Revenge of the Pearl Queen

Aug 02, 2013

(Toshio Shimura, 1956, 90 min, Digital)

Sponsored by The North American Post

When Shintoho's voluptuous new "discovery" Michiko Maeda undressed for Revenge of the Pearl Queen, she hit the screens with a seismic force, A new star was born; not only that, but a new genre too—the female pearl diver film.

The film’s central plotline is based on the true story of 19 Japanese men who were discovered on Anatahan, in the Marianas Islands, in 1951. Refusing to accept Japan’s defeat in the Pacific War, they had been scraping out a bare existence while scheming and fighting over the one woman in their midst.

In this version, Maeda’s Natsuki becomes embroiled in a robbery and murder plot, falls off a ship to escape a would-be rapist, and finds herself a castaway among a crew of hungry-eyed men. When she discovers enough pearls to make a fortune, she sets in motion a scheme to trap the criminals who sent her overboard.

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