Street of Shame

Street of Shame
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Yasuzo Masumura (assistant director)
Produced by Masaichi Nagata (producer)
Written by Masashige Narusawa (writer)
Yoshiko Shibaki (novel)
Music by Toshiro Mayuzumi
Cinematography Kazuo Miyagawa
Edited by Kanji Sugawara
Production
company
Release dates
 March 18, 1956
Running time
 87 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese

Street of Shame (赤線地帯 Akasen chitai) is a 1956 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It is the personal tales of several Japanese women of different backgrounds who work together in a brothel. It was Mizoguchi's last film.

The film is based on the novel Susaki no Onna by Yoshiko Shibaki.

Plot Summary

Five female sex workers are employed at Dreamland, a licensed brothel near the Sensōji（浅草寺）Temple 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.

Cast

The production designer was Hiroshi Mizutani.

Legacy

Red Light District: Gonna Get Out (1974) directed by Tatsumi Kumashiro is a remake of this film.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books: Asian Cult Cinema Publications. p. 344. ISBN 1-889288-52-7.

External links