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IMDb > Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki (1960)

Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki (1960) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
8.3/10   804 votes
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Director:
Mikio Naruse
Writer:
Ryuzo Kikushima (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 June 1963 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Plot:
This is the story of Mama, a.k.a. Keiko, a middle-aged geisha who must choose to either get married or buy a bar of her own... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
A Masterpiece from Naruse more

Cast

  (Credited cast)
Hideko Takamine ... Keiko Yashiro
Masayuki Mori ... Nobuhiko Fujisaki
Reiko Dan ... Junko Inchihashi
Tatsuya Nakadai ... Kenichi Komatsu, the manager
Daisuke Katô ... Matsukichi Sekine
Ganjiro Nakamura ... Goda
Eitarô Ozawa ... Minobe
Keiko Awaji ... Yuri
Jun Tatara
Yu Fujiki
Masao Oda
Ken Mitsuda
Chikako Hosokawa
Sadako Sawamura
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (USA) (literal English title)
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Runtime:
111 min
Country:
Japan
Language:
Japanese
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (Western Electric Recording)
Certification:
UK:PG | Portugal:M/12
Filming Locations:
Tokyo, Japan
Company:
Toho Company more

FAQ

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13 out of 13 people found the following comment useful:-
A Masterpiece from Naruse, 8 July 2003
10/10
Author: David (davidals@msn.com) from Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Finding Naruse Mikio films has been very, very tough, and after seeing this I'd say it's a tragedy. This is among the most gorgeous dramas I've seen - a brooding and dark melodrama, shot in velvety black and white, with stunning widescreen photography.

Based upon my viewing of this and one other Naruse film (to date), I'd say that Naruse's worldview is considerably more cynical than Ozu or Mizoguchi (both of whom he seems to often draw unfavorable comparisons with, from the relatively few critics to have dug into his work) - the strength of women will be taken for granted, or abused by a hostile world regardless of shrewdness, intellect or beauty, and there is a shy jaded quality to this film that gives it an engaging intensity, that while not nearly as subtle, objective or cerebral as Ozu, IS definitely more passionate. Here, and also in the earlier LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS, Naruse's women are idealized, heroic - symbolic in a larger sense of outsiders or rebels (of any variety) in a social milieu that values discretion and certain forms of conformity above all else.

If you can find this film, I highly recommend it - more of Naruse's work should be made available outside of Japan.

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