| Modern Pulp | May 20 2020 |
Always put your best foot forward.
It's been a while, so here's another Japanese poster for an American x-rated movie. We have many of these and really should share more. Consider that a pledge. This one was made to promote A Scent of Heather, starring Veronica Hart. We shared a different poster for this film a while back, but this one is for the foot fetishists out there. We took a glance at the movie when we made that previous post, and we can attest that Hart's allure extends beyond her feet. A Scent of Heather opened in the U.S. in 1980, but reached Japan considerably later, today in 1983. Below is promo shot of Hart for the non-foot fetishists out there, and you can see that previous poster we mentioned here. We'll see more from her later.
| Vintage Pulp | May 5 2020 |
The most important entrance requirements are proper positioning and good lubrication.
Roman porno filmmakers used every possible Japanese social niche and professional realm for sexploitation fodder, so there's no chance they would overlook a milieu as ripe as higher education. Above are two pretty posters for Joshidaisei: sex hōteishiki, aka College Girls: Sex Equation, with roman porno goddesses Mari Tanaka and Hitomi Kozue. It premiered in Japan today in 1973. Basically, they're attending university but decide to do some nude modeling as a side hustle and things go weird in that roman porno sort of way. We looked around for a copy of it with no success, so we'll have to hope we see it later.
Want some bonus images? Alrightee, we are always happy to comply. Below you see Tanaka reacting with embarrassment after getting busted raiding the fridge when she's supposed to studying for her poli-sci exam. Meanwhile Kozue's study session has been so intense she doesn't even have the strength to make it to the kitchen. This is more or less how we've felt the last few weeks of this lockdown thing, but there's light at the end of the tunnel, or so we're being told. We shall see. Plenty more Tanaka and Kozue in the website. Just cllick their keywords below.
JapanNikkatsuJoshidaisei: sex hōteishikiCollege Girls: Sex EquationMari TanakaHitomi Kozueposter artpinkuroman pornocinemanudity
| Femmes Fatales | May 4 2020 |
The things we put ourselves through in the name of fashion.
What we've subjected ourselves to over the ages in order to be alluring is astounding. Bone corsets, Victorian wigs, thongs, bikini waxing, back waxing, ball waxing, nostril waxing (which we recently learned is a thing), stiletto heels, and the list goes on. Obviously, women have it far worse than men. We don't want to sound unduly incredulous, because we get that all the things we do to ourselves show how important the mating game is. If a fashion trend gets you that partner you seek for a night, a lifetime, or any time between, is there really any length that is too far? Still, though, from our generational perspective, the torpedo bra is among the strangest of all fashion items, and this shot of model Donna Reading shows how extreme the look could get. It comes from an issue of Daily Girl and dates from around 1970. Reading, who was also known as Donna Marlowe (sometimes Marlow), acted as well as modeled, and appeared in a dozen or so television series, including The Benny Hill Show and Monty Python's Flying Circus. The real circus act was wedging herself into this medieval device. We've expressed our wonder concerning this subject before, here and here. Meanwhile, below, Marlowe bans the bra.
| Vintage Pulp | May 2 2020 |
Katayama finds herself with too much skin in the game.
Above you see two posters for the Japanese movie Tokugawa irezumi-shi: Seme jigoku, which is known in English as Inferno of Torture, and, occasionally, Hell's Tattooers. We aren't going to get too deeply into the film. It's where Japanese cinema delves into bondage and tattoo fetish layered with gore, and deals with two Edo-era master tattooists who play out a bitter rivalry on the skin of Yumiko Katayama, as well as other unfortunates. If you can tolerate the frontloaded blood and torture, the latter two thirds of the movie may be worth watching for the tattoos, which verge on magical rather than merely ornate. The set design and Teruo Ishii's direction are good too. The tateken sized promo at top is rare, if not even nonexistent online until this very moment, so we thought we'd share it. Tokugawa irezumi-shi: Seme jigoku premiered in Japan today in 1969. Below you see Katayama in a nice pose, untattooed.
JapanToei CompanyTokugawa irezumi-shi: Seme jigokuInferno of TortureHell's TattooersTeruo YoshidaMasumi TachibanaYumiko KatayamaTeruo Ishiiiposter artcinemasexploitationnudity
| Femmes Fatales | May 1 2020 |
For perfect composition start with the basics.
This artful photo shows U.S. actress Paula Kelly, who appeared in such classic films as The Andromeda Strain, Soylent Green, and the blaxploitation comedy Uptown Saturday Night. She was also a dancer and choreographer, which probably helped her nail this pose and make the photographer look brilliant. She just died a couple of months ago at age seventy-seven, an event we totally missed, but we're glad we found this timeless image.
| Vintage Pulp | Apr 28 2020 |
Bad guys turn island of delights into gangster's paradise.
L'ultima isola del piacere is the Italian title of a West German flick originally made as Die Insel der tausend Freuden, and known in English as Island of 1000 Delights and Triangle of Venus. Filmed in Mauritius, this is a disjointed sexploitation thriller about a tennis pro who squanders his fortune due to bad gambling habits, which culminates in him losing his wife in a poker game against an evil casino owner who is also a—wait for it—white slaver. You may ask yourself why the wife agreed to be wagered. The answer is she sort of hates her husband. Hubby has a mistress, so he isn't too broken up about the outcome of the bet either. Unfortunately, his sidepiece is a greedy sort who convinces him that murdering his own aunt for her fortune might be a good idea. Meanwhile Olivia Pascal plays a private investigator working for the aunt and charged with investigating the casino owner's trafficking ring. The two plot threads weave together shabbily at best, with the murder plot taking an unexpected turn.
