“The American occupation forces after the war insisted on a transition from ‘feudal' to ‘democratic' subjects in films, and this social-realist story of the beginnings of female emancipation was Mizoguchi's first, hesitant attempt to conform. It inaugurated the series of increasingly polemic feminist statements that climaxed in My Love Has Been Burning (1949) and O-Haru (1951): the heroine who here opposes the harsh sentences of the public prosecutor on war criminals realizes that the real problem is the oppression of women.” --Tony Rayns, National Film Theatre.
Mizoguchi's first post-war film marked his only collaboration with Kogo Noda, longtime scenarist for Yasujiro Ozu, and coauthor of Victory of Women with future director Kaneto Shindo.

(Victory of Women will be repeated Sunday, August 2, at 4:45.)