Streetwalkers, Hustlers, Call Girls and Courtesans in the Movies
Bahn-Coblans, Sonja. "'You Pays Yer Money and You Takes Yer Choice': Women Prostitutes in American Films of the Last Thirty Years." In: Women in search of literary space / edited by Gudrun M. Grabher and Maureen Devine. Tubingen : G. Narr, c1992.
(Main Stack PN481.W657 1992)
Bell-Williams, Melanie. "Shop-soiled' Women: Female Sexuality and the Figure of the Prostitute in 1950s British Cinema." Journal of British Cinema & Television, 2006, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p266-283, 18p
UC users only
Campbell, Russell. Marked women : prostitutes and prostitution in the cinema. Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, c2006. (Main Stack PN1995.9.P76.C36 2006; PFA PN1995.9.P76.C36 2006)
Campbell, Russell. "RKO's Fallen Women: 1930-1933." The Velvet Light Trap 10 (Fall 1973) p. 13
UC users only
Davidson, David. "From Virgin to Dynamo: The "Amoral Woman" in European
Cinema." Cinema Journal, 21:1 (1981:Fall) p.31 UC users only
Fishbein, Leslie. "The Harlot's Progress in American Fiction and Film, 1900-1930."
Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 16, no. 3-4, pp. 409-27, 1989
Jaehne, Karen "Hooker" (films about prostitution) Film Comment v 23 May/June 1987. p. 25-32
Simmons, Jerold L. "The Production Code and Precedent: Or, How Hollywood's Censors Sought to Eliminate Brothels and Prostitutes in From Here to Eternity and East of Eden." Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 70-80, Fall 1992
- U.S. Films
- Anna Christie (1930)
- Directed by Clarence Brown. Cast: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler.
Gretta Garbo made her landmark transition to the new era, playing a former prostitute whose past may ruin her chance for happiness. A different director and cast join Garbo in a German-language version included on Side B which was filmed on the same soundstage immediately after the English version. Special features (Side B): German language version with subtitles in English (85 min.) Based on Eugene O'Neill's play "Anna Christie"; adapted by Frances Marion. 89 min. DVD 7551; vhs 999:2521
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Holmberg, Arthur. "Fallen Angels at Sea: Garbo, Ullman, Richardson, and the Contradictory Prostitute in Anna Christie." Eugene O'Neill Review, vol. 20, no. 1-2, pp. 43-63, Spring 1996
- Anna Lucasta (1930)
- Directed by Arnold Laven. Cast: Eartha Kitt, Sammy Davis, Jr., Frederick O'Neal, Rex Ingram, James Edwards, Henry Scott.
When wild child Anna Lucasta is thrown out of the house by her self-righteous father, she falls into a life of prostitution ... and into the arms of street-wise sailor Danny Johnson. But after Anna shocks them all by finally finding true love with a well-heeled young suitor, her unforgiving father sets a vengeful plan in motion to remind his daughter of her sordid past and destroy her future forever! Based on the play by Philip Yordan. 97 min. DVD X1971
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
- Directed by Blake Edwards. Cast: Cast: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, Vilallonga, John McGiver, Mickey Rooney.
Holly Golightly is an eccentric New York City playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian millionaire. Her next-door neighbor, a writer, is "sponsored" by a wealthy patroness. Guessing who's the right man for Holly is easy; seeing how romance blossoms reveals the enduring popularity of the film. 114 min. DVD 936; vhs 999:703
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Krämer, Peter "The Many Faces of Holly Golightly: Truman Capote, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Hollywood." Film Studies 5 (Winter 2004) p. 58-65 UC users only
- Butterfield 8 (1960)
- Directed by Daniel Mann. Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Eddie Fisher, Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field, Dina Merrill. A high-class call girl in New York and a socially prominant man fall in love. However, he can't forget her past and she resents his distrust, so they battle their emotions and each other, leading to a powerful and explosive climax. Based on the novel by John O'Hara. 110 min. DVD 7551; vhs 999:2521
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)
- Directed by Gene Kelly. Cast: James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Shirley Jones, Sue Ane Langdon, Elaine Devry. Saddle-weary Texan cowboys are surprised to find they've inherited a Wyoming brothel and must defend it against a gun-wieding gang. 102 min. DVD 6171 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Dirty Girls(1964)
- Director, Radley H. Metzger. Cast: Reine Rohan, Denise Roland, Marlene Sherter, Peter Parten.
A visually elegant look at the friendship between a pair of European prostitutes showing the many exploits of Garance in Paris and Monique, the fantastic "woman of ten thousand pleasures," in Munich. 82 min. DVD 6357
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Morris, Gary. "Radley Metzger on DVD." Bright Lights November 2002 | Issue 38 UC users only
Morris, Gary. "Thoughts on Radley Metzger." Bright Lights November 2002 | Issue 38 UC users only
Testa, Bart. "Soft-Shaft Opportunism: Radley Metzger's Erotic Kitsch." Spectator - The University of Southern California Journal of Film and Television 19:2 (Spring-Summer 1999) p. 40-57 p. 40-57 UC users only
- Escort Girl(1941)
- Director, Eddie Kaye. Cast: Betty Compson, Margaret Marquis, Bob Kellard, Wheeler Oakman, Guy Kingsford, Isabel Lamal, Arthur Houseman.
Betty Compson and Wheeler Oakman run an escort bureau. Betty's daughter has been educated elsewhere and does not know about her mother's business. She is about to marry a socialite, Bob Kellard, who is investigating the escort bureau racket.
62 min. DVD X531
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Foxy Brown (1974)
- Directed by Jack Hill. Cast: Pam Grier, Peter Brown, Terry Carter, Kathryn Loder, Harry Holcombe, Antonio Fargas. Foxy Brown finally has found the love of her life, an undercover narcotics investigator who is later murdered in cold blood. In order to find the killers, she goes undercover as a call girl in this urban vigilante drama about drugs, prostitution, political corruption and family meltdown. 94 min. DVD 485; VHS 999:1648
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Holmlund, Chris. "Wham! Bam! Pam! Pam Grier as Hot Action Babe and Cool Action Mama." Quarterly Review of Film and Video Volume 22, Number 2/April-June 2005UC users only
Reel knockouts : violent women in the movies / edited by Martha McCaughey and Neal King. 1st ed. Austin : University of Texas Press, 2001. (Main Stack PN1995.9.W6.R454 2001)
Schubart, Rikke. "Godmother" of Them All: The Rise
and Fall of Pam Grier" In: Super bitches and action babes : the female hero in popular cinema, 1970-2006 Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2007. (MAIN: PN1995.9.W6 S363 2007)
- Frisco Jenny (1932)
- Directed by William A. Wellman. Cast: Ruth Chatterton, Louis Calhern. Jenny was orphaned by the 1906 earthquake and fire and has gone on to become the madame of a prosperous bawdy house. After putting her son up for adoption, he becomes a district attorney dedicated to closing down such houses. She kills an underling who wants her son dead and is now facing execution. Special features: Commentary on "Midnight Mary" by historians Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta; S.S. Dine detective short "The studio murder mystery;" vintage Pete Smith short "Goofy movies #1;" classic cartoon "Bosko's parlor pranks;" theatrical trailers. 70 min. DVD X1427
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Gambling with Souls(1936)
- Director, Elmer Clifton.. Cast: Martha Chapin, Wheeler Oakman, Bryant Washburn, Gay Sheridan, Vera Steadman, Ed Keane, Robert Frazer, Gaston Glass, Florence Dudley, Eddie Laughton.
A young housewife longs for the finer things in life, things she thinks her husband cannot or will not provide her. Looking for some excitement and a way to get the things she wants, the housewife turns to frequenting shady bars and gambling. When the crooked gambling operator cheats the woman into a large debt, he forces her into prostitution to pay off her losses. 70 min. DVD X531; also DVD X971
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Gigi (1958)
- Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Cast: Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold, Eva Gabor, Jacques Bergerac, Isabel Jeans. The musical story of a French girl groomed to be a courtesan, but who blossoms into a lady. Screenplay and lyrics, Alan Jay Lerner: music, Frederick Loewe. 117 min. DVD 618; VHS 999:746 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Girlfriend Experience (1008)
- Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Cast: Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, Philip Eytan.
Summary A drama set in the days leading up to the 2008 Presidential election, and centered on a high-end Manhattan call girl meeting the challenges of her boyfriend, her clients, and her work. 78 min. DVD X2164
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- I Am a Sex Addict (2005)
- Directed by Caveh Zahedi. Cast: Caveh Zahedi, Rebecca Lord, Emily Morse, Amanda Henderson.
"In the moments before his third marriage, Caveh Zahedi looks into the camera and flashes back to a vividly disturbing yet poignant story of his long obsession with prostitutes and how that obsession has served to destroy his previous marriages and relationships. Can Caveh overcome his addiction and finally succeed in a relationship?" [IMDB] 114 min. DVD 6515
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Insect Woman (Nippon konchu-ki) (Japan, 1963)
- Directed by Shohei Imamura. Cast: Hidari Sachiko, Kishi Teruko, Sasaki Sumie, Nagato Hiroyuki, Harukawa Masumi.
