Hijosen no onna (1933)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Yasujiro Ozu

Writer:

Tadao Ikeda (writer)

Release Date:

27 April 1933 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Cast

Kinuyo Tanaka	...	Tokiko
Joji Oka	...	Jyoji
Sumiko Mizukubo	...	Kazuko
Koji Mitsui	...	Hiroshi (as Hideo Mitsui)
Yumeko Aizome	...	Misako
Yoshio Takayama	...	Senko
Koji Kaga	...	Misawa
Yasuo Nanjo	...	Okazaki
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shunsaku Kashima	...	Bad guy at Dance Hall
Seiji Nishimura	...	Policeman
Nobuo Takemura	...	Boss at Boxing Club
Reiko Tani	...	Secretary

Also Known As:

Dragnet Girl
Women on the Firing Line

Runtime:

Spain:89 min | Japan:100 min

Country:

Japan

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Shochiku-Kamata Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Shochiku Company

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ikite wa mita keredo - Ozu Yasujirô den (1983)

Yasujiro von Sternberg

Josef von Sternberg doesn't get as much mention as Frank Borzage or Ernst Lubitsch as an early Ozu influence, but those familiar with the dense arrangement of objects onscreen in Sternberg films may see the resemblance in both early and late Ozu films. This moody, expressionist pre-noir potboiler exhibits plenty of inspired clutter (most memorably the RCA Victor dog) and stylistic fluorishes (tracking shots, pull shots, and memorable use of shadow) as it tells the story of a gangster and his good-girl-gone-bad moll (Kinuyo Tanaka) as they experience an spiritual awakening through the good graces of an innocent girl. Redemption seems to be a recurring motif in Ozu's gangster movies (WALK CHEEFULLY, THAT NIGHT'S WIFE), and one wonders if bad guy heroes turning themselves in is a convention of the genre or indicative of Ozu's feelings about the criminal life he was assigned to depict. Whatever the case, the climax (involving the single gunshot fired in the entire existing Ozu canon) is as suspenseful and emotionally powerful as anything Ozu filmed.