Coming from a lower class family Mizoguchi entered the production company Nikkatsu as an actor specialized in female roles. Later he became an assistant director and made his first film in 1922. Although he filmed almost 90 movies in the silent era, only his last 12 productions are really known outside of Japan because they were especially produced for Venice (e.g Saikaku ichidai onna (1952) or Efendi Sanso (1954). He only filmed two productions in color: Yôkihi (1955) and Shin Heike monogatari (1955).