Portrays 45 years in the life of a woman and her struggles to survive. The story progresses from her life as a country girl to her years as a successful and ruthless madam in Tokyo and back again to her native village. Special features: Conversation between Imamura and Tadao Sato about the film ; interview with Tony Rayns ; booklet essay by Dennis Lim. 123 min. DVD X1630 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Intentions of Murder (Akai satsui) (1964)
- Directed by Shohei Imamura. Cast: Harukawa Masumi, Nishimura Akira, Tsuyuguchi Shigeru, Kato- Yoshi, Kitamura Kazuo.
Sadako is a typical Imamura heroine: one who revels in the pleasures of food, labor, sex, and self-preservation. Carrying the burden of her status as a lowly, poor, prostitute-birthed commoner wife, Sadako is subjected to an escalating series of belittlement both at home and in society. Special features: Conversation between Imamura and critic Tadao Sato ; interview with Tony Rayns ; booklet essay by James Quandt. 150 min. DVD X1632 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Irma La Douce (1963)
- Directed by Billy Wilder. Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Bruce Yarnell, Herschel Bernardi. Nestor, business manager for a proud and profitable lady of the streets, unexpectedly falls in love with her. But she is in love with Nestor-in-disguise, who is playing the part of an elderly English nobleman. 143 min. DVD 1761
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Klute (1971)
- Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Cast: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Roy Scheider, Charles Cioffi, Dorothy Tristan, Rita Gam. A small-town policeman comes to New York in search of a missing friend, and during his investigation meets and falls in love with a call girl who is being stalked by a vicious psychotic killer. 114 min. DVD 3312; vhs 999:999
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
- Directed by Mike Figgis. Cast: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands.
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter whom lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera. 112 min. DVD 5035
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Fried, John. "Leaving Las Vegas." Cineaste 22:1 (April 1996) p. 64
UC users only
Nick James. "Intoxication."
Sight and Sound 7:2 (February 1997) p. 26-28UC users only
Piano, Doreen. "Leaving Las Vegas: Reading the Prostitute as a Voice Abjection." In: Exclusions in feminist thought : challenging the boundaries of womanhood / edited by Mary Brewer. Brighton ; Portland, Or. : Sussex Academic Press, 2002. (Main Stack HQ1206.E98 2002)
Stenberg, Douglas. "'A Kind of View Into the Other Side of Time': Echoes Of Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground in Leaving Las Vegas." Literature Film Quarterly, 2000, Vol. 28 Issue 3, P214, 8p UC users only
Thomson, David. "The hole you're in." Film Comment; Nov/Dec95, Vol. 31 Issue 6, p36, 4pUC users only
- Mad Youth(1940)
- Director, Melville Shyer.
Cast: Mary Ainslee, Betty Compson, Willy Castello, Betty Atkinson, Tommy Wonder.
A divorced mother and her teenaged daughter lead equally wild lifestyles. The mother hires gigolos to escort her around town and the daughter hosts drinking and stripping parties while mother is away. Complications come up for mother and daughter when they both find themselves seeing the same man and the daughter ends up falling into a prostitution ring while trying to visit her friend. 76 min. DVD X531; also DVD X971
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Marked Woman (1937)
- Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Screenplay: Robert Rossen. Cast: Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Eduardo Ciannelli, Jane Bryan, Rosalind Marquis, Mayo Methot, Allen Jenkins, John Litelben Welden, Henry O'Neill.
A crusading prosecutor uses a prostitute to indict mobster Johnny Vanning. Inspired by the real-life saga of prostitutes whose testimony put Lucky Luciano behind bars. Special features : New featurette : Marked woman : ripped from the headlines -- 2 classic cartoons : Porky's hero agency ; She was an acrobat's daughter -- Theatrical trailer. 96 min. DVD 7585 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Campbell, Russell. Marked women : prostitutes and prostitution in the cinema. Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, c2006. (Main Stack PN1995.9.P76.C36 2006; PFA PN1995.9.P76.C36 2006)
Eckert, Charles W. "The Anatomy of a Proletarian Film: Warner's "Marked Woman"" Film Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Winter, 1973-1974), pp. 10-24
UC users only
Kay, Karyn. "Sisters of the Night." Velvet Light Trap: A Critical Journal of Film & Television; Fall72 Issue 6, p20-25, 6p,
Neve, Brian. "The Screenwriter and the Social Problem Film, 1936-38: The Case of Robert Rossen at Warner Brothers." Film and History 14:1 (Feb. 1984) p. 2
UC users only
- McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
- Directed by Robert Altman. Cast: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, Hugh Millais, Shelly Duvall. "What many consider to be Robert Altman's best film is a western, set in some wild, frozen corner of the Northwest Territory, where somehow there exists the shanty town of Presbyterian Church. And an itinerant, bluffing gambler named John McCabe (Warren Beatty). And a professional whore and realist named Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie) with whom McCabe has both a business relationship and something akin to love. And a host of miners and prostitutes whose mumbled reveries and half-expressed movements reflect the tenuousness of life in a precariously built town barely able to protect them from the changing seasons (superbly captured by Vilmos Zsigmond's photography) and politics. It's a western, but an Altman western, filled with Altman humor, Altman moods and Altman absurdities. When McCabe goes out to face the mining company's hired guns, it's morning, not High Noon, and Mrs. Miller, the realist, has already retreated to the sure indifference of the opium pipe"--Pacific Film Archive film note. 121 min. DVD 1275; vhs 999:419
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Midnight Mary (1933)
- Directed by William A. Wellman. Cast: Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, Franchot Tone, Andy Devine, Una Merkel. A mistaken arrest, a prison term, and lack of employment leads to a young woman's involvement with gangsters. In a brothel she meets a wealthy lawyer who falls in love with her. He helps her turn her life around, but her past catches up with her and now she is on trial for murder. 74 min. DVD X1427
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
- Directed by Woody Allen. Cast: F. Murray Abraham, Woody Allen, Claire Bloom, Helena Bonham Carter, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Rapaport, Mira Sorvino, David Ogden Stiers, Jack Warden, Peter Weller. In this comic feature a sportswriter tries to track down the mother of his adopted son and discovers she is a prostitute and pornographic film star. 95 min. DVD 107; VHS 999:1881
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Monster (2003)
- Written and directed by Patty Jenkins. Cast: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen, Annie Corley, Marco St. John, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Scott Wilson. Based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who was executed in 2002 for the brutal murders of at least 6 men in Florida. Homeless in Florida, down to her last five dollars and pondering suicide, she stopped into a bar for a beer where she meets Selby, who becomes her lesbian lover. One night, after a man attacks her, Aileen pulls a gun and kills the man. Aileen's loathing for the men who pay her for sex becomes so extreme that she begins killing her customers regardless of their behavior. 109 min. DVD 2752
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Doherty, Thomas. "Aileen Wuornos: Superstar."
Cineaste, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 3-5, Summer 2004
UC users only
Ginsberg, Terri. "Lesbian violence: as fascist crusade in monster." Genders, 2006, Issue 43
UC users only
Horeck, Tanya.
"From documentary to drama: capturing Aileen Wuornos." Screen, Summer2007, Vol. 48 Issue 2, p141-159, 19p; DOI: 10.1093/screen/hjm012; (AN 26061254)
UC users only
"The Making of a Monster." Journal of Feminist Family Therapy; 2004, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p83-85, 3p
Miller, Jody. "Monster? Portraits of a Female 'Serial Killer.'" PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 49 (Suppl 7), 2004
UC users only
Quart, Leonard. "Monster."
Cineaste 29:2 (Spring 2004)
UC users only
Steele, Bruce C. "The making of a Monster." (cover story) Advocate; 3/2/2004 Issue 909, p34-45, 9p UC users only
- Naked Kiss(1964)
- Directed by Samuel Fuller. Cast: Constance Towers, Anthony Eisley, Michael Dante, Virginia Grey. Kelly, a prostitute, shows up in the town of Grantville, where she engages in a tryst with sheriff Griff, who then tells her to get out of town. Instead, she decides to give up her illicit lifestyle, and becomes involved in working with handicapped children. Griff doesn't trust her, and continues trying to run her out of town. Kelly falls in love with Grant, scion of the town's founding family and Griff's best friend. Just as Griff begins to believe that Kelly may be on the level, a murder and perversion scandal threaten to destroy Kelly's new life [from Internet Movie Database]. DVD 1079; vhs 999:495
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Fuller, Samuel. A Third face : my tale of writing, fighting and filmmaking / Samuel Fuller with Christa Lang Fuller and Jerome Henry Rude. New York : Alfred A. Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 2002. (Main Stack PN1998.3.F85.A3 2002)
Garnham, Nicholas. Samuel Fuller.
New York, Viking Press [1972, c1971] ( MAIN: PN1993 .C45 v.15 [another edition]; MOFF: PN1998.A3 F843 1972)
Hardy, Phil. Samuel Fuller.
[New York] Praeger [1970] (MAIN: PN1998.A3F845 H3; MOFF: PN1998 A3 F845)
Sanjek, David. 'Torment Street between Malicious and Crude': Sophisticated Primitivism in the Films of Samuel Fuller. Literature/ Film Quarterly, vol. 22 no. 3. 1994. pp: 187-94.
Server, Lee. Sam Fuller : film is a battleground : a critical study, with interviews, a filmography, and a bibliography Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, c1994. (MAIN: PN1998.3.F85 S47 1994)
- Party Girl (1930)
- Directed by Victor Halperin. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Jeannette Loff, Judith Barrie, John St. Polis, Sammy Blum.
