From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Noboru Tanaka (
August 15,
1937 -
October 4,
2006) was a Japanese film director best known known for his
Roman Porno films, including three critically-respected films known as the
Showa trilogy:
A Woman Called Sada Abe (
aka Sada Abe: Docu-Drama) (1975),
Walker In The Attic (1976), and
Beauty's Exotic Dance - Torture! (1977), all three starring
Nikkatsu Roman porno queen
Junko Miyashita. The first film in this trilogy recounted the story of
Sada Abe a year before
Nagisa Oshima's internationally-released
In the Realm of the Senses (1976), which told the same story. Though at the time he was working, his career was overshadowed by directors such as
Tatsumi Kumashiro, many critics today judge Tanaka the best of Nikkatsu's
Roman porno directors.
