I am a great fan of Akira Kurasawa's films(or a vast majority of them anyhow) and find Toshiro Mifune a very multi-layered actor. Drunken Angel is not one of Kurasawa's or Mifune's very finest, but of their early work it is one of their stronger efforts. The film is beautifully made and Kurasawa's direction is as delicate and humanistic as ever. The music is simple, but effective in that. I loved the story as well, the realist drama parts are very poignant and the gangster parts have cracking suspense and tension, while the characters and script are just as gripping. Toshiro Mifune would give even better performances in later films, but his performance in Drunken Angel is not bad at all, in fact it is great, very charismatic. He is matched wonderfully by another Kurasawa regular Takashi Shimura.

So all in all, a fine gripping film even if even better films from Kurasawa followed. 9/10 Bethany Cox

DRUNKEN ANGEL sees the master of Japanese cinema, Akira Kurosawa, on solid form in the simplistic tale of the developing friendship between an alcoholic doctor and a dying gangster who comes to him for help. While the story is set very noticeably in a poor, run-down, post-WW2 Japan, the story is one which brims with life and vitality, which is somewhat ironic given the subject matter.

The calibre of the acting is second to none which is no surprise for fans of the director. Takashi Shimura underpins the whole thing as the titular character, a stressed-out doctor battling the bottle as well as the problems of his various associates and patients, but it's Toshiro Mifune who gives the stand-out turn here. This was the star's first collaboration with Kurosawa and it comes as no surprise that the pair would go on to re-team many times in the future. Mifune's performance as the small-fry gangster, addicted to drinking and partying and yet suffering from the effects of tuberculosis, is one of his greats.

Kurosawa's cinematography is another winner here, and there are some fine moments of tension including a great, extended fight scene at the climax. My favourite moment is a bizarre dream sequence in which Mifune is chased along a beach by a corpse only to find himself trapped in a slow motion run. It's one of the few times that the director went for outright horror (along with THRONE OF BLOOD) and it makes me wish he had made an all-out horror film at least once in his career.

Drunken Angel returns Toho to their bleak, dark roots and on this occasion it certainly worked no end.

It tells the story of the tremulous relationship between an alcoholic doctor and his violent mafia member patient. The doctor see's his younger self in the Yakuza and set's about going the extra mile to help him despite being fought every stage along the way.

After a series of mediocre Toho films I was already losing faith in the Kurosawa hype, therefore this came as a really pleasant surprise to me.

Powerful, hard hitting and wonderfully constructed Drunken Angel is by far the best Toho movie I've seen thus far.

The Good:

Well written

Some poignant moments

The Bad:

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Bullets come out of a persons body in the same condition they went in

I'd have let them get typhus......and that's reason no.57579853789 why I should never have kids