A daring dramatization of the secret, inner workings of an escort service. Miss Lindsey runs a party girl racket, sending poor girls to make quick money servicing the impulses of rich men. 61 min. DVD X971
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Pretty Baby (1978)
- Directed by Louis Malle. Cast: Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields, Frances Faye, Antonio Fargas, Matthew Anton, Diana Scarwid, Barbara Steele, Seret Scott, Cheryl Markowitz, Susan Manskey, Laura Zimmerman, Miz Mary, Gerrit Graham, Mae Mercer.
A dramatization of a historical figure, the noted New Orleans photographer, E. J. Bellocq. He becomes obsessed with filming the prostitutes in New Orleans' red-light district, circa 1917, and is bewitched by the naive coquettishness of a twelve-year-old child prostitute. 109 min. DVD 2153; vhs 999:3149 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hirschman, Elizabeth C.; Stern, Barbara B.
"Women As Commodities: Prostitution as Depicted in The Blue Angel, Pretty Baby, and Pretty Woman." Advances in Consumer Research, 1994, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p576-581, 6p;
UC users only
- Pretty Woman(1999)
- Director, Garry Marshall.
Cast: Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Ralph Bellamy.
When successful corporate mogul Edward Lewis meets independent and carefree Vivian Ward, their two lives are worlds apart. But Vivien's energetic spirit challenges Edward's no-nonsense, business-minded approach to life, sparking an immediate attraction. He teaches her the finer things of life -- she teaches him that love could be the best investment he ever made. 119 min. vhs 999:2320
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Cooks, Leda M.; Orbe, Mark P.; Bruess, Carol S. "The Fairy Tale Theme in Popular Culture: A Semiotic Analysis of Pretty Woman."
Women's Studies in Communication, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 86-104, Fall 1993
Greenberg, Harvey Roy. "Rescrewed: Pretty Woman's Co-opted Feminism."
Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 9-13, Spring 1991
Hirschman, Elizabeth C.; Stern, Barbara B.
"Women As Commodities: Prostitution as Depicted in The Blue Angel, Pretty Baby, and Pretty Woman." Advances in Consumer Research, 1994, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p576-581, 6p;
UC users only
Kelley, Karol. "A Modern Cinderella." Journal of American Culture, Volume 17, Issue 1 (p 87-92) UC users only
Knight, Deborah; McKnight, George.
"Whose Genre Is It, Anyway? Thomas Wartenberg on the Unlikely Couple Film." Journal of Social Philosophy, Summer2002, Vol. 33 Issue 2, p330-338, 9p UC users only
Miner, Madonne. "No matter what they say, it's all about money." Journal of Popular Film & Television; Spring92, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p8, 7p
UC users only
O'Sullivan, Jane. "Virtual Metamorphoses: Cosmetic and Cybernetic Revisions of Pygmalion's 'Living Doll'." Arethusa, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 133-156, Winter 2008
UC users only
Radner, Hillary. "Pretty is as Pretty Does: Free Enterprise and the Marriage Plot." In: Film theory goes to the movies / edited by Jim Collins, Hilary Radner, and Ava Preacher Collins.
New York : Routledge, 1993. (Main Stack PN1994.F43915 1993; Moffitt PN1994.F43915 1993)
Scala, Elizabeth.
"Pretty Women: The Romance of the Fair Unknown, Feminism, and Contemporary Romantic Comedy." Film & History, Feb-May1999, Vol. 29 Issue 1/2, p34-45, 12p
UC users only
Smith, Claude J., Jr. "Bodies and Minds for Sale: Prostitution in Pretty Woman and Indecent Proposal." Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 91-99, Apr 1997
Soyini, Madison, D. "Pretty Woman through the Triple Lens of Black Feminist Spectatorship." In: From mouse to mermaid : the politics of film, gender, and culture / Elizabeth Bell, Lynda Haas, Laura Sells, editors. Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1995. (available online [UCB users only]; print: ANTH: PN1999.W27 F76 1995; MAIN: PN1999.W27 F76 1995)
Wartenberg, Thomas E. "Pretty Woman: A Fairy Tale of Oedipalized Capitalism." In: Unlikely couples : movie romance as social criticism / Thomas E. Wartenberg. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999. (Main Stack PN1995.9.L6.W37 1999)
- The Princess & the Call Girl (USA / France, 1984)
- Director, Radley Metzger. Cast: Carol Levy, Victor Bevine, Shannah Hall, Chris Beach, Noel Cohen.
A beautiful socialite Audrey Swallow owes a big one to Lucy Darling, her lookalike pal. So when Lucy begs her, Audrey agrees to impersonate Lucy, a high-priced call girl. And when Audrey is delayed getting back, Lucy has to impersonate Audrey and entertain her guests at the engagement party and Lucy can be very entertaining! 90 min. DVD 6367
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Morris, Gary. "Radley Metzger on DVD." Bright Lights November 2002 | Issue 38 UC users only
Morris, Gary. "Thoughts on Radley Metzger." Bright Lights November 2002 | Issue 38 UC users only
Testa, Bart. "Soft-Shaft Opportunism: Radley Metzger's Erotic Kitsch." Spectator - The University of Southern California Journal of Film and Television 19:2 (Spring-Summer 1999) p. 40-57 p. 40-57 UC users only
- Rain (1932)
- Directed by Lewis Milestone. Cast: Joan Crawford, Walter Huston, William Gargan, Guy Kibbee, Walter Catlett, Beulah Bondi, Matt Moore, Kendall Lee, Ben Hendricks, Frederick Howard. When a fanatical missionary and his wife are marooned in a hut with a former prostitute during a week-long tropical storm in Pago Pago, the conflict swells to explosive proportions in this early talkie version of a much filmed story. Other versions include: Sadie Thompson (1928) and Miss Sadie Thompson (1953). Adapted from the play by John Colton and Clemence Randolph. Original story by W. Somerset Maugham. 76 min. DVD 1152
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Red Kimona(1925)
- Director, Paul Brickman.
Cast: Priscilla Bonner, Nellie Bly Baker, Carl Miller, Mary Carr, Virginia Pearson, Tyrone Power, Sr.
A vulnerable young woman, whose blind trust in a man leads her into a New Orleans bordello, endures the hardships of that life, but is eventually driven to murdering her lover. A sympathetic jury acquits her and after a period of hardship she ultimately finds happiness. 80 min. DVD 9795 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Risky Business(1983)
- Director, Paul Brickman.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano, Bronson Pinchot.
Left alone in the wealthy northern Chicago suburbs with the family house and Porsche at his disposal, Joel, through his scheming friends, finds himself entertaining to-die-for lady-of-the-night Lana. After meeting Joel's enthusiastic friends, Lana spots a business opportunity, and suggests bringing in some of her equally stunning colleagues. Joel is aghast at such an idea, at least until the Porsche accidentally falls into Lake Michigan, requiring a quick infusion of ready cash. 119 min. DVD X635 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Geduld, Harry M. "Prodigal Business." Humanist; Nov/Dec1983, Vol. 43 Issue 6, p41-42, 2p
UC users only
Johnson, Eithne. "The Business of Sex." Journal of Popular Film & Television; Winter84/85, Vol. 12 Issue 4, p148-155, 8p
- The Road to Ruin(1933)
- Directors, Dorothy Davenport and Melville Shyer. Cast: Helen Foster, Neil O'Day, Glen Boles, Paul Page.
An innocent young girl gets involved with a crowd that smokes marijuana, drinks and has sex. She winds up an alcoholic, pregnant drug addict and is forced to get an abortion. 62 min. DVD X531
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Sadie Thompson (1928)
- Directed by Raoul Walsh. Cast: Gloria Swanson, Lionel Barrymore, Raoul Walsh.
Stranded passengers on Pago Pago during an epidemic include Sadie Thompson, a prostitute, and Alfred Davidson, a reformer whose lust for her masquerades as a desire to save her soul. Based on the novella Miss Thompson / by Somerset Maugham. 97 min.DVD 7554; also DVD X353; vhs 999:844
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Satan Was a Lady (2001)
- Directed by Doris Wishman. Cast: Honey Lauren, Glyn Styler, Edge Hans Lohl, Laudet Torres.
A melodrama that descends with a hell-bent spiral about a whore who longs for a touch of mink and a way out no matter what... Special features: Wishman unadulterated (behind the scenes) ; Glyn Styler solos ; filmography. 85 min. DVD 8224
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bowen, Michael J. "Embodiment and Realization:
The Many Film-Bodies of Doris Wishman." Wide Angle 19.3 (1997) 64-90
UC users only
Luckett, Moya. "Sexploitation as Feminine Territory: The Films of Doris Wishman." In: Defining cult movies : the cultural politics of oppositional taste / edited by Mark Jancovich ... [et al.]. Manchester, UK ; New York : Manchester University Press : Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave,
2003. (Main Stack PN1995.9.S284.D44 2003)
Modleski, Tania. "Women's Cinema as Counterphobic Cinema: Doris Wishman as the Last Auteur."
In: Sleaze artists : cinema at the margins of taste, style, and politics Jeffrey Sconce, ed. Durham : Duke University Press, 2007.
