The present invention provides a polarizing film or a polarizer that has an elastic modulus of at most about 3500 N/mm.sup.2 and suppresses occurrence of warping, the polarizing film is obtained by adsorbing a dichroic material in a polyvinyl alcohol-based film 20 .mu.m in thickness and stretching the tilin. The polarizing film has a transmittance of at least 43% and a polarization degree of at least 98%. A transparent protective layer is laminated on at least one surface of the polarizing film to form a polarizing plate.