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Teruo Ishii
was a Japanese film director best known in the West for his early films in the ''Super Giant'' series, and for his films in the ''ero guro'' ("erotic-grotesque") subgenre of sexploitation such as '' Shogun's Joy of Torture'' (1968). He also directed the 1965 film '' Abashiri Prison,'' which helped to make Ken Takakura a major star in Japan. Referred to in Japan as "The King of Cult", Ishii had a much more prolific and eclectic career than was generally known in the West during his lifetime. Early life Born in Tokyo's Asakusa neighborhood in 1924, Ishii developed a love of cinema early. His parents would often take him to see foreign films, particularly French movies. Ishii worked at Toho Studios as an assistant director beginning in 1942. His film career was interrupted when he was sent to Manchuria during World War II to take aerial photographs for bombing runs. Shintoho In March, 1947 Ishii joined the newly founded Shintoho studios. Ishii would later recall his time with Shi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring Prefectures of Japan, prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents . Lying at the head of Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the Kantō region, on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. It is Japan's economic center and the seat of the Government of Japan, Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyo's central Special wards of Tokyo, 23 special wards, which formerly made up Tokyo City; various commuter towns and suburbs in Western Tokyo, its western area; and two outlying island chains, the Tokyo Islands. Although most of the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shinichi Sekizawa
was a Japanese screenwriter noted for his immense contributions to several films by Ishirō Honda, including several classic Godzilla films. He also contributed material to the original ''Ultraman'' series and several Tōei Dōga films such as '' Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon'' and '' Jack and the Witch''. His first screenplay was for the independently produced film (though distributed by Shintoho Studios) ''Fearful Attack of the Flying Saucers'', which was also his sole directing credit. His scripts for kaiju films have been noted for their inventiveness and for having a more lightweight, "fun" tone than those written by Takeshi Kimura (aka Kaoru Mabuchi), another leading writer of kaiju films, whose scripts had a darker, more serious sensibility. Before embarking on his screenwriting career, he briefly attended an animation school with famed manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu'', – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wife To Be Sacrificed
(1974) is a Japanese soft-core pornographic S&M film starring Naomi Tani and directed by Masaru Konuma. The film was produced by Nikkatsu studios as part of their Roman Porno series. Background In 1971, with theatrical audiences lost to television, Nikkatsu, Japan's oldest major film studio, had entered the soft-core pornography genre, previously dominated by independent pink film studios, in an effort to avoid bankruptcy. This move had proven highly successful for the studio for three years, but 1974 had been another difficult year for the studio. For years, Nikkatsu had been trying to recruit the "Queen of Pink," Naomi Tani, into their ''Roman Porno'' series, but because Nikkatsu had been reluctant to enter the S&M genre, which was Tani's specialty, she had refused. When Nikkatsu finally consented to Tani's request to star her in a film based on Oniroku Dan's S&M novel ''Flower and Snake'', the film—'' Flower and Snake'' (1974), directed by Masaru Konuma—became one of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masaru Konuma
was a Japanese film director known for his '' Roman Porno'' films for Nikkatsu during the 1970s. Life and career Early life Masaru Konuma was born in Otaru, Hokkaidō, on December 30, 1937. Konuma retained no memories of his father who was a teacher. Drafted into the army after the outbreak of World War II in 1941, Konuma's father became ill with tuberculosis within a year of the start of his military service, and returned home where he died. After the war, Konuma's mother remarried, and Konuma, then 15, was sent away to live in Tokyo. Konuma recalled, "In those days, there was no TV. I had no idea about Tokyo. It was as distant to me as Africa or Alaska is to kids today. I didn't want to go. I cried."Konuma quoted in ''Sadistic and Masochistic'', Chapter 1, 7:20. As a way of dealing with his loneliness and homesickness at this time, Konuma began going to the cinema. He majored in film studies in the Art Department of Nihon University. Soon after graduation, in 1961, Konuma we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1975 In Film
The year 1975 in film involved some significant events. 20th Century-Fox will celebrate their 40th anniversary. Highest-grossing films North America The top ten 1975 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: *Because of its long theatrical lifespan, the figure for The Rocky Horror Picture Show is not 100% accurate. International The highest-grossing 1975 films in countries outside of North America. Worldwide gross The following table lists known worldwide gross figures for several high-grossing films that originally released in 1975. Note that this list is incomplete and is therefore not representative of the highest-grossing films worldwide in 1975. This list also includes gross revenue from later re-releases. Events *March 26: The film version of The Who's '' Tommy'' premieres in London. *May 26: In order to create the necessary special effects for his film, ''Star Wars'', George Lucas forms Industrial Light and Magic. *June 20: '' Jaws'' is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kōji Wakamatsu
