Orgies of Edo Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Orgies of Edo Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 21, 2018

The general presentiment among many people who know Japanese culture much better than I do is that it is inveterately “nice”, but for those wanting a peek (and maybe more than merely a peek) at Japan’s “naughty” side, including elements that seem to be sparked by some kind of raging and maybe even out of control Id, one may need look no further than Orgies of Edo, Teruo Ishii’s kind of graphic depiction of various moral degradations. As author Patrick Macias gets into in an interview included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, and as the trailer for the film makes abundantly clear, Toie blatantly marketed this film for its sado-masochism and other sexual aspects, though Ishii brings a theatrical flair to the proceedings that invests otherwise rather shocking content with a certain stylistic hyperbole.

As Macias mentions in his comments, Toei kind of unashamedly got into what more or less amounts to soft core porn in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, but rather interestingly Orgies of Edo may both harken back to some of Toei’s horror outings while also perhaps reminding horror fans of another vaunted studio — namely, Amicus, since this film is almost a portmanteau of sorts. A trilogy of disturbing tales is unfolded with a linking doctor character named Gentatsu (Teruo Yoshida) providing an anchor of sorts (as Macias calls him). All three stories tend to focus on either damsels in distress or what appear to be damsels in distress, with one character forced into becoming a “working girl”, and another woman who is already in that “line of work” turning out to have a secret or two up her kimono sleeve.

The film is full of arresting imagery, and it offers a glut of naked women cavorting around, but there’s not much real emotional impact here, at least due in part to the kind of smarmy atmosphere that suffuses the stories. The visual phantasmagoria on display includes everything from a really kind of stunning scene of sexual aggression taking place in a room full of wildly patterned banners and rugs to a later scene that seems to be lifted whole cloth (paint?) from Goldfinger.

Orgies of Edo Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Orgies of Edo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Some of Arrow's releases of Toei material have included only pretty generic comments on the transfers (like "an HD master was provided by Toei), but in this case their insert booklet has at least a bit more information:

Orgies of Edo is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with mono sound.

The film was scanned and restored from the original film and audio elements by Toei Company LTD, Japan. 2K scanning was done on a Golden Eye scanner and colour grading was completed on a DaVinci Resolve. Picture restoration was performed using MTI Correct and PF Clean. Some instances of picture and audio damage remain in this presentation, in keeping with the condition of these materials.

The above once again leaves open to question what exactly "original film and audio elements" may refer to, though as with some other transfers that offer this verbiage (releases both by Arrow and others), things look like they were sourced from some kind of secondary element and not an original negative. Colors are generally decent, if somewhat skewed toward yellow and brown at times, something that can tend to make the very prevalent reds just slightly orange on occasion. Flesh tones can also look just a bit "alien" at times as well. Clarity and detail levels are fairly widely variant, with some extreme close-ups offering nice detail levels, but some midrange and wider shots looking relatively fuzzy at times. As tends to be the case with Arrow releases, compression looks fine and the grain field resolves naturally throughout. There is still some evident wear and tear on display here, per Arrow's disclaimer, but nothing that in and of itself I'd personally term a deal breaker.

Orgies of Edo Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Orgies of Edo features an LPCM Mono track that, like the video element, gets the job done, though perhaps not always at optimal levels. Masao Yagi's rather discordant but very interesting score can sound just a tad brittle at times, with some crackling on occasion in the higher registers. Dialogue makes it through the gauntlet rather well overall, with no major signs of age related wear and tear.

Orgies of Edo Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Orgies of Ishii (1080p; 16:02) is an interesting analysis by author Patrick Macias, though the piece is on the "arty" side stylistically, with a bunch of needless angles and intercutting.


• Trailer (1080p; 2:38)

As usual, Arrow has also supplied a nicely appointed insert booklet, including writing by Tom Mes.

Orgies of Edo Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

From a content perspective, Orgies of Edo may frankly repel some viewers, but stylistically it's often downright fascinating. As both Patrick Macias and Tom Mes get into, the Japanese studios of this time period found sexually charged material surprisingly marketable, and within that context Orgies of Edo does offer some historical interest. Technical merits are decent if never overwhelming for those considering a purchase.