Street of Shame

Street of Shame
Theatrical release poster
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	Daiei Film
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

Five female sex workers are employed at Dreamland, a licensed brothel near the Sensōji 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

Machiko Kyō as Mickey
Ayako Wakao as Yasumi
Aiko Mimasu as Yumeko
Michiyo Kogure as Hanae
Kumeko Urabe as Otane
Yasuko Kawakami as Shizuko
Hiroko Machida as Yorie
Eitarō Shindō as Kurazō Taya
Sadako Sawamura as Tatsuko Taya
Toranosuke Ogawa as Mickey's father
Bontarō Miyake as nightwatch
Daisuke Katō as president of Brothel Owners' Association
Kenji Sahara

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

↑ 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

Street of Shame at the Internet Movie Database
赤線地帯 at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)
The Criterion Collection: Street of Shame

The films of Kenji Mizoguchi

The Morning Sun Shines (1929)
Tokyo March (1929)
Tojin Okichi (1930)
The Water Magician (1933)
Orizuru Osen (1935)
Osaka Elegy (1936)
Sisters of the Gion (1936)
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)
The 47 Ronin (1941)
Utamaro and His Five Women (1947)
The Love of the Actress Sumako (1947)
Portrait of Madame Yuki (1950)
Miss Oyu (1951)
The Lady of Musashino (1951)
The Life of Oharu (1952)
Ugetsu (1953)
A Geisha (1953)
Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
The Woman in the Rumor (1954)
The Crucified Lovers (1954)
Princess Yang Kwei-Fei (1955)
Tales of the Taira Clan (1955)
Street of Shame (1956)

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