A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.
- Awards
- 4 wins
Mayuri Mokushô
- Daughter at Flower Shop
- (as Kumiko Mokushô)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn early drafts of the script, the story was almost entirely about Doctor Sanada (Takashi Shimura) and Matsunaga the thug (Toshirô Mifune) was a small supporting part. However, Akira Kurosawa was so impressed with Mifune's performance that he greatly increased the Matsunaga part, to the point where the Doctor and Matsunaga are almost equal in screen-time.
- GoofsEven though the story takes place during the hot summer, breath can be seen coming from characters in several scenes.
- Quotes
Dr. Sanada: The Japanese love to sacrifice themselves for stupid things.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Kurosawa and the Censors (2007)
Featured review
Drunken Angel
Drunken Angel (1948)
*** (out of 4)
Straight-forward and simple drama about the troubled relationship between a low level gangster (Toshiro Mifune) dying of tuberculosis and the drunken doctor (Takashi Shimura) trying to save him during post-war Japan. There are a lot of different genres on display in this early Kurosawa film including noir, gangster and an odd couple drama. The three don't always mix too well together but Kurosawa's great direction mixed with the great lead performances make this a must see even if the gang would go onto much better films. What works the best here are the performances by Shimura and Mifune. The two men work extremely well together because they make their characters so well rounded to the point where you feel as if you know everything about the men. Mifune really digs deep into the gangster and this leads to many well acted scenes including the drunken one where the gangster must finally realize how serious his disease is. Shimura clearly steals the film as the angry and often times bitter, if still caring, drunken doctor. The amount of anger he displays with his character while still making us understand why he cares so much is perfectly done by the actor. Cheiko Nakakita and Reizaburo Yamamoto are also very good in their supporting roles of the nurse and gang boss. The cinematography is also top-notch especially a dream like sequence where the dying gangster invisions himself as a zombie-like creature. This scene is very effective as is another where spitting blood is involved. I think at times the film is way too over dramatic and this includes many scenes dealing with the "swampness" of Japan. Even with that said, this is still a very impressive drama that fans of Kurosawa will want to check out.
*** (out of 4)
Straight-forward and simple drama about the troubled relationship between a low level gangster (Toshiro Mifune) dying of tuberculosis and the drunken doctor (Takashi Shimura) trying to save him during post-war Japan. There are a lot of different genres on display in this early Kurosawa film including noir, gangster and an odd couple drama. The three don't always mix too well together but Kurosawa's great direction mixed with the great lead performances make this a must see even if the gang would go onto much better films. What works the best here are the performances by Shimura and Mifune. The two men work extremely well together because they make their characters so well rounded to the point where you feel as if you know everything about the men. Mifune really digs deep into the gangster and this leads to many well acted scenes including the drunken one where the gangster must finally realize how serious his disease is. Shimura clearly steals the film as the angry and often times bitter, if still caring, drunken doctor. The amount of anger he displays with his character while still making us understand why he cares so much is perfectly done by the actor. Cheiko Nakakita and Reizaburo Yamamoto are also very good in their supporting roles of the nurse and gang boss. The cinematography is also top-notch especially a dream like sequence where the dying gangster invisions himself as a zombie-like creature. This scene is very effective as is another where spitting blood is involved. I think at times the film is way too over dramatic and this includes many scenes dealing with the "swampness" of Japan. Even with that said, this is still a very impressive drama that fans of Kurosawa will want to check out.
helpful•73
- Michael_Elliott
- Jul 13, 2009
- How long is Drunken Angel?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Pijani andjeo
- Filming locations
- Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan(Studio)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $46,808
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $15,942
- Jul 28, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $46,808
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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