Violated Paradise (1963) User Reviews

poorly edited and horribly ethnocentric

[hawkeyesroost · 4/10 · 1 October 2010]

I watched this out of an interest in traditional Japanese culture and in particular the oyster divers. There were some good scenes in here that actually gave me the information I wanted to see. However, there was some horrible editing done to make the geisha's look like nothing more than high priced call girls. The narration done by the "American" is nothing more than an anti-Japanese viewpoint of the geisha life. There is misconceptions and outright lies propagated by that part of the film. If you are able to sift through the garbage and see only the good parts of this film, then watch it. If you believe everything you see on film, then skip this film

A Kind Of Documentary

[crossbow0106 · 7/10 · 29 June 2008]

This 66 minute film plays like a documentary of a young lady who lives in Northern Japan who travels to Tokyo to become a Geisha, or try to be. On the way, on a stop off, she meets a guy she considers a man god, but still goes to Tokyo. The Tokyo of 1963 is not like today. Rwmember, this is before video, the internet and cable, so most adult entertainment was in the form of live shows. You get the feeling Tokyo was a capital of debauchery. There is much in the way of to the waist nudity, even in the traditional areas of Japan outside of Tokyo, but it is always explained it is more of a cultural thing, rather than a gratuitous thing. Its an interesting film, with some narration by an American, but I'm not certain how authentic it is. Its a curious film, but its fairly well made. If you're interested in the recent social history of Tokyo, its fun to watch. I liked it.