The Bite

The Bite (餌, Esa) a.k.a. Bait (1966) is a Japanese pink film directed by Hiroshi Mukai, credited as "Kan Mukai" in the international English-dubbed version, and starring Senjo Ichiriki and Michiko Shiroyami.

The Bite
Poster to the 1960s US release of The Bite
Directed byKan Mukai[1][2]
Produced byTeruo Yamoto[3]
Written byMiki Yamada[3]
StarringSenjo Ichiriki
Michiko Shiroyami
CinematographyJiro Suzuki[3]
Production
company
Kokuei / Tōkyō Geijutsu Pro[4]
Distributed byOlympic International Films (USA 1960s)
Cinema Epoch (USA 2008)[2]
Release date
August 1966[4]
Running time
62 minutes[1][2]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
English (film exists only in dubbed version)

Synopsis

A gigolo is paid by a rich older woman to seduce young girls while she and friends watch his love-making behind a two-way mirror. He tries to break free of the older woman's control, but when his sick mother needs an operation, he returns to the rich woman, making love to her for money. Humiliated by his dependency, he takes the woman's daughter to the love-show, where he rapes her in front of her mother.[1][5]

Cast
  • Michiko Shiroyami[5]
  • Senjo Ichiriki
  • Machiko Matsumoto
  • Keisuke Senda
  • Natsue Hanaha

Availability

Olympic International Films released The Bite to the U.S. grindhouse circuit soon after its original release in Japan.[1][2] The film was released in Britain in 1967 as Bait.[6][7]

Since its first run, The Bite had been considered a lost film.[8] Jasper Sharp notes that had it not been for the overseas release of films like The Bite, these films would likely not be available today, as many early pink films were not saved in Japan.[9] The film was rediscovered and released in an English-dubbed version on region-0 DVD by Gregory Hatanaka's Cinema Epoch label on May 13, 2008.[10] Preceding the DVD release, Portland, Oregon's Clinton Street Theater played The Bite on a double feature with Mamoru Watanabe's Slave Widow (1967) on May 9 and May 11, 2008.[8]

References
  1. Krafsur, Richard P. (1976). "The Bite (Japan) F6.0425". American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures, The; Feature Films 1961-70. New York & London: R.R. Bowker Company. p. 94. ISBN 0-8352-0440-5.
  2. "The Bite (combined details)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  3. The Bite: film credits (DVD). Cinema Epoch. 2008-05-13.
  4. 餌 (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  5. The Bite at AllMovie
  6. "ESA". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2009-09-11. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  7. Sharp, Jasper (2008). Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. Guildford: FAB Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-903254-54-7.
  8. "Japanese Sexploitation Cinema in 35mm!". www.clintonsttheater.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  9. Sharp (2008), p. 181.
  10. "The Bite". 10kbullets.com. Retrieved 2009-03-08.

Bibliography
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