(MAIN: PN1995.9.S284 S64 2007)
Quarles, Mike. "Doris Wishman: How Did a Nice Girl Like You End Up in a Book Like This?" In: Down and dirty : Hollywood's exploitation filmmakers and their movies Jefferson, NC : McFarland, c1993. (Main Stack PN1998.2.Q37 1993)
- Shanghai Express(1949)
- Director, Josef von Sternberg. Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Eugene Pallette.
After being jilted by Clive Brook, Marlene Dietrich becomes known as Shanghai Lily, a notorious "adventuress". During the Chinese civil war, the couple meet on a train which is attacked by Chinese rebels. Dietrich becomes involved with a rebel leader in order to save the man she still loves. Includes original theatrical trailer. "By 1932, though, Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express had focused the lens on the courtesan's unseemly trade.
Shanghai Lil may be said to be the inaugural manifestation of the perfect cinema prostitute." [Dammann, Guy . "The power of prostitutes on film." Culture Vulture blog Jan. 18, 2006]82 min. DVD X2068; vhs 999:932 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- She Shoulda Said "No!"(1949)
- Director, Sherman Scott. Cast: Alan Baxter, Lyle Talbot, Lila Leeds, Doug Blackley.
Narrator: Knox Manning.
A "good" girl works day and night as a dancer in Los Angeles to finance her brother's college education. Then a dope peddler enters the picture and casts a cloud of smoke and money around her. When her brother comes home from college and finds out what his sister has been up to to finance his education, he commits suicide. Beset by guilt, she slips farther down into the pit of marijuana addiction and despair.
70 min. DVD X531
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Slaves in Bondage(1937)
- Director, Elmer Clifton. Cast: Lona Andre, Donald Wood, Wheeler Oakman, Florence Dudley.
A crooked businessman and his female partner use her beauty salon as a recruitment center for girls to work as prostitutes at his roadhouse. The younger sister of one of the beauticians falls under the unwanted gaze of the lecherous businessman. Meanwhile, the girl's newspaper reporter boyfriend investigating the prostitution ring is set up for a fall with the police, by the crooked businessman who hopes to make the girl his own.
70 min. DVD X531; also DVD DVD X971
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Taxi Driver(1976)
- Director, Martin Scorsese. Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, Leonard Harris, Peter Boyle, Cybill Sheperd.
A psychotic New York City cab driver goes on a violent rampage in an effort to save a teenage prostitute in a world of filth and corruption. 114 min. DVD 571; vhs 999:70
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Traffic in Souls (1913)
- Directed by George Loane Tucker. Cast: Jane Gail, Matt Moore, Ethel Grandin, Fred Turner.
Produced when social problem dramas were popular and co-financed by reform groups, this film is set against the white slavery rackets of the 1910s. Purportedly based on findings of "the John D. Rockefeller White Slavery Report and the investigation of the Vice Trust by District Attorney Whitman," the melodrama is skillfully crafted to evoke the feel of "true crime" in the Victorian era, like the pages of the National Police Gazette brought vividly to life. The film was reportedly screened before female immigrants at Ellis Island as a caution to the dangers of the New World. Special DVD feature: Optional audio essay soundtrack by Shelley Stamp ; "The call of the city" / (Harry Beaumont, director) ; music, Rodney Sauer (ca. 12 min.) 90 min. Video DVD 9992; vhs 999:3608 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Diffee, Christopher. "Sex and the City: The White Slavery Scare and Social Governance in the Progressive Era."
American Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 411-37, June 2005
UC users only
Lindsey, Shelley Stamp. ""Oil upon the Flames of Vice": The Battle over White Slave Films in New York City." Film History 9:4 (1997) p. 351-364
UC users only
Stamp, Shelley. "Is Any Girl Safe? Motion Pictures, Women's Leisure, and the White Slave Scare." In: Movie-struck girls : women and motion picture culture after the nickelodeon
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2000. (Main Stack PN1995.9.W6.S75 2000; PFA PN1995.9.W6.S75 2000)
Whissel, Kristen. "Regulating Mobility: Modernity, Traffic, and Feature-length Narrativity in Traffic in Souls." Camera Obscura, Vol 39, Spring 2002
UC users only
- True Romance (1993)
- Directed by Tony Scott. Cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken. "This Quentin Tarantino scripted film uses the theme of 'boy meets girl.' Here, though, boy meets girl, boy kills girl's pimp, couple takes pimp's coke, and bad boys chase couple. And Elvis is their Guardian Angel" [IMDB] 121 min. Video 999:2299 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Review Query Engine - Unforgiven (1992)
- Directed by Clint Eastwood. Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris. Two retired, down-on-their luck outlaws pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty offered by the vengeful prostitutes of the remote Wyoming town of Big Whiskey.
131 min. 999:1108
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie DatabaseMovie Review Query Engine
- Waterloo Bridge (1931)
- Directed by James Whale. Cast: Mae Clarke, Kent Douglass [Douglass Montgomery], Doris Lloyd, Bette Davis, Enid Bennett, Frederick Kerr.
Roy Cronin, a Canadian soldier in London on furlough, falls in love with Myra Deauville, unaware that she is a prostitute. She accepts his proposal of marriage just prior to his being shipped to the front. They visit his uncle, mother and sister for a weekend in the country. Myra realizes she cannot escape her past and, after Roy leaves, tells his mother about herself. Back in London she is killed in an air raid. From the stage play by Robert E. Sherwood. 81 min. DVD 6674
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Wild and the Wicked (1956)
- Director, Merle Connell. Cast: Joy Reynolds, Geri Moffatt, Mariko Perri, Norman Wright, Lisa Rack.
A young girl heads to Hollywood to visit her older sister with the hopes she can break into the movies. After her arrival her sister tries to explain the difficulties in making a career in show business, but the younger sister insists on trying. Eventually the young girl becomes involved in a prostitution ring run by mobsters, which is what her older sister has be doing but attempted to keep her sister from finding out. 90 min. DVD X531
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- World of Suzie Wong (1988)
- Directed by Richard Quine. Cast: William Holden, Nancy Kwan, Sylvia Syms, Michael Wilding. A struggling transplanted American artist, living in Hong Kong, who's down on his luck meets a beautiful Chinese prostitute who captures his heart. Together, they test the strength of true love. Based on Richard Lakin Mason's novel by the same name (UCB Main PR6025.A793 W6 1957). 119 min. DVD 2721; vhs 999:538
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hanawa, Yukiko.
"The world of Suzie Wong and M. Butterfly: race and gender in Asian America." Radical History Review, Winter 1996, Issue 64, p12-18, 7p
Marchetti, Gina. "White Knights in Hong Kong: Race, Gender, and the Exotic in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing and The World of Suzie Wong." Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities, vol. 10 no. 2. 1991 Winter. pp: 36-49.
McDonogh, Gary W.; Wong, Cindy Hing-Yuk. "Orientalism abroad: Hong Kong readings of The world of Suzie Wong." In: Classic Hollywood, classic whiteness / Daniel Bernardi, editor. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c2001. (Main Stack PN1995.9.M56.C59 2001)
- Foreign Films
- Accattone! (Italy, 1961)
- Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Cast: Franco Citti, Franca Pasut, Silvana Corsini, Paolo Guidi, Roberto Scaringella, Adriana Asti. The first of Pasolini's films presents a vivid picture of the Roman slums through a story of a pimp, his friends, his enemies and his girls. 120 min.DVD 1803; vhs 999:709 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Amor Bandido (Brazil, 1981)
- Directed by Bruno Baretto. Romantic melodrama about a baby-faced punk named Toninho, who struggles to make ends meet by murdering cab drivers for their money, and Sandra, the pretty Rio de Janeiro hooker who becomes his mistress. 90 min. Video 999:1374 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Astha (In the Prison of Spring) (India, 1997)
- Director, Basu Bhattacharya. Story of a lower middle class family in India. Unable to attain what she desires on her husband's meager salary, the wife gets involved in prostitution, and submerged in an abyss of guilt plans a confession by innuendo to pick up the threads of her life. 132 min. DVD 1959 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Baise-moi (Rape Me) (France, 2000)
- Directed and written by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi. Cast: Raffaela Anderson, Karen Bach. Manu is violently raped by a group of savage young thugs. Nadine, a tough-skinned prostitute, sells her body but refuses to give up her soul. Chance unites them and together they embark on a twisted rage-filled road trip of sex and murder. A vividly nihilist road movie set in France, controversial for its violence and real sex scenes. 77 min. DVD 1834
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Balcony (1963)
- Director: Joseph Strick. Cast: Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, Leonard Nimoy and Lee Grant. Madame Irma runs a brothel of illusion where ordinary people play out their dreams, while outside a revolution is in progress. The police chief sees the brothel as a rallying point against the revolution, while at the same time the leader of the revolution seeks refuge in the brothel, posing as the police chief. Adapted from the play Balcon by Jean Genet.
87 min. DVD 8353; vhs 999:378
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Battle in Heaven (Batalla en el cielo) (Mexico / Belgium / France / Germany, 2005)
- Directed by Carlos Reygadas. Cast: Marcos Hernandez, Anapola Mushkadiz, Bertha Ruiz, David Bornstein, Rosalinda Ramirez.
