Review of Drunken Angel (1948) by Eric P — 06 Dec 2007

By the time Drunken Angel was released, Takashi Shimura was already a well-established actor in Japan (arguably one of the best). To me, this is an important film because it was Toshiro Mifune's first major production, as well as his first with Kurosawa -- the start of a collaboration that would last for countless films.

Mifune would go on to be the greatest of Japanese actors, in my opinion, but here it is obvious that he is still gaining his footing. The scenes between Mifune and Shimura are fascinating to watch because it is evident that Shimura is the master, and Mifune is still an immature actor who has a lot to learn from someone like Shimura. Only a year later, the two actors would work together again on Kurosawa's Stray Dog, which I believe is a superior film to Drunken Angel.

Kurosawa's direction is good, but he too was still obviously developing his style at this point. Stray Dog is a tighter production overall, in my opinion, though in Drunken Angel he certainly gets some good performances out of his actors, and his script was a step above the previous work he had done. Overall a good film, but it lacks the impact and some of the complex nuances that would characterize his later masterpieces.