The invention is a polyvinyl alcohol film having an YI value of at most 20, which
is formed of a modified polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of polymerization of
from 1500 to 5000, an ethylene unit content of from 1 to 4 mol % and a 1,2-glycol
bond content of at most 1.4 mol %. The polyvinyl alcohol film gives polarizing
films that contain no impurities and have good polarization performance, durability
and hue stability.