Marcos, a poverty-stricken chauffeur longs for a better life for his wife and young son. Desperate, the couple kidnaps an infant child for ransom. When the baby dies in their custody, this crime that Marcos hoped would brighten his family's future instead adds a crushing burden to his conscience. Meanwhile, Ana, an affluent general's daughter whom Marcos chauffeurs from place to place, secretly battles ennui by prostituting herself in a local brothel. The two confide their darkest secrets to one another, and as Marcos urges Ana to drop out of whoring, Ana tries to convince Marcos to turn himself in. Special features: Interview with director Carlos Reygadas and actress Anapola Mushkadiz; Selecting scenes from the director's award-winning first feature "Japon"; Original theatrical trailer. 95 min. DVD 9418
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Belle de Jour (France / Italy, 1967)
- Directed by Luis Buñuel. Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Geneviève Page. Subtle, erotic film about a wealthy young surgeon's wife who indulges her masochistic fantasies by working as a part-time prostitute in a Paris brothel. 95 min. DVD 1104; vhs 999:1113 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Business is Business (Wat zien ik?) (Netherlands, 1971)
- Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Cast: Ronnie Beirman, Sylvia De Leur, Piet Romer, Jules Hamel, Bernard Droog Henk Molenberg, Albert Mol. For hooker Blonde Greet, sexual fetish is a way of life and every deviant fantasy has its price. But when Blonde falls in love, she finds that business and pleasure can't mix without some unexpected complications. 89 min. DVD 6177 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Captain Pantoja and the Special Services (Pantaleon y las visitadoras) (Peru, 1999)
- Directed by Francisco J. Lombardi. Cast: Angie Cepeda, Salvador del Solar, Pilar Bardem, Monica Sanchez. A dedicated Peruvian army captain (and devoted husband) is put in charge of a top secret military operation--setting up a brothel in the Amazon jungle to satisfy the needs of his fellow soldiers. 119 min. DVD 3988
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- La Chienne (France, 1931)
- Directed by Jean Renoir. Cast: Michel Simon, Janie Marèze, Georges Flamant, Magdalaine Berubet. "Cashier Maurice Legrand is married to Adele, a terror. By chance, he meets Lucienne, "Lulu", and make her his mistress. He thinks he finally met love, but Lulu is nothing but a streetwalker, in love with Dede, her pimp. She only accepts Legrand to satisfy Dede's needs of money." [IMDB] 55 min. 999:576 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Anzalone, J. "Artful shenanigans: painting, prostitution, and cinema in Jean Renoir's La Chienne." In: Peripheries of nineteenth-century French studies : views from the edge / edited by Timothy Raser. Newark : University of Delaware Press ; London ; Cranbury, NJ : Associated University Presses, c2002. (Main Stack PQ281.P48 2002)
- Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle (Two or Three Things I Know About Her) (1966)
- Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Marina Vlady, Anny Duperey, Roger Montsoret, Jean Narboni, Christophe Bourseiller, Joseph Gehrard, Raoul Levy, Yves Beneyton, Juliet Berto, Helena Bielicic, Marie Bourseiller, Robert Chevassu, Blanding Jeanson, Benjamin Jules-Rosette, Jean-Pierre Laverne, Jean-Patrick Lebel, Anna Manga, Claude Miller, Helene Scott.
The "her" in the film refers to Paris. Inspired by a real article on housewife prostitution, the film examines Godard's theory that if you lived in Paris (at the time) one had to prostitute oneself to survive. This "sociological fable" is shot through the eyes of Juliette, a housewife who spends one day a week in central Paris selling her body on the street in the hope that she will be able to escape the high rise suburban drudgery in which she lives with her family, and find happiness. Disc set includes book (50 p.) on making of the film. 84 min. DVD 8461; vhs 999:1761
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Devil's Wanton (Fängelse) (Sweden, 1949)
- Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Cast: Birger Malmsten, Doris Svedlund, Hasse Ekman, Eva Henning, Stig Olin. In this early film by Bergman questions about God and life are probed in a story that interweaves the lives of a film director, a poet and his wife, a prostitute and her boyfriend-pimp. Although Bergman convincingly depicts a world in which people are adrift, or drowning in a sea of confusion and despair, the film is almost never depressing and at times is humorous, even exhilarating. 78 min. 999:2910
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Diary of a Lost Girl (Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen) (Germany, 1929)
- Directed by G.W. Pabst, G.W. Thymiane Henning (Louise Brooks), an innocent young girl, is raped by the clerk of her father's pharmacy. She becomes pregnant, is rejected by her family, and must fend for herself in a harsh, cruel world [Internet Movie Database]
99 min. DVD 1173; vhs 999:127
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- G.W. Pabst bibliography
Lulu in Berlin. Video/C 1849
The Role of Women in the Movies. Video/C 835 NRLF #: B 4 175 470
- McCarthy, Margaret. "The Representation of Prostitutes in Literature and Film: Margarete Böhme and G. W. Pabst." In: Commodities of desire : the prostitute in modern German literature / edited by Christiane Schonfeld.
Rochester, NY : Camden House, 2000. (Main Stack PT345.C58 2000)
Schlupmann, Heide. "The Brothel as an Arcadian Space? Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)" In: The Films of G. W. Pabst: An Extraterritorial Cinema / edited by Eric Rentschler. pp: 80-90.
New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, c1990.(Main Stack PN1998.3.P34.F5 1990; Moffitt PN1998.3.P34.F5 1990)
- Durian, Durian (Liu lian piao piao) (Hong Kong, 2000)
- Directed by Chen Guo. Cast: Qin Hailu, Mai Huifen. The film is divided into two parts, with the first half taking place in Hong Kong and the latter half another world away, in Mudanjiang near the North Korean border. The consistent thread is a young Mainland lady, Yan. The movie records her stay in Hong Kong where, on a three-month visa, she services as many as three dozen clients a day, and her post-Hong Kong existence back home where she uses her hard-earned cash to become a successful and respected entrepreneuse. PAL format DVD. 116 min. DVD 2867 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Flowers of Shanghai (Hai shang hua) (Taiwan, 1998)
- Director, Hou Hsiao-hsien. Cast: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Michiko Hada, Lee Yu-ming, Carina Lau Ka-ling. Based on the 1894 novel by Han Ziyun this film is set in the elegant brothels of late nineteenth century Shanghai, a hermetic world with its own highly ritualized codes of behavior, where "flower girls," must win, and then hold, the affection of their wealthy callers. 113 min. DVD 1229; vhs 999:2537
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hyenas (Hyènes) (Senegal, 1992)
- Directed by Djibril Diop Mambety. An old woman who has become rich returns to create all kinds of trouble. Based on "Der Besuch der alten Dame" by Friedrich Durrenmatt. In French with English subtitles. 113 min. DVD 3572; VHS 999:1152
- Description from California Newsreel catalog
Description from Kino catalog Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Jeanne Dielman 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Belgium / France, 1975)
- Directed by Chantal Anne Akerman. Cast: Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck.
Chronicles mundane episodes from the daily life of a 40-year-old housewife/prostitute who snaps when faced with intense emotion and commits a horrifying crime. Special features DVD X1959: Restored digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Chantal Akerman; "Autour de Jeanne Dielman:" a documentary shot by actor Sami Frey and edited by Agnes Ravez and Akerman, made during the filming; new interviews with Akerman and cinematographer Babette Mangolte; excerpt from "Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman:" a 1997 episode of the French television program Cinéma de notre temps; interview with Akerman's mother, Natalia; archival television interview excerpt featuring Akerman and star Delphine Seyrig; "Saute ma ville:" (1968), Akerman's first film, with an introduction by the director. A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Ivone Margulies. 85 min. DVD X1959; DVD 8267 (non-US format DVD) Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Autour de Jeanne Dielman (1975-2004)
- An unpublished documentary on the filming of "Jeanne Dielman" mounted by Chantal Akerman and Agnes Ravez and filmed throughout the shooting by Sami Frey. Looks at the relationships during rehearsals between Delphine Seyrig, Chantal Akerman and the team, almost exclusively female. Special feature: Entretien avec Chantal Akerman (1966; 17 min. : sd., col.) 78 min. DVD 8267
- J'embrasse pas (I Don't Kiss) (France / Italy, 1991)
- Directed by André Téchiné. Cast: Philippe Noiret, Emmanuelle Beart, Manuel Blanc, Helène Vincent, Ivan Desny, Christophe Bernard, Roschdy Zem, Raphaeline Goupilleau, Michèle Moretti.
Pierre breaks away from his family life in rural France and moves to Paris where he finds it harder than expected to become an actor. He rejects the help of an older gay man and lives on the streets, where he meets a young female prostitute. 116 min. DVD X61 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Joyless Street (Die Freudlose Gasse) (1925)
- Directed by G.W. Pabst. Cast: Greta Garbo, Werner Krauss, Asta Nielson, Jaro Furth, Robert Garrison. "Vienna in the biggest depression, directly after WW1. In a slum, Lila Leid, the wife of lawyer Leid is murdered, Egon, secretary of one of Leid's clients is arrested. He was with her, and had her necklace, because he needed some money for his own stock exchange deals. The same deal brings poverty to ex-government official Rumfort, his daughter Greta, who also has lost her job, tries to get some money to get food. She rents a room of the flat she, her young sister and her father are living in to an American Red Cross official, who pays $60 rent, but the money is taken by some of her father's creditors. But their neighbour, shop owner Mrs Greifer knows how to "help", she and Mrs. Merkel are running a nightclub with a brothel." [IMDB]
80 min. DVD X30; vhs 999:318
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Keetje Tippel (Katie Tippel; Girl named Katy Tippel) (Netherlands, 1975)
- Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Cast: Rutger Hauer, Monique Van de Ven, Eddy Brugman, Andrea Domburg. In 1881 a young Dutch girl moves with her poor family from the farm to Amsterdam. Forced into prostitution by her mother, the feisty Keetje advances herself through a series of degrading jobs to become a woman of means, education and attainment. 77 min. DVD 6177 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- El lado oscuro del corazon (The Dark Side of the Heart (Argentina / Canada, 1992)
- Directed by Eliseo Subiela. Cast: Dario Grandinetti, Sandra Ballesteros, Nacha Guevara, Andre Melancon.
