The Japan Society is going to be having monthly screenings of Nikkatsu action films from the 60s, curated by Mark Schilling. No Suzuki (presumably because a lot of his films are already available on subtitled DVD) but lots of cool stuff that has previously been unavailable to non-Japanese speakers.

I put up more information here.]

Has anyone had a chance to see any of these films before?

This sounds exciting. The first film listed, A COLT IS MY PASSPORT (1967), is one I'm really looking forward to. I even mention it in my anime book (due out next week, or so I hear). Its co-star, Chitose Kobayashi, lived in Korea as a girl during the war and was part of a harrowing escape from North Korea with several other Japanese families after the war, an experience she wrote about in a book which was made into an animated drama, RAIL OF THE STAR (1993), which is included in my book. The animated film includes an epilogue that shows the author as an adult performing as a stage star in Japan in the early '60s. So this film is a rare opportunity to see a performance by Ms. Kobayashi, who died a few years ago.

I missed the series when it originated at the Far East Film Festival in Udine two or three years ago, so I'm excited that three of the titles will be playing at Fantastic Fest in Austin next month (A COLT IS MY PASSPORT, VELVET HUSTLER, and THE WARPED ONES).

Fantastic Fest announcement

Tim Lucas caught the last one and wrote glowingly about it:

Tim Lucas: Artful Penetration of Weird Lovemakers