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Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion
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Wikipedia article
Also known as 'Female Convict 701: Scorpion' is a 1972 Japanese women in prison film produced by Toei Company. Starring Meiko Kaji, the film is Shunya It's first film as a director and is based on a manga by Tru Shinohara.
The film was followed by several sequels, including 'Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41' and 'Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable', and has also been remade several times.
Plot
Nami Matsushima is used as a spy by her first real boyfriend, a police detective named Sugimi, to investigate a drug smuggling ring. However, her role is discovered and she is raped by several drug dealers. It emerges that Sugimi was simply using Matsushima as a pretext to obtain a bribe from the 'yakuza'. Seeking revenge, Matsushima makes a failed attempt to stab Sugimi on the steps of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police headquarters. She is sentenced to do hard time in a women's prison, where she is given the number 701.
The prison is run by sadistic and lecherous male guards. The prisoners are forced to walk up and down a stair-like contraption naked with male guards watching from below. While incarcerated, Matsushima meets inmates like Yuki Kida, who was convicted for fraud and theft; Otsuka, jailed for burglary and extortion; and Katagiri, who was imprisoned for arson and illegally disposing of a body. Outside the prison, Sugimi and the 'yakuza' orchestrate a plan in which Matsushima will succumb to an "accidental" death in prison.
The conspirators enlist the help of Katagiri and quickly set their plan in motion. Matsushima is attacked in the shower but defends herself, wounding the attacker. She is punished by being held bound by ropes in solitary confinement. A group of trustees, including Katagiri, tortures her; one pours hot soup on her. Matsushima is able to trip the trustee and make her spill the vat of hot soup over herself, causing horrible burns. Matsushima is forced to dig dirt holes for two consecutive days and nights. She kills a woman who attempts to attack her during this digging by tripping her and breaking her neck. In response, Matsushima is hung and tied from the ceiling while being beaten by her fellow prisoners.
After a prison riot, Matsushima escapes and kills Sugimi and all of the 'yakuza' with a dagger. The film ends with Matsushima walking alone back in prison.
Cast
*Meiko Kaji - Nami Matsushima / Matsu the Scorpion
*Rie Yokoyama - Katagiri
*Yayoi Watanabe - Yukiko Kida
*Yko Mihara - Masaki
*Akemi Negishi - Otsuka
*Keiko Kuni - Nemoto
*Yumiko Katayama - Kito
*Emi Jo - Morikawa
*Isao Natsuyagi - Tsugio Sugimi
*Fumio Watanabe - Warden Goda
Release
'Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion' was released in Japan on 25 August 1972.
Home media
'Female Prisoner #701' was first released on DVD for Region 1 by Tokyo Shock on April 27, 2004. UK home video company Arrow Films released the film on Blu-ray on July 26, 2016 within a box-set containing the first four films of the 'Female Prisoner Scorpion' series. Limited to 4000 copies, the box set contains new 2K restorations of all four films included in the set as well as numerous special features, with 'Female Prisoner #701' including a new filmed appreciation by director Gareth Evans ('The Raid: Redemption'), a new interview with the film's assistant director Yutaka Kohira, an archival interview with director Shinya Ito, and the theatrical trailers of "all films in the series".Reception
From retrospective reviews, 'Sight & Sound' described the film as "pure exploitation" and that "there are a fair number of arty flourishes: expressionistic lighting and make up effects, theatrically stylised sets and gymnastic camerawork." The magazine commented on any feminist reading of the film, noting that any suggestion of a "feminist critique of patriarchal society" is "hard to reconcile with the sustained, glib emphasis on female torment." 'Video Watchdog' described 'Female Convict #701 Scorpion' as "inferior to its follow-up 'Female Convict Scorpion-Jailhouse 41"', noting that it is "largely set-bound and lacking grandeur and poetry of its sequel"
Notes
References
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See also
* List of Japanese films of 1972
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