Oliverio is a narcissistic young poet in search of the perfect woman, claiming he will not "tolerate a woman who cannot fly." He meets a prostitute who can fly but prefers to keep their relationship a business arrangement. 125 min. DVD 9840
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Lola (Germany, 1981)
- Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mario Adorf. When an upright new commissioner arrives in a small town, Lola, a cabaret singer and prostitute, sets out to seduce him in order to gain power over him for her boyfriend and a respectable marriage for herself. 115 min. DVD 1946
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bergfelder, T. "Popular genres and cultural legitimacy: Fassbinder's Lola and the legacy of 1950s West German cinema." Screen (London, England) v. 45 no. 1 (Spring 2004) p. 21-39
- Love and Anarchy (Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero 'stamattina alle 10 in via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza...) (Italy, 1973)
- Directed by Lina Wertmüller. Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Eros Pagni, Lina Polito. Tells the story of a shy country peasant who goes to the city with a plan to assassinate Benito Mussolini. His underground contact in the network of anarchists offers him a hideout in her brothel where he meets a young prostitute and falls in love. When his lover prevents the plan's realization, he fires upon police, is imprisoned and murdered. 129 min. 999:2313 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Love & Pop (Japan, 1998)
- Director, Hideaki Anno. A day-in-the-life drama about a quartet of "enjo kosai," Japanese schoolgirls who engage in "casual" prostitution so as to afford such things as designer clothes. 110 min. DVD 2772
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Mamma Roma (Italy, 1962)
- Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Cast: Cast: Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco Citti, Silvana Corsini.
In this unflinching look at the struggle for survival in post WWII Italy, a middle-aged prostitute attempts to extricate herself from her sordid past for the sake of her son.
Special features (Disc 2): Interviews about Pasolini, featuring Bernardo Bertolucci, Tonino Delli Colli, and Enzo Siciliano ; original theatrical trailer ; poster gallery ; "Pier Paolo Pasolini" (58 min. ; 1995): a documentary by filmmaker Ivo Barnabo Micheli covering the career of the controversial artist ; "La ricotta" (35 min. ; 1963): a film by Pasolini starring Orson Welles as a director who sets out to make a film about the passion of Jesus ; a 32-page booklet featuring excerpted interviews with Pasolini on Mamma Roma and La ricotta, and essays by novelist and culture critic Gary Indiana and Pasolini biographer Enzo Siciliano.
Photography, Tonino Delli Colli; editor, Nino Baragli; music, Carlo Rustichelli. 110 min. DVD 2768 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Orsitto, Fulvio S. "The Iconic Violence of Pasolini's Prostitutes." In: The image of the hero in Literature, Media, and Society: selected papers [of the] Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery, March 2004, Colorado Springs, Colorado / <2004>
Pueblo, CO. : The Society, Colorado State University-Pueblo, [2004].
(MAIN: PN56.5.H45 C63 2004)
- Mandi (Market Place) (India, 1983)
- Directed by Shyam Benegal. A social satire on the institution of Kotha, a high-class bordello featuring poetry and dance which was frequented by the feudal leisure class in 18th and 19th century India. 167 min. DVD 3414; vhs 999:2482
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Mannequins für Rio (aka They Were So Young) (West Germany / USA, 1954)
- Directed by Kurt Neumann. Cast: Scott Brady, Raymond Burr, Johanna Matz, Ingrid Stenn.
A "white slavery" melodrama filmed on location in Rio De Janeiro. Innocent young Johanna Metz is hired for a supposed modelling job in Brazil. Upon her arrival, she finds herself broke, stranded and at the beck and call of a criminal gang. Escaping from the crooks, Johanna is rescued by Scott Brady, an engineer in the employ of tycoon Raymond Burr. Unfortunately, Burr turns out to be the leader of the gang from whom Johanna has escaped. 78 min. DVD 8237
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Manoranjan (India, 1974)
- Directed by Shammi Kapoor. An upright beat copy, working the red light district, desperately tries to hang on to his values in such an amoral environment. Then he falls for a hooker and sets out to reform her. 158 min. DVD 3468
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Mausam (India, 1975)
- Director, Gulzar. Dr. Amarnath Gill discovers that his daughter -- born when he had a brief affair with Chanda before jilting her -- has grown up to be a prostitute. The daugher, Kajli hates her unknown father, but in the course of the film relents and accepts him. In Hindi without subtitles. 156 min. 999:2938
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Mona Lisa (UK, 1986)
- Directed by Neil Jordan. Cast: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Caine, Clarke Peters, Sammi Davis, Kate Hardie, Zoe Nathenson. George, an ex-con employed as a chauffeur to an enigmatic, high-class call girl, initially detests her but winds up under her spell. His fascination with her leads him on a dangerous quest through the sordid underbelly of London, where love is a weakness to be exploited and betrayed. 104 min. DVD 1927
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Monika (Sommaren med Monika)(Sweden, 1953)
- Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Cast: Harriet Andersson (Monika), Lars Ekborg (Harry). A promiscuous girl and young boy leave the city to spend an idyllic summer. When she becomes pregnant, they are forced to marry. After the child's birth, she is unfaithful and heads for a life of prostitution. 82 min. 999:227
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Mrs. Warren's Profession (UK, 1972)
- Directed by Herbert Wise. Cast: Robert Powell, Kate Nicholls, Richard Everett, Judy Parfitt, Kika Markham, Patrick Magee, Cyril Cusak and Warren Clarke).
Coral Browne, Penelope Wilton, James Grout, Derek Godfrey, Robert Powell, Richard Pearson.
What is the profession that has enabled Mrs. Warren to give her daughter all the benefits of good society? Vivie Warren discovers her mother's secrets and embraces her own power as a 'modern' woman. Based on the play by George Bernard Shaw. 109 min. DVD 5753
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- La Mujer del Puerto (The Woman of the Port) (Mexico, 1933)
- Directed by Arcady Botyler. Cast: Andrea Palma, Domingo Soler, Consuelo Segarra, Luisa Obregon, Joaquin Busquets, Arturo Manrique Panseco. Rosario becomes a prostitute after losing her father and discovering her boyfriend had a liaison with another woman. In Veracruz, Rosario lives above a sordid cabaret "selling her love to the men coming from the sea." One night, sailor Alberto rescues Rosario from the dirty hands of a drunken man. They get along and go to Rosario's room. After making love, they begin to talk and Rosario discovers they're siblings. Based on stories by Guy De Maupassant and Leo Tolstoy.
Special features: Scene selection; photo gallery; theatrical trailers of 1933 and 1949 versions. 76 min. DVD 6559
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- My Son the Fanatic (UK / France, 1999)
- Directed by Udayan Prasad. Parvez, a cab driver who left Pakistan for Great Britain in search of a better life must choose between his relationship with his disinterested wife, his increasingly Islamic fundamentalist son and his friendship with a prostitute who provides him support and tenderness he does not experience within his own family. 87 min. DVD 9114; vhs 999:2649
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
via Movie Review Query Engine
- Never on a Sunday (Pote tin Kyriaki) (Greece, 1960)
- Directed by Jules Dassin. Cast: Melina Mercouri, Jules Dassin, George Foundas, Titos Vandis, Mitsos Lygizos, Dimitri Papamichael, Alexis Solomos. The Pygmalion-like story of a Greek prostitute and the American who decides to educate her in the hope that she will abandon her streetwalking. 93 min. DVD 5356
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- "Never on Sunday."
Film Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 2. (Winter, 1960), p. 62.
Tsitsopoulou, Vassiliki. "Greekness, Gender Stereotypes, and the Hollywood Musical in Jules Dassin's Never on Sunday."
