From Japanese director Mikio Naruse, this melodrama is a sleek and handsome precursor to Memoirs of a Geisha. A thirtysomething “hostess” (Hideko Takamine) in the Ginza bar district is at a crossroads: should she accept a marriage offer from one of her suitors or buy a bar of her own? Takamine is a bit of a blank, but compensation can be found in the dazzling black-and-white cinematography, which makes the neon signs and shadowy alleys shimmer with false glamour.
