When war widow Fusako (Kinuyo Tanaka) loses her baby to tuberculosis, and an affair with her drug smuggling boss goes awry, she turns to street walking and prostitution in this realistic social commentary from Kenji Mizoguchi, as much a reflection of Italian Neo-Realism as Kurosawa’s same year “Drunken Angel”. Fusako’s plight is contrasted with that of her sister, Natsuko (Nanae Takasugi), who has an affair with the same boss, but instead of following her sister into prostitution, she winds up in a home for women, pregnant with an illegitimate baby, but as is often the case with Mizoguchi at his most politically damning, both women are made to suffer at the hands of corrupt men and a corrupt society still badly wounded from the war. It’s a powerful drama, unflinching in its depiction of the competitive world of the street walker, filled with violence and spite, and Mizoguchi’s style, all long takes and (mostly) street exteriors, is realistic and effective.