We watched this flick solely for the beautiful Pascal, but we have good news for our female readers: although these ’70s sexploitation movies usually have male stars of dubious physical grooming and charms, this time the male lead is Philippe Garnier, and we're pretty sure you'll like him. Unfortunately, he plays a total asshole, plus in order to see him—or Pascal for that matter—you'll have to wade through bad editing, terrible acting, a mean-spirited script, several scenes of torture, and, worst of all, an almost continuous Euro disco soundtrack. We certainly can't recommend this one, but we do like the poster. The production photos, few of which hint at the ugly subtext of the film, are interesting too. Maybe just look at those and call it a day. Die Insel der tausend Freuden premiered in West Germany today in 1978, and reached Italy at an indeterminate date sometime thereafter.
West GermanyItalyMauritiusDie Insel der tausend FreudenL'ultima isola del piacereThe Triangle of VenusIsland of 1000 DelightsOlivia PascalPhilippe GarnierElisa ServierMarine MervilBea FiedlerArthur Braussposter artcinemasexploitationnuditymovie review
| Vintage Pulp | Apr 18 2020 |
Emanuelle goes after the wildest game of all.
Above is a French promo for the sexploitation romp Black Emanuelle en Afrique, which was originally released in Italy as Emanuelle nera, and in the English peaking world as Black Emanuelle. After opening in Italy in late 1975 it had its French premiere today in 1976. The promo art is more a photo-illustration than painting, but it's attributed to P. Marty, a minor French creator of promo art during the 1970s. We already wrote about Black Emanuelle en Afrique a few years ago, and let's just say Gemser goes to the developing world and serves as a one woman stimulus package. Want to know more? You can read a bit about the movie and see some eye-catching promo photos at that post.
FranceBlack EmanuelleBlack Emanuelle en AfriqueEmanuelle neraLaura GemserKarin SchubertP. Martyposter artcinemasexploitationnudity
| Vintage Pulp | Apr 15 2020 |
She gets into these situations so you don't have to.
This poster is an addendum to our earlier write-up on this film, Osoe!, a hit roman porno from Nikkatsu Studios starring Erina Miyai, who spent her entire career getting into pickles like this one. This is basically the original promo poster, reversed and with all the text removed except the title. It was unusual for title-only art like this to be produced, which is why when we found it we thought we'd better share. We also share some thoughts on the film. Just look here. Osoe! premiered in Japan today in 1978.
| Vintage Pulp | Mar 26 2020 |
Caroselli chooses wisely for Italian book cover.
Inspiration is everything. Always draw from the best. Italian artist Benedetto Caroselli used a photo of svelte Austrian model Susan Denberg, aka Dietlinde Zechner, for this cover of Sonnie Hale's La donna bianca. That would translate as “the white woman,” but we think of her as the right woman. So did Playboy magazine, which made her its August 1966 Playmate of the Month. We doubt Denberg ever knew she was on this paperback, but we imagine she'd have been pleased with the result. It appeared in 1967 from Grandi Edizioni Internazionali as part of their I Romanzi Diabolici series. See plenty more from Caroselli, including other pieces he painted for this particular book series, by clicking his keywords just below.
ItalyAustriaGrandi Edizioni InternazionaliPlayboySonnie HaleBenedetto CaroselliSusan DenbergDietlinde Zechnercover artliteraturenudity
| Femmes Fatales | Mar 23 2020 |
If heaven were like this it would get crowded mighty fast.
We don't believe in angels, but if we did this is pretty much what we'd want them to look like. This photo shows heavenly adult film actress Shauna Grant, who, like several other ’70s and ’80s adult film actresses, we've featured before. One reason we do it is because we see a line that extends from pulp all the way into porn via the former's focus on sex. Though authors were not generally able to write explicitly about it at the time, sexual gratification was the prime motivator for many pulp characters. You also see it where pulp intersects film noir, but serious legal risk prevented filmmakers of the ’40s and ’50s from exploring the themes deeply. The pulp influenced literature of the ’50s, and the films of the ’60s pushed the envelope more, but were still constrained by censors.
Around the time Grant was making her debut in porn in 1982, directors en masse were beginning to rework pulp and film classics into thrillers with sex centrally placed. 1981's Body Heat and The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1982's I, the Jury and Cat People, 1984's Against All Odds, and 1987's No Way Out, are just a few examples. The trend continued through 1990's The Grifters, 1994's The Getaway, and beyond, with all these films making clear what was only hinted in source material dating back to the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s—guys will go to almost any length for sex. For real world proof of that, scroll down to yesterday's Barcelona orgy story.
But usually it isn't just sex that gets fictional males in trouble—it's amazing sex. If it were just vanilla sex they wouldn't lie, cheat, steal, and murder. No, it's sex that blew their fuses. So that thread weaves neatly into porn, because porn was designed to implant concepts of sex that average people had never experienced—even if the experiences shown were not reality, but something more like performance art. Grant was one of the art's most popular practitioners. And she fits with our ideas about pulp for another reason too—she's freighted with pulp-like tragedy due to dying early via suicide today in 1984, two days after shooting herself in the head. We have a couple of other Grant items that might interest you, here and here.
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