This week I was invited to be a guest on the NERD LUNCH podcast’s annual “Ninja Day” show. The usual panel of three hosts was well schooled in American ninja movies, but had never seen SHINOBI-NO-MONO, the ‘ground zero’ film of … Continued
More of the amazing hand-tinted, one-of-a-kind press photos from Thai cinemas, this time to the franchise prequel/reboot Shinso Shinobi no mono, sadly Raizo Ichikawa‘s last time under the hood. These individually colored photos are on a different paper stock than … Continued
Looked at some Taiwanese / HK stuff last time, and people get testy when I stray to the Chinese side of shinobi cinema, so I’ll boomerang things right back with some tried and true Raizo Ichikawa. Speaking of Raizo, I’ve … Continued
This kid’s book-and-record (flexi-disc that is) Sarutobi Sasuke: Ninja Shugyou (Ninja Training?) is from 1973, and I know little more than that. The art throughout its 10 cardboard pages is no great shakes – and is actually quite stiff at … Continued
Missed this one in our February post on Shinobi no Mono poster art. God I love that post-tinted color!
When discussing 60’s B&W ninja flicks, the Shinobi-no-Mono series is THE genre-defining series. The movie posters, however, relied on strong reds, greens and blues to catch the consumers’ eye, and are some of the only color reference for the props … Continued
Thought a good follow-up to my anti-Ninja Assassin / pro-Shinobi-no-Mono rant last week would be a look at some rather strange S-n-M related merch – colorized menko cards. Released contemporary with the 60’s series, these ‘cigarette cards’ used stills from … Continued
You think you have enough ‘heroic band of samurai with signature weapons vs. shape-shifting evil magicians’ movies in your collection, and then BOOM, a gem like Demon of Mount Oe surfaces! Bandits vs. samurai, magicians vs. Mikado, demon bulls kidnapping … Continued
The Shinobi no Mono films not only revolutionized the way ninjutsu was portrayed in film, they changed the very notion of ninja characters. Raizo Ichikawa was the perfect victim protagonist – the lone man struggling to survive in a world that … Continued
These sepia-toned (and aging poorly) 8×10’s are from either a theatrical lobby promo kit or a studio press kit contemporary to the 1963 theatrical release of ninja blockbuster Zoku Shinobi no Mono (Return of the Band of Assassins, ). Raizo … Continued