Movielogr
White Beast (1950)
Directed by Mikio Naruse
Overview
The critical establishment was clearly not prepared to accept a woman’s prison film featuring former prostitutes recovering from venereal diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and estranged lovers. With its cat fights, hysterical tantrums, film noir lighting, and dramatic music, White Beast is indicative of the new influences of the Hollywood psychological thriller on Naruse. Caged (John Cromwell, 1950) initiated a cycle of women’s prison movies in the United States that may or may not have been shown in Japan, but the stylistics of White Beast draw on the same paranoid woman’s films and film noir conventions that preceded the American cycle.
Length 97 minutes
Actors
Mitsuko Miura | Sô Yamamura | Eiji Okada | Kimiko Iino | Chieko Nakakita | Mayuri Mokushô | Noriko Sengoku | Masao Shimizu | Tatsuya Ishiguro | Taizô Fukami | Fujio Nagahama | Tanie Kitabayashi | Yûko Matsui | Yaeko Izumo | Tsuruko Mano | Haruko Ashida | Hideko Yanoshima | Mie Asô | Haruko Toyama | Chizuko Okamura | Kinuko Kazami | Yoko Ueno | Aguri Hidaka | Midori Shinma | Chiyoko Hosokawa