#413: KUROSAWA, Akira: Drunken Angel (1948)

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KUROSAWA, Akira (Japan)
Drunken Angel [1948]
Spine #413
DVD


In this powerful early noir from the great Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune bursts onto the screen as a volatile, tubercular criminal who strikes up an unlikely relationship with Takashi Shimura's jaded physician. Set in and around the muddy swamps and back alleys of postwar Tokyo, Drunken Angel is an evocative, moody snapshot of a treacherous time and place, featuring one of the director's most memorably violent climaxes.

98 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
in Japanese
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2007
Director/Writers


Screenplay by Keinosuke Uekusa and Akira Kurosawa.
Kurosawa was 38 when he directed Drunken Angel.

Eclipse Series 7: One Wonderful Sunday (1947)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Thirty-two page booklet featuring an essay by cultural historian Ian Buruma and excerpts from Kurosawa’s Something Like an Autobiography.

Commentary

Featuring Japanese-film scholar Donald Richie.

Documentary

31-minutes on the making of Drunken Angel, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create.

Kurosawa and the Censors

A 25-minute video piece that looks at the challenges Kurosawa faced in making Drunken Angel.
Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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