aka Oniroku Dan's OL Rope Slave and sometimes mis-referenced as is a 1981

1981 in film

-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese film in Nikkatsu

Nikkatsu

is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...

's Roman porno series, directed by Katsuhiko Fujii and starring Junko Mabuki.

Synopsis

Two assistants to an S&M photographer decide to practise their master's art on their own. They convince a young woman to pose for them and subject her to bondage and torture during the photography session. After their work is finished, the three go to the home of the young woman's ex-boyfriend and attack him and his wife.

Cast

• Junko Mabuki: Kimiyo Ezaki
• Asami Ogawa: Kikuko Okazaki
• Miki Yamaji: Yumiko Mizuhara
• Yōko Azusa: Keiko Fujikawa
• Masayoshi Nogami: Kaoru Mitamura
• Koshirō Asami: Taketsugu Sawada
• Hiroshi Shimakazu: Mikio Misaki
• Yūdai Ishiyama: Teruo Okazaki
• Tatsuya Hamaguchi: Bank manager
• Kensuke Tamai: Cleaning Shop Owner
• Setsuko Yamaguchi: Shizue
• Hiroko Uchida: Takako
• Chiharu Migiya: Office lady

Background

Lead actress Junko Mabuki was promoted as the successor to S&M Queen Naomi Tani

Naomi Tani

is a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films with an S&M theme during the 1970s.-Early career:Born October 20, 1948, in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout...

 after Tani's unexpected retirement in 1979. Office Lady Rope Slave director Katsuhiko Fujii discovered Mabuki and gave her her film debut. S&M author Oniroku Dan

Oniroku Dan

was a Japanese author who had been called, "the most celebrated writer of popular SM novels in Japan." Many of his stories have been filmed, most notably by Nikkatsu studio in their Roman Porno series. Dan had a close professional association with actress Naomi Tani throughout her career...

 also approved of Mabuki, and scripted White Uniform in Rope Hell (1980) especially for her. Mabuki, however, was not able to endure the physical strain that the S&M roles required, and retired from the profession after only two years.

Actor Masayoshi Nogami made a career playing brutal rapists, ranging from Seduction of the Flesh (1968) to Office Lady Rope Slave. He surprised the pink film audience in 1983 by venturing into gay-themed pink films with Legend of the Big Penis: Beautiful Mystery and Mansion of Roses: Passion of Men.

Critical appraisal

In their Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films, the Weissers give Office Lady Rope Slave a negative review, giving it one and a half points out of four. They judge that Oniroku Dan's script shows none of the style that has made his work popular. They also fault director Fujii as being barely competent. "This is truly shabby entertainment," they conclude, "There's probably a redeeming maxim stuck somewhere in this mess, but the whole thing is too tasteless and too misogynist for anyone to care."

Availability

Office Lady Rope Slave was released theatrically in Japan on January 23, 1981. It was released to home video in VHS format on December 22, 1989. It was released on DVD in Japan on December 21, 2007, as part of Geneon's tenth wave of Nikkatsu Roman porno series.