Les 6 épouses de Ch'ing

Dark, cynical Japanese epic brought to U.S. in a dubbed version by shlockmeister Harry Novak. Still, this gory, sexy epic is made with style and interesting for to compare to "Yojimbo" and other masterworks of the form. Something Weird DVD has lots of diverting extras.

The RAGE! The FIRE! The PASSION! A Thousand-year-old ribald epic is brought to spectacularly salacious, blood-hued life by pioneering movie maestro Kôji Wakamatsu. This most certainly 'aint just another Cut n' haste sword n' sandals B-Quickie, if I might be so bold as to glibly state that I feel honourable sensei Wakamatsu to be one remarkably stylish film-making mofo, a lauded pinku eiga master, utilizing a quicksilver camera with the deadly efficacy of a Samurai's limb-lopping Katana, and boldly expressing a muscular mise en scene no less eye-popping than fellow iconoclast Yasuzô 'Blind Beast' Masumura. Visually sumptuous, devilishly decadent, and excitingly fleet-footed, this frequently erotic, monstrously twisted lust triangle betwixt initially honourable captain Wu Sing (Shikokyu Takashima), the monumentally malign Hsi Men Chin (Jûzô Itami), and the aggressively adulterous harlot Pan Chin Lien(Tomoko Mayama) proves entirely toxic, since Chin Lien's hyperbolic loins, duplicitous heart, and callous scheming acts as the deceptively sweet-limbed catalyst for the film's not inconsiderable amount of rousing melodrama, blood-spilling action, and deliciously dark erotica. 'Notorious Concubines' proves to be remarkably sophisticated work given its lurid moniker, an exciting tale of blood-soaked perfidy, rousing action and murderous multiplicity born of Chin's treacherous love. The lusty, high-energy performances are delightfully vivid, with a wickedly vulpine turn from the devastatingly beautiful black widow Tomoko Mayama, but the 'Notorious Concubines' true star is the bravura, seductively sinful film-making prowess of Kôji Wakamatsu, no mere exploitation dilettante, as there is a palpably rigorous method to the film-maker's majestic madness, Nikkatsu/Pinku Eiga fans are sure to come under this corrupting concubine's notoriously nubile spell!

This film involves a young married woman in China by the name of "Chin Lien" (Tomoko Mayama) who despises her husband because he is so poor and instead has fallen in love with her brother-in-law "Wu Sung" (Shikokyu Takashima) who serves as an officer in the army. However, to her great surprise, when she eventually tries to seduce him, he rejects her advances and storms out of the room. Not long afterward, Wu Sung is sent out on a mission which results in him being gone for a while. It's during this time Chin Lien poisons her husband and becomes the 5th wife of a wealthy government official named "Men Ching" (Juzo Itami). Yet, even though she now lives in luxury, she begins to realize that Men Ching will soon become bored with her and move on to someone else--and this leaves her even more lonely and bitter than before. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was not a well-made film due in large part to the poor editing which resulted in an overall choppy effect between scenes. Likewise, the camera work could have also used a bit of fine-tuning as well. In any case, this was basically nothing more than a cheap CAT-3 movie and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.