When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki
The tree sprouts no matter how strong the wind blows.
111 min
Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.
- Release date
- January 15, 1960
- Country of origin
- Japan
- Music
- Toshirō Mayuzumi
Where to watch
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Trailer
Cast
- Hideko Takamine as Keiko Yashiro
- Masayuki Mori as Nobuhiko Fujisaki
- Reiko Dan as Junko Inchihashi
- Tatsuya Nakadai as Kenichi Komatsu, the manager
- Daisuke Katō as Matsukichi Sekine
- Ganjirô Nakamura as Goda
- Eitarō Ozawa as Minobe
- Keiko Awaji as Yuri
- Chieko Nakakita as Tomoko
- Jun Tatara as Goldfish
- Yū Fujiki as Matsui
- Masao Oda as Yoshizo Yashiro
- Ken Mitsuda as Sonoda
- Chikako Hosokawa as Matsuko
- Sadako Sawamura as Toshiko
- Kyū Sazanka as Bar owner
- Noriko Sengoku as Fortune Teller
- Kin Sugai as Katsuko
- Toshiko Higuchi as Hostess
- Noriko Honma as Mineko
- Natsuko Kahara as Fujie
- Machiko Kitagawa as Kiyomi
- Takuzô Kumagai as Bar Customer
- Fumie Noguchi as Natsuko
- Yutaka Sada as Yoshikawa
- Akira Sera as Mizutani
- Toki Shiozawa as Hostess
- Ayumi Sonoda as Mitsuko
- Yoshifumi Tajima as Electric Company Director
- Akira Tani as Real Estate Agent
Crew
- Mikio Naruse · Director
- Ryûzô Kikushima · Writer
- Ryûzô Kikushima · Producer
- Toshirō Mayuzumi · Composer
- Masao Tamai · Cinematographer
- Eiji Ooi · Editor
- Satoru Chûko · Production designer