Street of Shame (1956)

The personal tales of various prostitutes who occupy a Japanese brothel.

Director:

Kenji Mizoguchi

Writers:

Masashige Narusawa, Yoshiko Shibaki (novel)

Stars:

Machiko Kyô, Aiko Mimasu, Ayako Wakao

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Machiko Kyô	...	Mickey
Ayako Wakao	...	Yasumi
Michiyo Kogure	...	Hanae
Aiko Mimasu	...	Yumeko
Kenji Sugawara	...	Eiko
Yasuko Kawakami	...	Shizuko
Eitarô Shindô	...	Kurazô Taya
Bontarô Miake	...	Nightwatchman
Haruo Tanaka
Sadako Sawamura	...	Tatsuko Taya
Daisuke Katô	...	President of Brothel Owners' Association
Hisao Toake	...	Shiomi
Jun Tatara	...	Yumeko's client
Osamu Maruyama	...	Sato Yasukichi
Hiroko Machida	...	Yorie

Storyline

Five prostitutes work at Dreamland, in Tokyo's Yoshiwara district. As the Diet considers a ban on prostitution, the women's daily dramas play out. Each has dreams and motivations. Hanae is married, her husband unemployed; they have a young child. Yumeko, a widow, uses her earnings to raise and support her son, who's now old enough to work and care for her. The aging Yorie has a man who wants to marry her. Yasumi saves money diligently to pay her debt and get out; she also has a suitor who wants to marry her, but she has other plans for him. Mickey seems the most devil-may-care, until her father comes from Kobe to bring her news of her family and ask her to come home.

---

Plot Keywords:

prostitute | diet | brothel | prostitution | f rated | 

---

Taglines:

A true story of the personal and professional lives of the girls in a legal house of prostitution in Japan.

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

4 June 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Street of Shame

Filming Locations:

Yoshiwara, Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Daiei Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was so popular with Japanese audiences upon its initial release, and so poignant in its portrayal of the lives of prostitutes that when an anti-prostitution law was passed in Japan just a few months later, some said it was a catalyst.

---

Connections

Referenced in Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director (1975)

User Reviews

Mizoguchi Explores the Darker Side of the Street

The personal tales of various prostitutes who occupy a Japanese brothel.

Okay, so the opening music is wild. And then for most of the film the music is very mellow or non-existent. What are we to make of this? I have no idea.

Criterion has put this film in their box set of Mizoguchi's "fallen women", appropriately enough. For over twenty years, he really captured women in questionable roles -- from adulteress to prostitute, and never did it in a way that exploited them or shamed them. He was honest and fair.

Some people like his early work better, some like the later stuff. This is his last film, and indeed the polished look is far different from his earliest attempts. Good or bad? Hard to say. One wonders if the war could change a man and his art...