Nyotai sanbashi

Park a luxury car on Poker Street in Tokyo and you're likely to come back to find a pink card that will lead you to call girls. With the shutting down on legalized prostitution, the police are trying to shut down the illicit trade. A cop and a lady reporter go undercover to help stop a ring that traffics women over the world.

This crime drama seems to be more influenced by the French policiers than American crime dramas; I think this sense is strengthened by the opening sequences set in various sex clubs in the Kabuki-cho, the modern Tokyo red light district. Once you get past that opening, the images are less overtly sexual in nature, and the storyline becomes more conventional. It remains well paced.

Director Teruo Ishii produced a series of very stylish black thrillers during the late 50s and early 60s, his film Nyotai sanbashi is a knockout. The prolific cult director creates an engrossing tale with his unique cinematic crime action style. Behind the glittering façade of the neon lit nightlife, a sordid world of illegal human trafficking is taking place. An undercover cop Yoshioka, infiltrates a prostitution ring at a glitzy Ginza nightclub... An excellent twisting highly atmospheric crime drama, one of exploitation, betrayal and romance follows the undercover man. A wonderful added bonus, accompanied with eye-catching nightclub entertainments and Nyotai sanbashi , displays possibly the best photomontage poster of its kind... Highly Recommended .

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