This Just In: Scene from the First Flower and Snake Film

Scene from the first ever Flower and Snake film

I have just received the above photo, a still from the first Flower and Snake film ever made. The photo is from the 10th issue of Seijin Eiga magazine, dated October 1965. The film came out in Japan, according to Japan Movie Database, in September of the same year.

The lady in the photo, and the star of the film, is Murasaki Chizuru. A check with JMDb (J) reveals only four movies to her credit. According to this source, she made her first film in 1954 and Flower and Snake was her last one. Whether or not this is a complete filmography, I don't know.

I can't tell if Yamabe Nobuo was the producer. The distributor is shown as Tokyo Planning (Tokyo Kikaku). Dan Oniroku, the author of Flower and Snake which first began running in installments in Kitan Club magazine in 1962, is listed as the bondage master.

The director was Kobayashi Satoru, famous for directing Japan's first pink film, and the assistant director was none other than Wakamatsu Koji. Also, Tako Hachiro, former Japan national boxing champion, comedian and Oni Pro member, appeared in the film. I wrote a bit about Tako Hachiro in my interview with Sugiura Norio on my old blog. It's still out there somewhere.

Kitan Club covered first Flower and Snake film in August 1965

While Seijin Eiga magazine is a wonderful resource (and fans keep bidding up the price of old issues -- I recently saw one going for over 500 bucks US), Kitan Club magazine, which was dedicated exclusively to SM topics, really has the goods when it comes to the first Flower and Snake film, as you can see here. There are four or five pages of coverage with additional photos.

Still no sign of a theatrical poster for the first of this amazing run of films.

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Two Long-Forgotten Pink Films from 1967

Onna no Seidan -- Yamabe Pro, 1967

Right up there with SMpedia and Nawapedia is Eigapedia for information on long-forgotten early pink films.

I came across two such films there recently. The one above, Onna no Seidan, was one of many produced by Yamabe Pro (J). It came out in 1967, the same year Tani Naomi appeared in her first film.

Not long after her debut, Tani began appearing in SM pink flicks and she eventually teamed up with Yamabe Nobuo both personally and professionally as Yamabe became Tani's husband and manager. That union didn't last and he went on to marry Azuma Terumi, a model and actress who co-starred with Tani in Wife to Be Sacrificed.

Azuma Terumi

The other film is Akai Niku (Red Flesh). This one came out on August 20, 1967 and was written by Dan Oniroku. Dan had written other screenplays prior to this under different pen names. This film was also produced by Yamabe Pro and it was distributed by Okura.

Red Flesh -- Yamabe Pro, 1967

For more information on these and many other Japanese films, check out Eigapedia. 

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WiP Flicks Few and Far Between

Scene from The Jail: A Women's Hell

Next to SM pink flicks, we really like WiP (women-in-prison) films around here. I thought they had completely gone out of style, but then I came across this one from 2006 called The Jail: A Women' s Hell.

It was directed by Bruno Mattei, an Italian filmmaker with a history of sex and violence schlock going back to 1970. Mattei passed away in 2007, aged 75. I'm not sure I've seen any of his other films but there are certainly a lot of them if you check that IMDb link.

Tani Naomi and Yamamoto Shinya

Cruel History of Women's Torture, Shintoho, 1976

I feel pretty silly but, until now, I hadn't realized that the highly motivated adult film director of the 1960s and '70s, Yamamoto Shinya, was the same guy I used to watch on Japanese TV years ago.

I don't own a TV these days, and haven't for many years, but I used to see Yamamoto on risque, late-night TV programs all the time and probably wondered more than once who the little fellow with the sunglasses and mustache was.

Here's a photo in case you're as clueless as I was. Man, this guy's a legend.

Nomoto Miho and Nagaike Takeshi

Back in 1995, a company called Kaioh published a bondage photo book featuring nude model and actress Nomoto Miho. The book's title was Rope -- Miho Nomoto Photo Album. It appears the book is now out of print and available only secondhand.

The cameraman was Garo Aida, a very experienced and prolific photographer of the naked female body.

Nomoto was born too late (1974) to have been involved in the pink movie business. It looks like she first came on the scene around the same year her book came out. And while her photos were most certainly shot on film, I'm not sure the same can be said for many of her movies. Video had already gotten a firm death grip on the industry by then.

The Naked Seven 40 Years On

I wasn't quite old enough to see Sengoku Rokku Nayate no Onnatachi (aka The Naked Seven) when it first came out towards the end of 1972.  They weren't much on checking IDs back in those days but it wouldn't have mattered because the film didn't make it to arthouse theaters in the US until later.

Sengoku Rokku Nayate no Onnatachi, Nikkatsu, 1972

I can't remember the year I saw it but I think I read somewhere that it arrived on US shores maybe around 1974 (don't quote me on that). I know where I was living at the time but I don't remember the name of the theater. I just know that I saw the ad in the paper and figured that, since this was a Japanese adult flick, it just might have some bondage in it.

I was right, but just barely.

Wakamatsu Koji, RIP

Pink film producer and director, Wakamatsu Koji, died in a Tokyo hospital on Wednesday, Oct. 17 after having been struck by a taxi five days before. He was 76.

Wakamatsu began his work in film in 1963 with Nikkatsu but later went independent, producing and directing his own low-budget films that often mixed sex, violence and politics.

