Drunken Angel
Encyclopedia
is a 1948 Japanese film
directed by Akira Kurosawa
. It is notable for being the first of sixteen film collaborations between director Kurosawa and actor Toshirō Mifune
.
as an alcoholic doctor in postwar Japan
who treats a young, small-time hood named Matsunaga (Toshirō Mifune
), after a gunfight with a rival syndicate. The doctor diagnoses the young gangster with tuberculosis
, and convinces him to begin treatment (and quit boozing and womanizing). The two enjoy an uneasy friendship until the gangster's former boss, Okada, who is also the former abusive boyfriend of the doctor's female assistant, is released from prison and seeks to take his gang over once again. The sick young man then stops following the doctor's advice, slips back into old habits and threatens to kill him. Matsunaga realizes that Okada is not a true friend, and that the big Yakuza crime boss is merely using Matsunaga as a pawn to be given up to the rival gang. When the doctor leaves his house to go report on Okada to the police, despite the doctor's orders to remain in bed, Matsunaga slips out to confront Okada (who has also managed to steal Matsunaga's girlfriend Nanae) but Matsunaga is killed in the ensuing knife fight. The film ends with a local shop-owner woman who had feelings for Matsunaga planning to take Matsunaga's ashes to be buried on her farm, far from the corrupt and dirty city, and the doctor happily learning that one of his younger patients has been fully cured of tuberculosis.
Toshirō Mifune's experience in the Japanese army was so recent that he looked the role of a man emaciated from tuberculosis.
comments that Kurosawa was impressed by the athletic agility and "cat-like" moves of Mifune, which also had bearing in his casting.
Censorship issues in Drunken Angel are covered extensively in the supplemental documentary to the Criterion Collection DVD by Danish film scholar Lars-Martin Sorensen, entitled Kurosawa and the Censors, available on The Criterion Collection DVD release of the film. Produced and released during the American occupation in Japan, the Drunken Angel screenplay had to comply with a censorship board issued by the U.S. government. The board did not allow criticism of the occupation to be shown in Japanese films at that time.
Kurosawa slipped several references to the occupation, all of them negative, past the censors. The opening scene of the film features unlicensed prostitutes known as "pan pan" girls, who catered to American soldiers. The gangsters and their girlfriends all wear Westernized clothing and hairstyles. Kurosawa was not allowed to show a burned-out building in his black-market slum set, but he did heavily feature the poisonous bog at the center of the district. English-language signage was also not allowed, but the markets on set have several examples of English usage on their signs. The dance scene in the nightclub features an original composition ("Jungle Boogie", sung by Shizuko Kasagi
) with lyrics by Kurosawa, satirizing American jazz music. The censorship board was unable to catch these breaches due to overwork and understaffing.
Kurosawa decided to use this same effect in the film, at the low point in the life of Matsunaga, when the character realizes that he was being used all along by the crime boss. Kurosawa had the sound crew find the exact recording of The Cuckoo Waltz that he had heard after his father died, and had them play the instrumental beginning of the song repeatedly for the scene in which Matsunaga walks down the street after leaving the crime boss.
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
directed by Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
. It is notable for being the first of sixteen film collaborations between director Kurosawa and actor Toshirō Mifune
Toshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
.
Plot
It stars Takashi ShimuraTakashi Shimura
was a Japanese actor.He was born in Ikuno, Hyogo, Japan.His debut as actor was the film Akanishi Kakita and cast in the Kenji Mizoguchi's film Osaka Elegy ....
as an alcoholic doctor in postwar Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
who treats a young, small-time hood named Matsunaga (Toshirō Mifune
Toshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
), after a gunfight with a rival syndicate. The doctor diagnoses the young gangster with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, and convinces him to begin treatment (and quit boozing and womanizing). The two enjoy an uneasy friendship until the gangster's former boss, Okada, who is also the former abusive boyfriend of the doctor's female assistant, is released from prison and seeks to take his gang over once again. The sick young man then stops following the doctor's advice, slips back into old habits and threatens to kill him. Matsunaga realizes that Okada is not a true friend, and that the big Yakuza crime boss is merely using Matsunaga as a pawn to be given up to the rival gang. When the doctor leaves his house to go report on Okada to the police, despite the doctor's orders to remain in bed, Matsunaga slips out to confront Okada (who has also managed to steal Matsunaga's girlfriend Nanae) but Matsunaga is killed in the ensuing knife fight. The film ends with a local shop-owner woman who had feelings for Matsunaga planning to take Matsunaga's ashes to be buried on her farm, far from the corrupt and dirty city, and the doctor happily learning that one of his younger patients has been fully cured of tuberculosis.