was a Japanese film director who directed such pink films as and . He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film '' In the Realm of the Senses'' (1976). He has been called "the most important director to emerge in the pink film genre," and one of "Japan's leading directors of the 1960s". His 2010 film, ''Caterpillar'', was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. Early life Kōji Wakamatsu was born in Wakuya, Miyagi, Japan on 1 April 1936, from a poor family of rice farmers. Wakamatsu worked in several menial jobs, namely as a construction worker, before becoming a yakuza, as "a member of the Yasuma-gumi clan in the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo". After his criminal experience, he unsuccessfully enrolled in television before beginning his film career with Nikkatsu in 1963. Career Between 1963 and 1965, he directed 20 exploitation films for the studio, based on sensational topics of the day. He became interested in the Pink Film genre af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ero-guro
is an artistic genre that puts its focus on eroticism, sexual corruption, and decadence.Silverberg, Miriam Rom. "By Way of a Preface: Defining ''Erotic Grotesque Nonsense''". Galley copy of the preface for ''Erotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass Culture of Japanese Modern Times''. December 12, 2005. As a term, it is used to denote something that is both erotic and grotesque. The term itself is an example of , a Japanese combination of English words or abbreviated words: from ''erotic'' and from ''grotesque''. The "grotesqueness" implied in the term refers to things that are malformed, unnatural, or horrific. Items that are pornographic and bloody are not necessarily , and vice versa. The term is often mistaken by Western audiences to mean " gore" – depictions of horror, blood, and guts. History art experienced a boom when , a subculture characterized as a "prewar, bourgeois cultural phenomenon that devoted itself to explorations of the deviant, the bizarre, and the ridicul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horrors Of Malformed Men
is a 1969 Japanese horror film directed by Teruo Ishii, who also co-wrote the film. It is based on the novels and by Edogawa Rampo. Plot Hitomi Hirosuke (Teruo Yoshida), a medical student with almost no recollection of his past, is trapped in an asylum, despite being perfectly sane. After escaping, and being framed for the murder of a circus girl, he spots the photo of a recently deceased man, Genzaburo Komoda, to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. By pretending to have been resurrected, Hirosuke assumes the dead man's identity, fooling everyone, including Komoda's widow and mistress. Whilst at the Komoda household, Hirosuke recalls memories that convince him to travel to a nearby island, home of Jogoro, the web-fingered father of Genzaburo. Whilst on the island, Hirosuke not only discovers Jogoro's plans to build his 'ideal community' (by transforming perfectly normal humans into malformed people) but also the awful truth behind his own identity. Cast * Teruo Yoshida as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edogawa Rampo
, better known by the pen name , was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogoro Akechi, who in later books was the leader of a group of boy detectives known as the . Ranpo was an admirer of Western mystery writers, and especially of Edgar Allan Poe. His pen name is a rendering of Poe's name. Other authors who were special influences on him were Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whom he attempted to translate into Japanese during his days as a student at Waseda University, and the Japanese mystery writer Ruikō Kuroiwa. Biography Before World War II Tarō Hirai was born in Nabari, Mie Prefecture in 1894, where his grandfather had been a samurai in the service of Tsu Domain. His father was a merchant, who had also practiced law. The family moved to what is now Kameyama, Mie, and from there to Nagoya when he was age two. At the age of 17, he studied econom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toei Company
, simply known as Toei Company or Toei, is a Japanese entertainment company. Headquartered in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo, it is involved in film and television production, distribution, video game development, publishing, and ownership of 34 movie theaters. Toei also owns and operates studios in Tokyo and Kyoto and holds shares in several television companies. The company is renowned for its production of anime and live-action dramas known as ''tokusatsu'', which incorporate special visual effects. It is also known for producing period dramas. Toei is the majority shareholder of Toei Animation and is recognized for its franchises such as '' Kamen Rider'' and ''Super Sentai''. Toei is one of the four members of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (MPPAJ 日本映画製作者連盟), and is therefore one of Japan's Big Four film studios, alongside Kadokawa, Shochiku and Toho. History Toei is a pioneer in the use of "Henshin"/"character transformation" in live-acti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ginza
Ginza ( ; ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous internationally renowned department stores, boutiques, restaurants and coffeehouses located in its vicinity. It is considered to be one of the most expensive, elegant, and luxurious city districts in the world. Ginza was a part of the old Kyobashi ward of Tokyo City, which, together with Nihonbashi and Kanda, Tokyo, Kanda, formed the core of Shitamachi, the original downtown center of Edo (Tokyo). History Ginza was built upon a former swamp that was filled in during the 16th century. The name Ginza comes after the establishment of a silver-coin mint (coin), mint established there in 1612, during the Edo period. After a devastating fire in 1872 burned down most of the area, the Meiji government designated the Ginza are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film-noir
Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key lighting, low-key, black-and-white visual style that has roots in German expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and attitudes expressed in classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression, known as noir fiction. The term ''film noir'', French for "black film" (literal) or "dark film" (closer meaning), was first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, but was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era. Frank is believed to have been inspired by the French literary publishing imprint Série noire, founded in 1945. Cinema hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
