White Beast(1950)

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.

Genre: Drama

Director: Mikio Naruse

Actors: Mitsuko Miura, Sô Yamamura, Eiji Okada, Kimiko Iino, Chieko Nakakita, Mayuri Mokushô, Noriko Sengoku, Masao Shimizu, Tatsuya Ishiguro, Taizô Fukami

Release date: 1950-06-03

Country of origin: Japan

Length: 1h 37m

Ratings:

• 6.6/10