Toshirō Mifune's experience in the Japanese army was so recent that he looked the role of a man emaciated from tuberculosis.
Production
While looking for an actor to play Matsunaga, Kurosawa was told by one of the casting directors about Mifune, who was auditioning for another movie where he had to play an angry character. Kurosawa watched Mifune do this audition, and was so amazed by Mifune that he cast him as Matsunaga. On the film's Criterion Collection DVD, Japanese-film scholar Donald RichieDonald Richie
Donald Richie is an American-born author who has written about the Japanese people and Japanese cinema. Although he considers himself only a writer, Richie has directed many experimental films, the first when he was 17...
comments that Kurosawa was impressed by the athletic agility and "cat-like" moves of Mifune, which also had bearing in his casting.
Censorship issues in Drunken Angel are covered extensively in the supplemental documentary to the Criterion Collection DVD by Danish film scholar Lars-Martin Sorensen, entitled Kurosawa and the Censors, available on The Criterion Collection DVD release of the film. Produced and released during the American occupation in Japan, the Drunken Angel screenplay had to comply with a censorship board issued by the U.S. government. The board did not allow criticism of the occupation to be shown in Japanese films at that time.
Kurosawa slipped several references to the occupation, all of them negative, past the censors. The opening scene of the film features unlicensed prostitutes known as "pan pan" girls, who catered to American soldiers. The gangsters and their girlfriends all wear Westernized clothing and hairstyles. Kurosawa was not allowed to show a burned-out building in his black-market slum set, but he did heavily feature the poisonous bog at the center of the district. English-language signage was also not allowed, but the markets on set have several examples of English usage on their signs. The dance scene in the nightclub features an original composition ("Jungle Boogie", sung by Shizuko Kasagi
Shizuko Kasagi
was a popular Japanese jazz singer and actress.Before World War II, Shizuko was one of the stars of the Japan Girls Opera Company. During the ongoing Occupation of Japan, she became a mega star singing songs influenced by American jazz and boogie woogie...
) with lyrics by Kurosawa, satirizing American jazz music. The censorship board was unable to catch these breaches due to overwork and understaffing.
Music
Kurosawa used music to provide contrast with the content of a given scene. In particular was his use of The Cuckoo Waltz by J. E. Jonasson. During filming, Kurosawa's father died. While he was in a sad state, he heard The Cuckoo Waltz playing in the background, and the whimsical music made him even more depressed.Kurosawa decided to use this same effect in the film, at the low point in the life of Matsunaga, when the character realizes that he was being used all along by the crime boss. Kurosawa had the sound crew find the exact recording of The Cuckoo Waltz that he had heard after his father died, and had them play the instrumental beginning of the song repeatedly for the scene in which Matsunaga walks down the street after leaving the crime boss.
Cast
- Takashi ShimuraTakashi Shimurawas a Japanese actor.He was born in Ikuno, Hyogo, Japan.His debut as actor was the film Akanishi Kakita and cast in the Kenji Mizoguchi's film Osaka Elegy ....
as Doctor Sanada - Toshirō MifuneToshiro MifuneToshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
as Matsunaga - Reisaburo Yamamoto as Okada
- Michiyo KogureMichiyo Kogurewas a Japanese film actress. She appeared in 89 films between 1939 and 1984. She is perhaps best known for her starring role as the headstrong housewife who begins to tire of her dull, earnest husband in The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice .-Selected filmography:* * Portrait of Madame Yuki (31...
as Nanae - Chieko Nakakita as Nurse Miyo