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Powerful

Expected more

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A Masterpiece!

As its better known English title attests Mizoguchi's last film deals with the subject of prostitution but like several of the masterpieces that preceded it, it really deals with the role of women in Japan, a subject Mizoguchi returned to over and over again. "Street of Shame" is set in the present, or at least in post-war Japan, and the government are proposing anti-prostitution laws that will close the brothels down. As it is, the women who work in 'Dreamland' earn little enough.As you might expect Mizoguchi pulls no punches. For these women life is pretty much hell with survival the name of the game. It is, of course, beautifully acted by all the women concerned and for a film dealing with such dark subject matter, isn't without humour. If the film is no masterpiece it is still quintessential Mizoguchi as well as being one of the best 'women's pictures' of the fifties. Melodrama it may be but, like the best melodramas, this one has the ring of truth.

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'.

Street of Shame is an important work in Japanese cinema, not only because it is the last film of Mizoguchi, but also because of its pivotal role in sparking the banning of prostitution in Japan. It is at times an overtly propagandistic piece, but is still worth viewing.The plot revolves around five prostitutes working in a brothel, with the debate over the banning of prostitution looming in the background. We see the prostitutes' motives for entering their trade, and their various means of coping with day to day life. The viewer comes to see these women as human beings, rather than just focusing on their profession or morals.To the film's credit, it does not whitewash the women or their behavior. Although one woman is depicted as only being in the business to care for her family, others are shown cheating clients, or having an extremely bitter, cynical attitude. Mizoguchi's willingness to acknowledge the flaws of his protagonists makes the film far more effective.What separates this film from Mizoguchi's masterpieces, such as Ugetsu, is the tendency to slip into overt propaganda or melodrama. There are some all too obvious tear-jerking scenes, and the propagandistic aspects, especially at the end of the film, can get tiresome. Nevertheless, when the film is taken into context, it is well worth watching.

Wonderful. This is another great film of Mizoguchi. Right after WWII, when Japan was so devastated, Many women have to work as prostitutes to survive and support their families. You can feel their pain working as prostitutes. Even now the same thing happens in some countries. Acting is very good especially Machiko Kyo who played "Mickey" is marvelous. I can't forget the words what Mickey said at the end "If you don't deceive others, You'll get deceived." We can still say the same thing can't you? You should see it.