hanayome ningyo, aka Bridal Doll, which is based on the writings of acclaimed author Oniroku Dan, and stars Asako Kurayoshi in her cinematic debut as a woman who's sold to a man as a bdsm sex slave. It's pretty twisted. Not only does he dress her as a bride, but he has a glass walled bathroom so he can watch her do her business, and at one point literally has her shackled to a ball and chain. But his idyllic set-up goes awry when a neighbor learns what's going on and decides to save Asako. He does this by kidnapping the sadist's wife, who's played by the luminous Izumi Shima, putting her through similar ordeals, then proposing a swap.
Does this swap go as planned? Well, we won't tell you that. We will, however, remind you that there are three true outcomes in roman porno: irony, tragedy, and ambiguity. Nobody ever gets out happy. At least not often. They're always transformed by their ordeals, one way or another. As always, not being Japanese and lacking the lifetime of cultural knowledge that would bring, we know there's more going on here than we can discern. But we still can't recommend this one as anything other than Shima eye candy. And you get that by looking below. So maybe save the seventy-one minutes for a walk in the sunshine. Dan Oniroku hanayome ningyo premiered in Japan today in 1979.
Does this swap go as planned? Well, we won't tell you that. We will, however, remind you that there are three true outcomes in roman porno: irony, tragedy, and ambiguity. Nobody ever gets out happy. At least not often. They're always transformed by their ordeals, one way or another. As always, not being Japanese and lacking the lifetime of cultural knowledge that would bring, we know there's more going on here than we can discern. But we still can't recommend this one as anything other than Shima eye candy. And you get that by looking below. So maybe save the seventy-one minutes for a walk in the sunshine. Dan Oniroku hanayome ningyo premiered in Japan today in 1979.
JapanNikkatsuDan Oniroku hanayome ningyo団鬼六 花嫁人形Bridal DollAsako Kurayoshi倉吉朝子Izumi Shimaposter artcinemapinkuroman pornosexploitationnuditybdsmmovie review
| Modern Pulp | Sep 29 2019 |
Junko Mabuko is unjustly detained yet again.
It's Junko Mabuki again, beset by her usual troubles on this poster for the roman porno flick Dan Oniroku joen fujin, which premiered in Japan today in 1980. This movie seems to have been retitled for its English language release either Blazing Bondage Lady or Madam Rope Flame. Different sites say it's one or the other, but both titles kind of mean the same thing, so both are probably correct.
How does Junko get caged? It's her husband's fault. He accidentally runs over a woman who's a star S&M performer and her widower shows up to claim Junko as his own (and as a bonus also kidnaps her sister, played by the ethereal Izumi Shima). Junko's captor introduces her to aspects of bdsm such as whipping and enemas (always a favorite of roman porno flicks), and her shame and resistance eventually turn to acceptance and pleasure.
Mabuki burst onto the roman porno scene in 1979 and in 1980 made a dozen films. Nikkatsu thought they had another Naomi Tani on their hands and even staged a press conference at which they introduced Mabuki to the assembled journalists while she was done up in bondage gear. These types of publicity stunts weren't unusual for Nikkatsu. They had barely enough time to congratulate themselves for finding a new star when in 1982 Junko abruptly retired.
Mabuki burst onto the roman porno scene in 1979 and in 1980 made a dozen films. Nikkatsu thought they had another Naomi Tani on their hands and even staged a press conference at which they introduced Mabuki to the assembled journalists while she was done up in bondage gear. These types of publicity stunts weren't unusual for Nikkatsu. They had barely enough time to congratulate themselves for finding a new star when in 1982 Junko abruptly retired.
But Mabuki left behind more than a dozen films and established herself as one of the era's most popular stars. Even so, we rarely recommend these movies and can't recommend this one either, but we love roman porno posters, which taken out of context are always amazing art pieces. Junko is like art too, below. Rest assured, this is not the last we'll see of her.
JapanNikkatsuDan Oniroku joen fujin団鬼六 縄炎夫人Junko MabukiIzumi ShimaOniroku Danposter artcinemapinkuroman pornobdsmnuditymovie review
| Femmes Fatales | Sep 26 2019 |
Some people know exactly what they want to do in life. Others need to just feel their way.
Martinique born Sylvette Cabrisseau isn't well known today, but those who remember her will recall that she burst into the public sphere at age twenty as the first black presenter ever hired by the French television network Deuxième chaîne. The event, which occurred in 1969, was not celebrated in all quarters, which resulted in her receiving threats from the usual coterie of knuckle draggers. She later lost her television gig due to modeling
for the above photo (and others).
for the above photo (and others).Nevertheless she was undaunted in her ambitions, and subsequently moved into music, releasing two records, one of them the quirky folk song “Ki Koi Kou.” Next she jumped into cinema with the films Le mariage à la mode and Juliette et Juliette.
Her fifth career choice—and this is the truly interesting part for us as pulp fans—was to write and publish detective novels. As you can see, her image was used to sell the books, which gives you an idea how famous she was at the time.
Her fifth career choice—and this is the truly interesting part for us as pulp fans—was to write and publish detective novels. As you can see, her image was used to sell the books, which gives you an idea how famous she was at the time.
We'd love to acquire these, which we may at some point, since they're available and affordable. We have no info on how good they are, but she did get to publish three, so that may indicate something. After the final novel she moved on to mundane pursuits, but she left behind some nice photos, including the example above, which is from 1970 and appeared in the French men's magazine Adam.
MartiniqueFranceAdam FrancePresses de la CitéLe mariage à la modeJuliette et JulietteSylvette Cabrisseaucinemaliteraturecover artnudity
