Masks abound in GOLDEN PEACOCK CASTLE
Hand-tinted stills from the 1961 Toei four-part FX fantasy epic Golden Peacock Castle (Ogon Kujaku-Jo). Great yokai-masked villain with an army of tengu-masked henchmen to boot.
CASTLE OF OWLS vs. OWL’S CASTLE
I don’t believe all remakes suck. The ’78 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Hammer’s 60’s reimaginings of the Universal monster films of 30 years previous, the Soderberg version of Solaris… all brought something new to the table and were worthy … Continued
Wolf vs. Sheepdog
CASTLE OF OWLS WEEK continues with some miscellaneous awesomeness centered on the the conflict between Juzo (Ryutaro Otomo) and Gohei (Minoru Ohki). As I’ve mentioned previously, this initially plays out like the old Sam the Sheepdog vs. Ralph the Wolf … Continued
Kunoichi in CASTLE OF OWLS
While the overt conflict of Castle of Owls may be the wolf-vs-sheepdog of Juzo and Gohei, there is a deeper interior conflict in both men played out by their relationships to women, all of whom are deadly female ninja themselves. … Continued
B&W stills from OWLS
The Japanese DVD of Castle of Owls has a modest gallery of B&W set-shot publicity stills: CASTLE OF OWLS WEEK continues with an in depth look at the ninja women of the film, and a side-by-side comparison of the photography of … Continued
CASTLE OF OWLS vids
Here’s the original Toei trailer: And a related promotional short hosted by the film’s young kunoichi Chiyoko Honma featuring Masaaki Hatsumi:
More aging CASTLE OF OWLS stills
Hey, that’s the rest of the image from the home-page header! Yep, yer right. It’s also perhaps the most striking image of Ryutaro Otomo from Toho’s publicity shoots. Those spike shuriken are just awesome. Otomo’s stern, strong eyes lend a … Continued
CASTLE OF OWLS publicity stills from Thailand
Inspired by Gobi’s awesome sketch from this post, I’ve declared this CASTLE OF OWLS WEEK at Vintage Ninja! I’m not saying the 1963 Ryutaro Otomo action-drama is the best ninja movie ever made, but damn if it isn’t my absolute … Continued
More Oshida, with a side of BOHACHI
Thanks to the great Asian Drill Pop photo blog of things good, quirky and naughty for this nifty mag centerfold of Reiko Oshida, whom I’m sure you all fell in love with in this post. Damn she’s cute! Another recent … Continued
Before “The Master”…
…there was The Last Ninja. Michael Beck, perhaps known best as Swan from The Warriors, was hot on the heels of action masterpieces Warlords of the 21st Century and Megaforce when he made the ahead-of-its-time TV pilot about a lone … Continued