Story of a Prostitute (1965)
"Shunpu den" (original title)

Director:

Seijun Suzuki

Writers:

Hajime Takaiwa, Taijiro Tamura (story)

Stars:

Yumiko Nogawa, Tamio Kawaji, Hiroshi Chô

Cast

Credited cast:
Yumiko Nogawa	...	Harumi
Tamio Kawaji	...	Shinkichi Mikami
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hiroshi Chô	...	Shibata
Eimei Esumi	...	Machida
Jûkei Fujioka	...	Kimura
Kotoe Hatsui	...	Tsuyuko
Kazuko Imai	...	Sachiko
Tomiko Ishii	...	Yuriko
Sokoto Kasai
Kayo Matsuo	...	Midori
Midori Mori	...	Takako
Shôichi Ozawa	...	Akiyama
Toshio Sugiyama
Kaku Takashina	...	Makita
Isao Tamagawa	...	Narita

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

soldier | prostitution | suicide | female nudity | remake

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

28 February 1965 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Story of a Prostitute

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nikkatsu

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Remake of Desertion at Dawn (1950)

User Reviews

A B-production triumphs over the A

Based on a novel written by Tamura Taijiro, and is actually a remake of 1950 Toho film Escape at Dawn directed by Taniguchi Senkichi with stars Ikebe Ryo and Shirley Yamaguchi, director Suzuki Seijun transformed a Nikkatsu ready-made routine script with low budget and tight schedule into one of his finest arts. Without digressing from the script or the novel, he recreated his signature world that is abstractive and ideological. Even though this is a B-movie, or maybe because it is, Suzuki with the production designer Kimura Takeo displays fantastic backdrops using some painstaking techniques of visual effects, superb studio sets and location filming behind outstanding performances acted by Kawaji Tamio, Nogawa Yumiko and Tamagawa Isawo. Compare to the Escape that has altered some elements from the Tamura's original this Suzuki version is essentially true to it, therefore Suzuki version has quite important elements such as the prostitution in the Army, multiple stratum of knotty personae and complicated layers of grotesque psychological characterizations concomitant to their bizarre relationships all of that are omitted in the Taniguchi's "fine literary effort." Along with his sense of unique humor these deep feelings the film radiates might be inspired from his own war experiences as a soldier during the WW II and it could be said that, in this regard, some similarity might be in Samuel Fuller's, many of these films are also deeply affected by Fuller's own war experiences.