Journal of Modern Greek Studies, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 79-93, May 2000
UC users only
- Nights of Cabiria (Le Notti di Cabiria) (Italy, 1957)
- Directed by Federico Fellini. Cast: Giulietta Masina, Francois Perier, Franca Marzi, Amedeo Nazzari. Cabiria, a prostitute, throws herself into endless love affairs with the frantic persistence of a trapped bird, dashing body and soul against the vain hope of securing marriage and a happy family life. Special DVD features: Uncut, restored theatrical re-release version with 7 minute "man with a sack" sequence; interview with former Fellini assistant Dominique Delouche ; audio interview with producer Dino De Laurentiis ; original and re-release theatrical trailers ; excerpt from Fellini's The White Sheik, in which Masina makes her first appearance as Cabiria ; restoration demonstration. 110 min. DVD 66; VHS 999:361
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- Noite escura (In the Darkness of the Night) (Portugal, 2004)
- Directed by João Canijo. Cast: Rita Blanco, Beatriz Batarda, Fernando Luis, Cleia Almeida. A Portuguese family has to deal with the Russian Mafia after a deal goes terribly wrong. The small family runs a provincial whorehouse, and may have to sacrifice their youngest daughter to prostitution in order to survive. 94 min. Non-US (PAL) format DVD. DVD 5177
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- Pandora's Box (Die Büchse der Pandora) (Germany, 1928)
- Directed by G.W. Pabst. Cast: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Carl Goetz, Krafft-Raschig, Alice Roberts; Daisy d'Ora, Gustav Diessl. Follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone with whom she comes in contact until she is finally murdered by Jack the Ripper. Adapted from the plays "Erdgeist" and "Die Bueschse der Pandora" by Frank Wedekind. Special features: Four musical scores, each offering its own interpretation of the film; Audio commentary by film scholars Thomas Elsaesser and Mary Ann Doane; "Louise Brooks: looking for Lulu" (1998), a 60-minute documentary by Hugh Munro Neeley; "Lulu in Berlin" (1971), a rare, 48-minute interview with Louise Brooks by verite documentarian Richard Leacock and Susan Steinberg Woll; New video interviews with Leacock, about Brooks, and Michael Pabst the director's son; Stills gallery; Book featuring Kenneth Tynan's 1979 essay "The girl in the black helmet," an article by Louise Brooks on her relationship with Pabst, and a new essay by critic J. Hoberman. 110 min. DVD 6629; vhs 999:31
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- Lulu in Berlin. Video/C 1849
The Role of Women in the Movies. Video/C 835 NRLF #: B 4 175 470
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- Louise Brooks Society web site
- Princesas (Spain, 2005)
- Directed by Fernando León de Aranoa. Cast: Candela Peña, Micaela Nevarez, Mariana Gordero.
Caye, a Madrid prostitute, comes to the aid of Zulema, a Dominican streetwalker beaten by a government official blackmailing her for free sex. They form a strong bond and imagine themselves as royalty, to offer them a glimpse of hope. 114 min. DVD 7849 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Pyaasa (India, 1957)
- Directed by Guru Dutt. Vijay, an unsuccessful poet, elects to live on streets where a young prostitute, Gulab falls in love with him and his poetry. When a dead beggar to whom Vijay gave his coat is mistaken for Vijay, Gulab has his poetry published in a book which becomes a best seller. Everyone who previously rejected Vijay now gathers to pay tribute to the dead poet, but Visjay disrupts the celebration with a passionate song denouncing hypocrisy and wrongly-placed social values. 146 min. DVD 3541; also VHS 999:2470
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- Ram teri ganga maili (India, 1985)
- Directed by Raj Kapoor. Cast: Cast: Rajiv Kapoor, Mandakini, Divya Rana, Sayeed Jaffery, Raza Murad. Naren, the son of an evil industrialist falls for Ganga, a country girl but is forced by his family to abandon her when she becomes pregnant. Ganga, now an abandoned single mother, falls prey to a brothel madam who sells her to Bhagwat, who's daughter is slated to marry Naren. The final reunion of the lead couple takes place with the support of Naren's canny uncle. This is the last film directed by Raj Kapoor before his death. 178 min. DVD 1974Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- El Rey Pasmado (Spain / France / Portugal, 1996)
- Directed by Imanol Uribe. It is the 17th century and the king of Spain is a young man, inexperienced in politics and love. Nevertheless, he soon discovers a world of new sensations in the arms of Marfisa, one of the most beautiful prostitutes of the court. The news runs from mouth to mouth, filtering through the walls of the palace. Spanish without titles. Based on the novel Cronica del Rey Pasmado by Gonzalo Torrente Ballester. 105 min. Spanish without subtitles. DVD 3316; also VHS (PAL) 999:1780Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Risky Business (1983)
- Directed by Paul Brickman. Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Curtis Armstrong, Bronson Pinchot, Raphael Sbarge. Joel's parents are going on vacation and leaving him in charge of the house. They trust their college-bound 17-year-old son but they shouldn't. Every kid's dream is every parent's nightmare. No sooner do Joel's parents step on the plane when he raids the liquor cabinet, has a joyride in Dad's Porsche, and spends a night of passion with a young call girl named Lana. 99 min.DVD X635
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- La Ronde (France / Italy, 1964)
- Director Roger Vadim. Cast: Marie Dubois, Claude Giraud, Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jane Fonda, Maurice Ronet, Catherine Spaak, Bernard Noel, Francine Berge, Jean Sorel. A chain of love started between a young whore and a soldier ends with the same whore after having gone full circle through various characters. Based on the novel by Arthur Schnitzler. 110 min. DVD 4996 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- La Ronde (Roundabout) (France, 1950)
- Directed by Max Ophuls. Cast: Simone Signoret, Danielle Darrieux, Jean-Louis Barrault, Anton Walbrook, Odette Joyeux, Gérard Philipe. Comedy set in 1900 Vienna; a chain of love started between a young prostitute and a soldier goes full circle when the soldier ends up with her after meeting various characters. 92 min. DVD X170; vhs 999:271 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Alter, Maria P. "From Der Reigen to La Ronde: Transposition of a Stageplay to the Cinema." Literature/ Film Quarterly, vol. 24 no. 1. 1996. pp: 52-56.
Williams, Alan. "Keep the Circle Turning: Ophuls's La Ronde." In Modern European Filmmakers and the Art of Adaptation / edited by André w Horton and Joan Magretta. pp: 38-50. New York: F. Ungar Pub. Co., 1981. Series title: Ungar film library. (UCB Main PN1997.85 .M66; UCB Moffitt PN1997.85 .M66)
- Sauve qui peut (la vie) (Slow Motion)(France, 1979)
- Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Jacques Dutronc, Nathalie Baye, with the voice of Marguerite Duras. This parody of modern life revolves around three characters who are all at turning points in their lives--the country girl who comes to the city to be a prostitute, the city woman who decides to give up her job and pursue an idyllic life in the country, and a television director who is separated from his wife and daughter. Special features: "Scenario vidéo Sauve qui peut (La vie)": some notes on the direction and production of the film; filmographies & biographies. 84 min. DVD X1261
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- Schamlos (France / Austria / West Germany, 1968)
- Director, Eddy Saller. Cast: Udo Kier, Rolf Eden, Marina Paal, Joe Palt, Herbert Kersten, Louis Soldan Inge Toifl, Vladimir Medar, Thomas Astor.
In this violent sex-riddled crime drama Pohlmann, a young racketeer, falls in love with an exotic dancer, who gets murdered. Seeking revenge, Pohlmann investigates in the caravans that are used as mobile whorehouses and threatens everyone he meets with violence. In German without subtitles. 75 min. DVD 7707
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- Shanghai Triad (Yao a yao, yao tao wai po chiao) (China, France, 1995)
- Director, Zhang Yimou. Cast: Gong Li, Li Baotian, Li Xuejian, Sun Chun, Wang Xiaoxiao. The charms of an alluring prostitute are used as bait between feuding ganglords against a dramatic backdrop of 1930s Shanghai in this exotic and captivating thriller. Freely adapted from the novel "Gang Law" by Li Xiao. 109 min. DVD 546 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Movie Review Query Engine
- Shen Nu Goddess (Goddess of Shanghai) (China, 1934)
- Director, Yonggang Wu. Cast: Ruan Lingyu, Zhang Zhizhi, Li Keng, Tian Jian. A young woman can only support and educate her son by working as a prostitute in 1930s Shanghai. One of the rare films of famed Chinese star Ruan Lingyu. 74 min. DVD 5995
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- The Sin of Madelon Claudet(1931)
- Director, Edgar Selwyn. Cast: Helen Hayes, Lewis Stone, Neil Hamilton, Cliff Edwards, Jean Hersholt, Marie Prevost.
In her first feature film Helen Hayes plays Madelon, a simple country girl who runs away to Paris with a lover who cruelly abandons her and their baby son. Desperate to provide for her child, Madelon becomes the mistress of a jewel thief, a decision that leads her to prison and, finally, the streets. Her descent from radiant girl to brazen tart to bent and defeated old woman is astonishing for its technical brilliance and emotional power. Based on the play "The Lullaby" by Edward Knoblock. 76 min. vhs 999:3666
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- Story of a Prostitute (Shunpuden) (Japan, 1964)
- Directed by Seijun Suzuki. Cast: Tamio Kawachi, Yumiko Nogawa, Isao Tamagawa, Shoichi Ozawa, Tomiko Ishikawa, Kazuko Imai, Megumi Wakaba, Kayo Matsuo, Kentaro Kaji. Volunteering as a "comfort woman" on the Manchurian front where she is expected to service hundreds of soliders, Harumi is commandeered by the brutal Lieutenant Narita but falls for the sensitive Mikami, Narita's direct subordinate. 96 min. DVD 4440 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Street of Shame (Akasen chitai)(Japan, 1956)
- Director, Kenji Mizoguchi. Cast: Machiko Kyo, Ayako Wakao, Yasuko Kawakami.
