WHITE BEAST 1950 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Very rare but highly interesting film from Toho.

The time is 1950 and Japan was recovering from the ravages of WW2. Some women took to being prostitutes just to survive, but according to Japanese law, that is a crime.

There is a reformatory called "White Lily" which tries to teach the women better morals and how to make a living. One young woman who is brought there is named Keiko Yukawa (Mitsuko Miura). She is different than most as she sees nothing wrong with being a prostitute and she questions the entire worth of the facility.

The film also explores the other inmates and problems with everything from suicide, pregnancy and syphilis. This may have all the ear marks of a standard WIP movie, but it is entirely different.

The print from Sinister is in very good shape and has English subtitles. The film really held my attention and just drew me in. It's a rare one without much known information, however one of the producers was Tomoyuki Tanaka who went on to produce Toho's highly successful Godzilla films of the 60's and 70's.

Akira Ifukube did the music and of course he did many, many Godzilla movies as well as other Japanese fantastic cinema films. If you're looking for something interesting and thought provoking, this is a film I would highly recommend. Every year around this time I get a lot of films from Sinister Cinema, and so for the next couple of weeks I will be looking at a lot of bizarre films from this outstanding company.