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

Director:

Seijun Suzuki

Writers:

Hajime Takaiwa
Taijiro Tamura (story)

Release Date:

28 February 1965 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Prostitution | Suicide | Female Nudity | Remake

Cast

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

Directed by
Seijun Suzuki

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Hajime Takaiwa
Taijiro Tamura		story

Produced by
Kaneo Iwai	....	producer

Original Music by
Naozumi Yamamoto

Cinematography by
Kazue Nagatsuka

Film Editing by
Akira Suzuki

Production Design by
Takeo Kimura

Sound Department
Toshimi Katagiri	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Masahiro Takashima	....	gaffer

Production Companies

• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Nikkatsu (1993) (USA) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

"Shunpu den" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

West Germany:96 min | Japan:96 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18

Company:

Nikkatsu

Movie Connections:

Remake of Desertion at Dawn (1950)

can't disguise a B movie

No, not perfectly awful (that would rate a 1), but bad enough. I can't understand all the ooh's and ah's about what's no more than B-movie trash. Some good lighting, well-composed frames (along with, sad to say, some overly artsy ones), and nice camera movement can't disguise a bad script. The good-girl-prostitute-in love is laughably unrealistic; her supposed motivation, set at the beginning, and her desire to have sex with just about everyone in revenge for the man who spurned her is ridiculous, as is her love for the one soldier who can't tolerate her; the villain's snarling is out of the most overacted silent films; and the patriotic soldier (I won't give away what happens to him) who is supposed to help convey an anti- war theme is clunky. Want anti-war? Try All Quiet on the Western Front, Grand Illusion, and Cross of Iron! As for the title prostitute, it's the sort of nonsense men used to write about women, prostitutes and others; probably still do, but I no longer read it. The DVD's Japanese critic who talks about the film and director said that 90% is what the studio wanted from the director and 10% is the originality the director provided. I'll take his word for that, but 10% isn't enough to make gold from trash. Hmm. Maybe I should have given it a 1 after all.