Story of a Prostitute

Set on the Manchurian front during the Second World War, Story of a Prostitute follows Harumi, a woman who volunteers as a comfort woman and is sent with others to serve soldiers on the front lines. Brutal Lieutenant Narita claims her for himself, but she is drawn instead to Mikami, a sensitive soldier serving directly under Narita. Their relationship defies the military and brotherly codes of honour around them and sets the lovers on a painful course.

Seijun Suzuki directed this adaptation of a novel by Taijiro Tamura, with a screenplay by Hajime Takaiwa and production by Kaneo Iwai for Nikkatsu Corporation. It is the nineteenth of twenty-six films Suzuki directed in chronological order, coming between The Call of Blood in 1964 and Tattooed Life in 1965. Yumiko Nogawa plays Harumi, with Tamio Kawachi as Mikami, Isao Tamagawa as Narita, and Shoichi Ozawa, Toshio Sugiyama and Tomiko Ishii among the credited cast of twenty-three.

The film runs just over an hour and a half. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.3 from around 1,800 votes, while on TMDB its rating is 6.7 from a much smaller number of votes, so the audience response recorded there rests on limited voting. It was released in Japan in February 1965.