Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Uriah43 This film was produced in the same year that the Japanese Diet was considering a law which would make prostitution illegal. The irony to that was that the government had not only condoned prostitution a few years earlier but actually encouraged it upon the Japanese surrender after World War II. The intent at the time was to keep American and other foreign troops cordoned into certain areas and away from Japanese women in the general population. In any case, conditions in Japan were rapidly changing and prostitution was now being frowned upon by a certain segment of Japanese society. Essentially, this movie begins at this time and follows the lives of several prostitutes for which the director (Kenji Mizoguchi) admirably manages to show us their point of view. Much of it is quite sad and depressing as a few of these women had certainly seen better days. Yet in spite of everything these women continued to persevere the best way they knew how and their courage was quite remarkable. Also of interest were the two younger females by the names of "Yasumi" (Ayako Wakao) and "Mickey" (Machiko Kyo) who had totally different outlooks on life but at the same time didn't seemed to quite understand the problems faced by the older women. In any case, this is a unique film that ends up being quite deep and profound and viewers interested in such a movie will certainly be pleased. Above average.

lreynaert Kenji Mizoguchi was a remarkable movie director with a favorite theme: the condition/status of women in the Japanese society (ancient or modern). This particular movie was made during discussions in the Japanese Diet in 1956 about the Prostitution Act. It eminently illustrates the working conditions of geishas in a pleasure quarter. Its general background was the dire economic situation in Japan ('Soon we will be happy to have been stayed alive').Behind the facade of a house of pleasure, one discovers only problems of poverty, hunger, unemployment, illness in a family, and especially debts, first of all family debts, but foremost, debts to the 'masters', the brothel owners. The majority of the geishas are literally (financially) blocked in their pleasure house. There are also the cynics (a role played remarkably by Machiko Kyo), who want to avenge their fate suffered under 'their' former men (a father or others). The new prostitution law, which included debt cancellation for the geishas, didn't pass the first vote in the Parliament, but was adopted the following year, thanks mainly to the impact of the movie!The image of 'men' in this movie is absolutely disgraceful. They are stupid, vicious, liars, thieves, cowards, two-faced bastards, with at the top the pimps and their big mouths, who see themselves as the saviors of the world, offering girls the opportunity to sell their bodies in order to permit them not to die from hunger or to save their families.With a final shot that takes you by the throat, Kenji Mizoguchi made an unforgettable masterpiece, with as its ultimate goal 'human dignity'.

christopher-underwood Fabulous film making, a really enjoyable and moving film, oh so beautifully shot. Every wondrous frame is a sight to behold and Mr Mizoguchi certainly knew how to exploit the 4:3 academy ratio and as it says in my booklet, don't dare watch it stretched on a widescreen TV. Set in Tokyo's red-light district of the time and against the background of political attempts to have prostitution made illegal, as well as everything else it is a tantilising glimpse of the mid fifties streets. Poverty and hypocrisy, along with the real need to literally pull those punters in. Always ravishing to watch there are additionally some stand out scenes and the controversial ending works splendidly for me with the electronic music preventing it becoming 'sentimental' or 'overplayed' as suggested by Keiko I McDonald in her 1984 biography of the director.

MartinHafer I do not need every movie to have a pleasant ending or have characters I admire, though not having these certainly makes it more difficult for me to enjoy a movie. There are of course exceptions (such as The Seventh Seal or Adele H.--both very depressing movies with very difficult to relate to characters), but it certainly is an uphill battle."Streets of Shame" is about the post-WW2 movement to eliminate prostitution in Japan as seen from the perspective of women working in one whorehouse. As I eluded to above, it was hard to really care about most of the characters--many were quite selfish and had unattractive personalities. This isn't always the case in the movie (such as the young man who is angry at and resents his mother for prostituting herself to ensure a decent life for him), but generally I didn't find the individuals that compelling.It is true that prostitution has a very different stigma in Japan than in many Western countries and so I found this fascinating. However, to get a more compelling treatment of prostitution, try watching Kenji Mizoguchi's film, "A Geisha"--in which an UNWILLING woman is forced to a life of prostitution and desperation.