In a brothel in Tokyo's red-light district, a group of working women, their profession on the verge of being outlawed, deal with life's disappointments, large and small. This beautiful, humane film was Mizoguchi's last. 85 min. DVD X528; also DVD X1681
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- McDonald, Keiko. "Thematic Conflict and Mode of Representation in Mizoguchi's Street of Shame." In: Holding the vision : essays on film : proceedings of the First Annual Film Conference of Kent State University, April 21, 1983
[Kent, Ohio] : International Film Society, Kent State University, c1983.
(MAIN: PN1995 .F4577 1983; Storage Info: C 2 843 031)
- Three Times (Zui hao de shi guang) (France / Taiwan, 2005)
- Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. Cast: Zhang Zhen, Shu Qi. A rapturous and beautiful love story set in three different eras - a pool hall in 1966, a 1911 brothel, and present-day Taipei. The director brings to life the culture of each period as the tales unfold. 45 min. DVD 6514 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- A Tokyo Woman (Tokyo no onna) (Japan, 1933)
- Directed by Ozu Yasujiro. In order to earn money to put her younger brother, Ryoichi, through school Chikako works as a typist by day and moonlights in a seedy bar at night. Unfortunately Ryoichi commits suicide when he learns that his sister earned much of the money as a prostitute. 45 min. 999:3689 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- A Very Curious Girl (La Fiancée du pirate) (1969)
- Directed by Nelly Kaplan. Cast: Bernadette LaFont, Georges Geret, Michel Constantin, Julien Guiomar.
A beautiful peasant girl is known intimately by most of the men in her village. Tired of enduring the physical abuse and the sexual exploitation for free, she starts to charge a fee for her services. Suddenly she has more power than she ever dreamed of. 105 min. vhs 999:1821 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Giukin, Lenuta. "Demystification and Webtopia in the Films of Nelly Kaplan" Cinema Journal 42:3 (Spring 2003) Go to Journal Issue p. 96-113 UC users only
Greene, Linda. "A very curious girl: politics of a feminist fantasy." Jump Cut; March/April, 1975 Issue 6, p13-14, 2p
Kay, Karyn. "French Cinema: The Revenge of Pirate Jenny a Very Curious Girl: Part One." The Velvet Light Trap 9 (Summer 1973) p. 46 UC users only
Waldman, Diane. "French Cinema: The Eternal Return of Circe A Very Curious Girl: Part Two." The Velvet Light Trap 9 (Summer 1973) p. 49 UC users only
- Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (My Life to Live) (France, 1962)
- Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Contemplates the soul of a girl who leaves her husband and child to become a prostitute, then tries to quit because she falls in love. 85 min. DVD 121; tape 999:559
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- Women of the Night (oru no onnatachi)(Japan, 1948)
- Director, Kenji Mizoguchi. Cast: Kinuyo Tanaka, Sanae Takasugi, Tomie Tsunoda, Mitsuo Nagata.
Filmed on location in Osaka, Women of the night concerns two sisters, Fusako, a war widow, and Natsuko, in an affair with a narcotics smuggler, who, along with their younger friend Kumiko, descend into prostitution and moral chaos amid the postwar devastation surrounding them. Based on the novel Joseimatsuri by Eijiro Hisaita. 74 min. DVD X527
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- Zegen (Japan, 1998)
- Director, Imamura Shohei. Cast: Baisho Chieko, Ogata Ken. A dramatization of the life of Muraoka Iheiji who was active as a pimp in Southeast Asia from approximately 1910 through the early 1930's. He got his start by rescuing women from pirates in Hong Kong and gradually branched out to own 4 houses of prostitution at the peak of his career. 128 min. 999:3245 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Male Hustlers and Gigolos
- American Gigolo(1980)
- Director, Paul Schrader. Cast: Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Hector Elizondo, Nina Van Pallandt, Bill Duke.
Julian Kay is on the prowl and looking for someone to please. Boyish and sensual, he speaks five or six languages, and is equally comfortable as a chauffeur for a wealthy middle-aged matron, and as a translator/companion for the lonely wife of an executive. He is the American gigolo. But Julian's love-for-sale lifestyle turns deadly when a client is murdered and Julian becomes the prime suspect. 116 min. DVD 2303 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Flesh.(1968)
- Producer, Andy Warhol; writer/director, Paul Morrissey. Cast: Joe Dallesandro, Geraldine Smith, Patti D'Arbinville. Joe, a bisexual prostitute, takes to the streets and meets an artist with elaborate and hilarious theories of body worship, a couple of transvestites, a dumb ex-girlfriend, and a friend whose armpits have been burned by a flame thrower. 90 min. Video 999:975 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Macho Dancer (Philippines, 1988)
- Director, Lino Brocka. Cast: Jacklyn Jose, Daniel Fernando, Princess Punzalan, Alan Paule. Abandoned by his American lover, a handsome filipino teenager from the mountains journeys to Manila in an effort to support his family. With a popular call boy as his mentor, Paul enters the glittering world of the "macho dancer" -- a world of male strippers, prostitution, drugs, sexual slavery, police corruption and murder. 136 min. 999:3520
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- Midnight Cowboy (1969)
- Directed by John Schlesinger. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Brenda Vaccaro, John McGiver, Ruth White, Sylvia Miles, Barnard Hughes. A Texas "cowboy" takes a bus to New York in search of lonely, rich women who will pay for his sexual services, but instead spends a hard winter looking after a dying derelict. Vito Russo has commented: When buddy films returned in the late Sixties, the presence onscreen of homosexual characters was a perfect way of saying, 'Oh, no, /this isn't what we mean at all.' Homosexuals drew suspicion away from the buddies--it was yardstick time again." (The Celluloid Closet, p. 80-83) DVD 5254; vhs 999:986
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie DatabaseMovie Review Query Engine
- My Hustler (1965)
- Directed by Andy Warhol. Cast: Paul America, Ed Hood, John MacDermott, Joseph Campbell, Genevieve Charbon, Dorothy Dean. Experimental film in which an aging "queen" on Fire Island has rented a weekend companion from "Dial-A-Hustler", only to compete with his male and female neighbors for the young man's attention. 70 min. DVD 4214
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- Moon, M. "Outlaw sex and the "search for America": representing male prostitution and perverse desire in sixties film (My hustler and Midnight cowboy)." In: A small boy and others : imitation and initiation in American culture from Henry James to Andy Warhol / by Michael Moon.
Durham [N.C.] : Duke University Press, 1998. (Main Stack HQ76.25.M66 1998)
- My Own Private Idaho. (1991)
- Directed by Gus Van Sant. Cast: River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, James Russo, William Richert, Rodney Harvey, Michael Parker, Flea, Chiara Caselli, Udo Kier. "In this modern restructuring of the 60's road movie, River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves hustle their way through Seattle, Portland, Idaho and Rome on a quest for River's missing mother. With a meticulous lyric style, the film combines sprawling landscapes, scenes of passionless sexuality, and allusions to Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnightas it addresses issues of love, family, politics, and homosexuality." (Facets, catalog 12) 105 min. DVD 8065; vhs 999:1316
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- Mysterious Skin (1991)
- Directed by Gregg Araki. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Elisabeth Shue, Michelle Trachtenberg. At age 8, Neil and Brian played on the same baseball team in their small Kansas hometown. Now 10 years later, Neil is a hustler and Brian a nervous introvert who believes he has been abducted by aliens. As their lives intersect, they discover a shared past shrouded in mystery. 99 min. DVD 4625
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- Star Maps (1997)
- Directed by Miguel Arteta. Cast: Douglas Spain, Efrain Figueroa, Kandyce Jorden, Martha Velez, Lysa Flores, Annette Murphy, Robin Thomas, Vincent Chandler, Al Vicente. Carlos, a naive young man, works for his father selling star maps which point the way to the homes of some of Hollywood's biggest celebrities. But his job is really a front for a prostitution ring, and in this city of illusions, Carlos' plan to use one of his customers to help him get a movie role just may be the biggest illusion of all. 90 min. 999:2855
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- Speaking Parts (1982)
- Directed by Atom Egoyan. Cast: Michael McManus, Arsinee Khanjian, Gabrielle Rose, Tony Nardi, David Hemblen, Patricia Collins, Gerard Parkes. A struggling actor working as a hotel custodian and gigolo finds himself the obsessional object of two women: a scriptwriter he hustled for a part in a movie and a hotel maid. Their tangled web of psycho-sexual desires ultimately leads to death. 92 min. DVD 5340 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Sunset Blvd. (1950)
- Directed by Billy Wilder. Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim. "In Hollywood of the 50's, the obscure screenplay writer Joe Gillis is not able to sell his work to the studios, is full of debts and is thinking in returning to his hometown to work in an office. While trying to escape from his creditors, he has a flat tire and parks his car in a decadent mansion in Sunset Boulevard. He meets the owner and former silent-movie star Norma Desmond, who lives alone wit her butler and driver Max von Mayerling. Norma is demented and believes she will return to the cinema industry, and is protected and isolated from the world by Max, who was his director and husband in the past and still loves her. Norma proposes Joe to move to the mansion and help her in writing a screenplay for her comeback to the cinema, and the small-time writer becomes her lover and gigolo. When Joe falls in love for the young aspirant writer Betty Schaefer, Norma becomes jealous and completely insane and her madness leads to a tragic end." [IMDB] 110 min. DVD 1476;l vhs 999:182 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
