Recently, I reviewed the film Red Beard (1965), which was the last collaboration between Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and actor Toshirô Mifune. Here we have the other bookend for that relationship – the first joint effort of the two, in a collaboration that would ultimately span seventeen years. Although Drunken Angel (1948) was already Kurosawa's seventh feature film, it was, in Kurosawa's own assessment, his first "real" film.

Historical Background: Kurosawa was born in Tokyo in 1910, the youngest of seven children of an ex-military man turned athletic instructor. Kurosawa had talent for painting and enrolled in an art school, but, failing to earn much of a living as an artist, he responded to the recruitment campaign of a Japanese film studio for assistant directors. He soon became the protégé of Kajiro Yamamoto, whose best-known film was Horse (1941). Kurosawa got his first opportunity to direct a film in 1943, but, throughout the war, he had to strictly adhere to the Japanese government's restrictions on thematic content. Nevertheless, his technical skills as a filmmaker developed steadily. Kurosawa's first critical success came with Drunken Angel (1948). It is probably no coincidence that it was also the first of his films to include the now legendary Japanese actor, Toshirô Mifune. Though Takashi Shimura is the film's very able and effective star, Mifune certainly impresses as the young gangster. Freed from the yoke of wartime censorship, Kurosawa turned to the darker, more brooding, unsentimental, and critical tone in Drunken Angels that would characterize the thematic content of his films throughout much of his career.

The Story: The film opens with an extended shot of a filthy swamp in the middle of a Japanese city, used as a dumping ground for all sorts of garbage and rubbish. Soon, a young gangster, Matsunaga (Toshirô Mifune), staggers into the nearby office of Doctor Sanada (Takashi Shimura), needing repair for an injured hand, which, he claims, got caught in a door. Sanada is understandably dubious when he removes a bullet from the wound rather than a nail. Sanada performs some minor surgery on the hand, without providing Matsunaga the benefit of an anesthetic, stating that thugs aren't entitled to anesthetic. Matsunaga also has a bad cough that he attributes to the flu but which Sanada suspects is something less benign. He warns Matsunaga that if he doesn't have it checked out, he may not be long for this world. Matsunaga takes exception to the pessimistic warning and the two end up in a somewhat one-sided scuffle, the doctor being no match, physically, for the hoodlum. Matsunaga soon leaves, with the doctor hurling both objects and epithets in his direction as he exits.

In some respects, Sanada is no saint either. Drinking is his principal vice and we begin to surmise that Sanada lives in this ghetto not only to cater to an underserved patient population but also to partake in his own vice without the condemnation that more polite society would undoubtedly levy on him. Whatever lifestyle defects Sanada might have, his professional dedication is beyond reproach. He is fully devoted to his patients and a crack physician, especially in relation to respiratory ailments. He tracks down the dangerous Matsunaga, not to demand payment as Matsunaga supposes, but to advise him that he'll need to change his lifestyle if he is to survive. After another brief scuffle, Matsunaga throws him out.

A few days later, Dr. Sanada encounters a colleague, Dr. Gobin, who caters to an upscale clientele and enjoys the comforts of fine suits and a carriage. Whatever the differences in their circumstances, Gobin has utmost respect for his colleague's skills as a physician. Matsunaga had gone to Dr. Gobin for an X-ray, after which Gobin had advised him to see Sanada, who is peerless at treating respiratory problems. Sanada tracts down Matsunaga again, demanding that he deliver the x-rays and proceed with treatment. Matsunaga does finally show up in Sanada's office, though he has had to get totally wasted in order to face the music.

Meanwhile, a former gang leader of this ghetto, Okada (Reisaburo Yamamoto), nicknamed "Kong," has just been released from prison and has returned to reclaim his old territory from Matsunaga. Along with the territory, Okada lays claim to Matsunaga's mistress, Nanae (Michiyo Kogure), who understands that gangland rules pretty much dictate that the most beautiful moll belongs to the top dude. Dr. Sanada also has to try to protect his nurse, Miyo (Chieko Nakakita), from Okada. She is Okada's ex-wife and was badly abused by him before he was sent off to prison.

I won't elaborate further on the plot except to mention that two scenes stand out above the rest of the film. The first is a stellar nightclub scene in which Mifune, as Matsunaga, dances a lively jitterbug with his girlfriend, as a nightclub singer (Shizuko Kasagi) belts out a marvelous number blending American pop music with traditional Japanese vocal technique. That morphing of cultures captures the essence of what was transpiring in Japan, in 1948, during the American occupation. The other exceptional scene is the inevitable showdown between Matsunaga and Okada, which involves a knife fight in a paint-splattered corridor.

Themes: The central theme of this film is the degradation of Japanese society that was rampant following their defeat in World War II and the subsequent American occupation. Defeat in war is always devastating to a country, but for Japan, defeat was even more than typically traumatic to the nation's collective psyche. Japanese culture up to and including World War II had placed a lot of emphasis on the samurai version of machismo. Japan had created for itself an image of a "warrior nation" but that image had been vanquished. Matsunaga and the other thugs in Drunken Angel represent the residue of that warrior mentality, which had wrecked havoc on the nation. Sanada pessimistically observes, "Once a beast, always a beast. You can never change anyone."