Wakamatsu's filmography is a long one; he directed over 100 films, among them such titles as 100 Years of Torture, A History (1975), Japanese Torture (1978) and Women's Torture Violence (1978).

Women's Torture Violence, 1978, Shintoho

Filming 100 Years of Torture

Wakamatsu had just received the Filmmaker of the Year award at the Busan International Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter recently conducted an interview with Wakamatsu, possibly his last interview prior to his death.

Wakamatsu Koji: 1936-2012.

Natsuki Yoko Is a Beautiful Target

 I first came across Natsuki Yoko in the 1995 Toei/V-Cinema film XX Beautiful Target (Utsukushiki Hyoteki), one of the best non-SM SM films I think I have ever seen.

Natsuki plays a coroner or a forensic pathologist (or whatever it's called) who is out to capture a deranged, sadistic murderer since the fellow seems to have taken a personal interest in her and the police haven't been successful in rounding him up.

A Man Walks into a Bar, Two Legends Emerge

There's a neat little interview with director Suzuki Norifumi (who apparently has also been credited as Noribumi) on YouTube and it has English subtitles.

Norifumi, according to Wikipedia, is either 78 or 79 years old at the time of this writing. He spent most of his career at Toei and directed a series of popular sukeban (delinquent girl/girl boss) films which starred such actresses as Ike Reiko and Sugimoto Miki.

Will the First SM Pink Film Please Stand Up?

I don't wish to cause any confusion, but I was doing a little research into director Mukai Kan (aka Mukai Hiroshi and even Patrick Kan) and apparently it has been alleged that Mukai's 1967 film, Sexy Partners, was the first pink film to have SM as "its primary theme".

This was found on Wikipedia and the article was quoting the book published by Thomas and Yuko Weisser, Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films.

Another Okura Film, Spies and Chastity

This film, Spies and Chastity (Supai to Teisho), was produced by Okura Mitsugu and distributed by Shintoho in 1960. It was directed by Yamada Tatsuo. The principal actresses appear to have been Masayo Mari and Shuntaro Emi.

Onna-ro Hizu More Show than Go

Here's one you don't hear much about -- and for good reason. In the West it goes by the name Decapitation Island or Island of Horrors. In Japan it's called Onna-ro Hizu. The titles and cover pic are certainly alluring, but once you get past those, you're left with a feeling of buyer's remorse.

This film, you can't help but lament, could have rivaled Bamboo House of Dolls. Sadly, someone completely dropped the ball.

A Tale of Two SM Films

I came across a couple of additional photos while researching the film referenced in the previous post, History of Japanese Torture Punishment. I wasn't a hundred percent sure these photos were from that film (and I'm still not), but they look like good candidates so I thought I'd go ahead and run them here for your consideration.

Komori Kiyoshi and the First SM Film

The name of director Komori Kiyoshi has popped up here before. Recently, I was reminded of Komori, and the fact that he had been the director of what is considered to be Japan's first full-fledged SM film, as I was reading a forum that contained a discussion about said film, History of Japanese Torture Punishment.

One of the commenters on the forum had been doing some research into the status of this nearly 50-year-old film (it was released in 1964) and reported that at least one copy of the film does still exist!

Interesting TV Show from the Early '80s

I've been sitting on these photos for a long time because I had no clue where they'd come from.

Now I know.

Before Pink There Was Naughty B&W

The first pink film may not have come along until 1962, but before that they were making sexy fare, some of it depicting bondage, as early as 1959. Such is the case with a film called Bloody Sword of the 99th Virgin (or just The 99th Virgin for short -- 九十九本目の生娘). 

Hana Mai in SM Secret Novel Magazine

Remember this lady? Hana Mai, the tattooed temptress who suspended herself upside down in the 1983 Dan Oniroku/Nikkatsu film Hebi no Ana (Snake Pit).

Hana Mai in Hebi no Ana

I stumbled on some photos of her which had appeared in the magazine SM Secret Novel, also in 1983.

Hana Mai in SM Secret Novel, 1983

Five or six years after moving to Tokyo, she was appearing in print and on the big screen.

Hana Mai in the table of contents of SM Secret Novel

According to SMpedia, SM Secret Novel was first published by Sanwa in 1982 but then shifted to a new publisher, My Way, in 1999.

SM Secret Novel

Sanwa also began publishing SM Mania in 1982 and it appears this magazine continued publishing under My Way in 1999 as well.

SM Mania

I don't know if either of these magazines is still being published in physical form but the website is here.

I do know that Hana Mai is still going strong. Here she is in 2012 (scroll down).

Relevant link(s):
Manbou

Christina Lindberg in Japan

We trawl the internetz so you don't have to.

A friend recently visited Sweden so I suggested he hook up with actress Christina Lindberg who would be 61 years young now. Lindberg started out as a nude model around 1968 in her native Sweden and then transitioned to softcore sexploitation films.

Sex and Fury poster

Christina Lindberg with Ike Reiko

In 1973 she appeared in the film Sex and Fury alongside Ike Reiko. According to Wikipedia, she got this gig as a result of a publicity tour to Japan promoting a film she had made in Sweden called Exponerad which caused a stir at the Cannes Film Festival.

Meeting the press

Being interviewed by the press

When I get more time, I'll try to figure out just how many and what Japanese films Lindberg appeared in. Right now I'm only finding two -- thought she had appeared in more than that. Anyone know?

Sadly, my friend was too rushed during his trip to meet with Lindberg-san.

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.