Whereas Ishii's film was purely designed to be as erotic as possible, this earlier version of Oniroku Dan's novel is just as much about delivering the utterly depraved as it is intended to arouse. Makoto is only too happy to oblige-even more-so when he discovers that the lovely lady is able to cure his impotence, which was caused by a disturbing childhood incidence involving his mother and a big, black G.I. Disatisfied with Shizuko's behaviour, Senzô convinces one of his employees, Makoto Katagiri (Yasuhiko Ishizu) to abduct his wife, break her pride, and train her to become an obedient sex slave. Tani plays Shizuko, the beautiful wife of ageing businessman Senzô Tôyama (Nagatoshi Sakamoto), who is reluctant to satisfy her perverted spouse's sexual demands, having been sold to him by her lover.

As it happens, I wasn't too disappointed with my mistake: not only is this one an impressively jaw-dropping piece of classic Japanese sleaze, but it also introduced me to the delightful Naomi Tani, who is every bit as stunning as Sugimoto.

Having just seen and enjoyed Takashi Ishii's outrageously raunchy 2005 Flower and Snake 2, based on a cult S&M novel by Oniroku Dan, I was quite keen to watch the film that preceded it, primarily to see some more of gorgeous star Aya Sugimoto however, being rather confused about the whole history of the Flower and Snake series, I ended up watching this 70s Nikkatsu film instead.

Hana to hebi 1974 calendar