Street of Shame

I have a soft spot for him.

Yeah, and I think that's what makes his final film, Street of Shame, kind of a perfect ending for him.

Because it does culminate what is essentially a career-long focus on downtrodden women in society.

And not only is the film fantastic and the cast is fantastic, but it also had a major impact in real-life society.

So... such was the kind of power of this film with and how it resonated with audiences this was kind of the last straw that finally pushed the passing of the prostitution prevention law which was finalized the following year so this was a law that was sent back and forth for years and it never it never got passed it never got passed was over and over again it was going back and forth in you know whatever legal system they use in japan and then such was the public kind of um reaction to Street of Shame and the stories told in that film finally kind of pushed it to getting past in 1957 so you know this is kind of Mizoguchi's legacy in a way in that his what's the word his You're saying like

activism?

Yeah, you know, his activism, you know, how important he felt about these issues and these stories being told had real lasting change, not just in cinematic history, but in actual society.

I mean, I think that's part of it, but like that's just that was it's a really big deal for people in 1959 to be or 1956 excuse me to be already on the side of respecting women and trying to give them rights um that was a huge cultural shift in a very short time

I don't know if I pronounced that right, but whatever.

And Street of Shame.

So two very interesting movies to talk about today.

Before we get into it, let me introduce my co-host, Danny.

And for him, it's kind of too sentimental.

It's sentimental.

It's romantic as compared to Street of Shame, which is not really any of those.

But yeah, despite the differences, I think they're interesting to talk about together.

Yeah, one of the more modern...

I think there is a subplot in Street of Shame that's similar to Tokyo Twilight, like one of the various stories in that movie.

um yeah i don't yeah i don't know okay

let me uh let me uh let me let me because i think you guys mentioned a lot what uh some of these critics said but let me read because first i said i was gonna read uh board well well he says uh He says, quote, and he's talking about Mitsuguchi, he says, Mitsuguchi is easier to admire, even to worship, than to love.

I guess he decided to get that cinematographer on board because cinematographer Rashomon also did You Got To and Sancho.

He did.

And Street of Shame and Crucified Lovers.

Plus he did like Floating Weeds.