''Violated Paradise'', also known as ''Scintillating Sins'' and ''Sea Nymphs'', is a 1963 Italian

sexploitation film A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit se ...

directed and produced by

Marion Gering Marion Gering (June 9, 1901 in Rostov-on-Don – April 19, 1977 in New York City) was a Russian-born American stage producer and director. He moved to the United States in 1923 as an artist. He became involved in the theatrical community in Chic ...

and starring Kazuko Mine. Although film contains mild nudity, it is presented more as a cultural documentary than as exploitation.

Plot

A girl from a remote village in northern Japan travels to Tokyo in the hope of becoming a

geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha{{efn, {{IPAc-en, lang, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ., ʃ, ə, {{IPA, ja, ɡei.ɕa, ɡeː-, lang{{cite book, script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典, publisher=NHK Publishing, editor= ...

. On her way to the city, she sees a village where she is attracted towards a fisherman. There women work as pearl divers (''ama''s). When she reaches the city, she decides against being a geisha and works as a hotel maid instead. In the end, the fisherman reaches the city, marries her and takes her to the village, where she works as a pearl diver.

Cast

* Kazuko Mine as Tomako *

Paulette Girard Paulette may refer to: *Paulette (given name), a French feminine given name *DJ Paulette (born 1966), English house music DJ *Paulette (tax), a French tax instituted in 1604 *Paulette Caveat, a 1973 legal caveat filed by a group of Dene chiefs agai ...

as narrator (voice)

Production

produced and directed the picture. Fosco Maraini and Roy M. Yaginuma were directors of photography. The film was based on Italian writer

Fosco Maraini Fosco Maraini (; 15 November 1912 – 8 June 2004) was an Italian photographer, anthropologist, ethnologist, writer, mountaineer and academic. Biography He was born in Florence from the Italian sculptor Antonio Maraini (1886–1963) and Cornelia ...

's work ' (''The Island of the Fisherwomen'')(1960). A few images shot by Maraini's crew were used in the production. It was filmed entirely in Japan and released in the United States as ''Diving Girls of Japan'' and ''The Diving Girls' Island''. The English version was narrated by Tom Rowe.

Marcello Abbado Marcello Abbado (7 October 19264 June 2020) was an Italian pianist, composer, conductor and academic teacher. His compositions include several orchestral works, two ballets, numerous pieces for solo piano, and chamber music. As a pianist, he pla ...

composed the film's music with addition scores provided by Sergio Pagoni. The film's New York premiere was held on June 7, 1963. Victoria Films and Times Film Corp. were the film's distributors.

Release and reception

This film was screened only for adults. In

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, the film was shown as a double feature along with ''1000 Shapes of a Female''. Jasper Sharp wrote in his 2008 book '' Behind the pink curtain'', that the film stood "as a fascinating visual document of a city in the midst of major transition". The 63-minute film was included in the DVD for ''

The Notorious Concubines ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

''. While reviewing the feature, Douglas Pratt called the sound quality "okay" and the picture "tolerable". ''

The Realist ''The Realist'' was a magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire", intended as a hybrid of a grown-ups version of ''Mad'' and Lyle Stuart's anti-censorship monthly ''The Independent.'' Edited and published by Paul Krassner, ...

'' critic called the film a "short bore".

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose revie ...

called it a combination of National Geographic and native Japanese styles and "awash with scrapes, dirt, and highly irritating editing jumps".

References

Bibliography

External links

* * * {{Internet Archive film, id=ViolatedParadise, title=Violated Paradise 1963 films American sexploitation films Films shot in Japan 1963 drama films 1963 documentary films Films about geisha Italian documentary films Japan in non-Japanese culture Travelogues 1960s English-language films 1960s American films 1960s Italian films English-language documentary films