IMDb gives the original Japanese runtime as 105 minutes but the US release as 75 minutes.
The new 4-disc set put out by Criterion on their Eclipse label, "Kenji Mizoguchi's Fallen Women", gives the runtime for Women of the Night as 74 minutes.
So what might have been cut? And why?
I must have watched the shortened version when it was aired earlier this month on TCM, because I definitely noticed a large gap in the sequence of events. The two sisters were shown as fairly young and vibrant, and merely talking about hooking up with wealthy boyfriends so as to make money and survive, but then suddenly it appears to be several years later and the two of them are hardened prostitutes. That must have been where the 30 minute gap occurred.
I would definitely like to see the full, uncut 105 minute version some day. The shortened version wasn't that good.
Well, now IMDb's runtime has been changed from the way it had read earlier, giving only 75 minutes with no reference to a Japanese version at 105 minutes. Presumably this was correcting a previous error. No "Alternate versions" are listed.
shareInteresting to know.... I will repeat what I mentioned in the other post, that in the version I saw on TCM (75 minute version) it seemed obvious to me that a huge chunk of the story was left out: it seemed to leap ahead by a couple of years, with a large segment of the girls' history missing. I'm assuming that was the 30 minutes that were cut?