Street of Shame

★★★★★

Original title: Akasen chitai

“Men were their prey! Beauty was their lure!”

1956 · 1 h 26 min

Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi

Drama

Watch trailer

Cast

Machiko Kyo Aiko Mimasu

Credits

Written by: Masashige Narusawa

Plot

Women in a Tokyo brothel, in his last film.

Sinekatalog’s take

Kenji Mizoguchi's final film follows women in a Tokyo brothel district facing poverty and hope. Sharp, sombre and compassionate, with Machiko Kyo vivid, it helped lead to the end of Japan's legal prostitution.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.8 / 10 (5,477 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

If you liked this

Picked by director, genre, era and shared cast. Titles only, no spoilers.

• Sansho the Bailiff 1954 · Kenji Mizoguchi · IMDb 8.3 · Same director
• The Life of Oharu 1952 · Kenji Mizoguchi · IMDb 8.0 · Same director
• When a Woman Ascends the Stairs 1960 · Mikio Naruse · IMDb 8.0 · Viewers also liked
• Repast 1951 · Mikio Naruse · IMDb 7.6 · Viewers also liked
• Gate of Flesh 1964 · Seijun Suzuki · IMDb 7.2 · Viewers also liked
• The Insect Woman 1963 · Shohei Imamura · IMDb 7.3 · Viewers also liked