Then, the American takeover of Japan, after the surrender, had added to the country's identity crisis. American democratic values and capitalistic business practices were introduced and American-style nightclubs began to flourish, replacing traditional Japanese venues and musical idioms with American jazz, blues, and pop music. In this atmosphere of chaotic cultural realignment, traditional Japanese concepts of honor, dignity, and respect for authority were being shaken to the core, without adequate substitutes having yet formed.

Under those twin influences, Japanese society in 1948 was in disarray. The severe shortages of goods and services encouraged many to turn for relief to vices or crime. The crisis in the country was simultaneously physical and psychic. The grimy pond, in Drunken Angel, serves as Kurosawa's central metaphor for the moral decay plaguing postwar Japanese society. Even Sanada, the film's moral center, is more than a little flawed, with his dishevelment and alcoholism, as if to say that any higher degree of purity was simply not to be found in this time and place.

Why is Sanada so bent on saving Matsunaga? Superficially, one could attribute it simply to the character's professionalism as a physician. At the allegorical level, however, Sanada, as the older man, represents the wisest elements of traditional Japanese culture trying to guide the bruised and beaten young warriors of the nation into an acceptance of a way of life apart from conquest and violence. Sanada recognizes some of his own vices in the young Matsunaga and, in the best tradition of the master/pupil relationship, hopes to help the young man learn from the old man's mistakes rather than having to duplicate all of them for himself.

Production Values: The script for the film is better than average. The allegorical links between the plot and postwar Japanese society add some real thematic depth. The characters, most especially Dr. Sanada, are well rounded, encompassing a rich variety of noble and ignoble qualities. There's an irony, perhaps, in Kurosawa's depictions of Americanization of Japanese culture, since Kurosawa himself is often considered the most Westernized of Japanese film directors. It's not much of a stretch to imagine the influence on Drunken Angel of American gangster films, starring the likes of Cagney, Bogart, and Robinson. Also evident is some influence from the Italian Neo-realism movement, which was all the rage at the time that Drunken Angel was in conception and production. Though this film is understandably bleak in its overall tone, Kurosawa leaves viewers with a some feeling of hope, by returning to a schoolgirl patient (Yoshiko Kuga) who is overcoming her tuberculosis by following Dr. Sanada prescribed course of therapy. In each time and place, there is always the hope that the next generation will improve on our own failings.

As always with Kurosawa, there's some very nice camerawork, such as some long corridor shots that provide an intriguingly deep perspective. The grimy shops and taverns of the Japanese ghetto are effectively portrayed. Recurrent shots of the polluted swamp provide the pointed symbolism that adds weight to the film's events. Kurosawa includes a surreal segment for a dream experienced by Matsunaga, in which he breaks open a coffin at the ocean's edge to discover his own ghostly doppelganger, which then pursues him frantically along the length of the beach.

Many movie lovers will recognize Takashi Shimura as Kambei, the great Samurai leader in Kurosawa’s later picture, The Seven Samurai or from Ikiru, where Shimura plays the title role. He also appeared in Stray Dog (1949), Rashômon (1950), Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), The Hidden Fortress (1958), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), Yojimbo (1961), High and Low (1963), and Kwaidan (1964). Shimura gives an outstanding performance here in Drunken Angels.

It's remarkable to see Toshirô Mifune at such a young age. Honestly, without prior knowledge of his presence in the film, I would not have recognized him. Drunken Angels was not only his first film with Kurosawa but only his second film overall. He had appeared in These Foolish Times in 1946. His work here is already highly developed, suggesting that a significant part of his prodigious talent might have been innate. He's decked out in a white suit, most of the time, and wears his black hair slicked back. Mifune's other work included roles in Stray Dog (1949), Rashômon (1950), The Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962), High and Low (1963), Red Beard (1965), the Samurai trilogy (beginning with Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto), and Chushingura (1962).

Bottom-Line: Kurosawa's films have an exotic quality for Westerners but without so much emphasis on Eastern ways of being and perceiving as to make the typically xenophobic American audiences feel unwelcome. This film is where the greatness of Kurosawa first began to emerge. It's not in the top tier of Kurosawa films but it has the special bonus of presenting the great Toshirô Mifune at as early a stage in his career as you're ever likely to encounter. It's a solid four-star film even without that extra incentive.

I made a mistake purchasing a DVD version of this film imported from Hong Kong produced by Mei Ah Entertainment. It comes with optional English and Chinese subtitles (both traditional and simplified Chinese), but the English subtitles are ridiculously poor. Here's two examples:

Your sweat is with alcohol smell.

Why being shy for frightening. You thuoght [sic] that means brave.

Any other option would have to be better than this version. I believe that your other choices are limited to the VHS version or this Rare Kurosawa: 3-Pack, which includes Scandal (1950) and I Live in Fear (1955), along with Drunken Angel. Drunken Angel is in Japanese with English subtitles (and possibly other options, depending on the version you choose). The running time is a brisk 100 minutes.


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You might want to check out these other excellent films from Japan:

The Ballad of Narayama
The Burmese Harp
Chushingura
The Eel
Floating Weeds
Gate of Hell
The Hidden Fortress
High and Low
Ikiru
Kagemusha
Kwaidan
Ran
Rashômon
Red Beard
Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto
Sanjuro
Sanshô, the Baliff
The Seven Samurai
Shall We Dance?
Stray Dog
The Woman in the Dunes
Yojimbo

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older