Showa Pink Cinema

A colleague has pointed out that a book called Showa Pink Cinema (昭和桃色映画館) was published last year. Actress Katori Tamaki (see previous post) was interviewed for the book and it covers other actresses as well as former pink actors and directors.

The book's author is Suzuki Yoshiaki.

This is, of course, only in Japanese and it's unlikely we'll ever see a translation, mainly due to the esoteric subject matter.

Most of these little treasures, as you may be aware, are not shipped outside Japan but here are a couple of links anyway just for the heck of it.

Amazon
Shahyo

Okura Mitsugu and the First Pink Film

A scene from Flesh Market, 1962

I mentioned in my previous post that a film called Flesh Market (肉体の市場 Nikutai no Ichiba) is considered to be the very first pink film. It premiered in 1962 and was written and directed by Kobayashi Satoru (小林悟 1930-2001). The Wikipedia entry on Okura Films (大蔵映画, aka OP Eiga) says Flesh Market was released by this company. More on Okura in a bit.

Exciting Audiences in Japan, HK and the World

Blood Ritual

I'm not sure how things are now but when it came to sexy, salacious cinema, Hong Kong filmmakers were right up there. Like Blood Ritual with one of the best opening scenes ever. Killer Snakes and Bamboo House of Dolls also come to mind.