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8 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Glimpses of things to come in early Kurosawa, 18 June 1999 Author: jacqui chen (jacqui_chen@juno.com) from Dallas
The Quiet Duel features Mifune's second role for Kurosawa, as a young doctor who contracts syphilis from operating on a patient in WWII South Pacific. This alone constitutes the opening and perhaps most riveting sequence of the film. In the little shack where the operation take place, effects of irritation and discomfort hit a high note with the leaking roof, pestering flies, and assaulting humidity. This shabby condition breaks Mifune's concentration and leads him to cut himself in the patient's infected blood. There is much beautiful play of light and shadow across the virginal white uniforms of the doctors.When Mifune goes back to his father's (Takashi Shimura) medical practice in Japan after the war, the film staggers in cajoling our empathy for the hero's incredulous dilemma: How to protect his fiancee - whom he has kept waiting for six years during the war - from the syphilis he contracted abroad, yet to be honest with himself and his own physical desires. The movie strives to be the tragic love story of a sexually unfulfilled man, an Unjustifiably Tainted Virgin who pains in silence. He is so saintly that his self-denial (abstinence) inspires a single mother (Noriko Sengoku) to become a certified nurse. Despite relatively good performance from the actors, the story of a saintly individual done wrong by a disease that is symbolically social restricts itself to melodramatic proportions.Thankfully, there is a subplot involving the patient, aka the agent of Doctor Mifune's syphilis. As irresponsible (and promiscuous) as he is, he gives syphilis to his own wife and this ends ups killing their first born. The wife is a victim in the sense that Mifune contracted his disease, and much of Kurosawa's famed humanism involves the wife's recovery from her stillborn and the promise of her eventually ridding syphilis.This film was made just after several labor strikes broke out at Toho, Kurosawa's home studio. The strikes had devastating effects on the unity and creative synergy of film talents in Japan then, and Kurosawa made this '49 film under Daiei-- with a relatively inexperienced production unit and using a contemporary stageplay that would not alienate moviegoers. The result is vastly uneven, aside from the fantastic opening that is classic Kurosawa. Further, this film continues the cultivation of a Kurosawa-obsession: that of a saintly doctor who, despite his own faults, tries to be his most honest with the world. This can be first seen in Drunken Angel's Dr. Sanada, and later - most memorably - in Red Beard's Akahige/Dr.Niide.
6 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Heartbreaking Inner Duel between Conscience and Desire, 27 May 2009 Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In 1944, in WWII, Dr. Kyoji Fujisaki (Toshirô Mifune) cuts his finger with the scalpel during a surgery in a field hospital and is infected by spirochete from his patient Susumu Nakada (Kenjiro Uemura). After the blood test, he realizes that he has contracted syphilis, but he does not have the necessary medicine to treat the disease. He advises Nakada to seek medical treatment for his disease. In 1946, after the war, he breaks off his six years engagement with his beloved fiancée Misao Matsumoto (Miki Sanjo) but he does not tell the truth to her to let her go and find another man to get married. The hopeless apprentice nurse Rui Minegishi (Noriko Sengoku) witnesses Kioji injecting Salvarsan to treat his syphilis, and first she misunderstands why the doctor is sick. Later, after discovering the truth about his disease, she changes her behavior and becomes the confident listener of the doctor's inner feelings. When Kyoji accidentally meets Nakada in the police station of his town and finds that his wife is pregnant, he warns the reckless man about the risk of his lack of responsibility to his wife and baby."Shizukanaru Ketto" is a little and quite unknown gem from Master Akira Kurosawa, with a heartbreaking tale about the inner duel between conscience and desire of a pure and good doctor contaminated by a corrupt and dirty patient. Like in "Yoidore Tenshi" ("Drunken Angel") from the previous year, the story may be also interpreted in a metaphoric sense that reflects the moment of after-war society in Japan, where "a pure man is contaminated by the dirtiness and only three, five or ten years later he will be healed after a long treatment". The strong code of honor of Japanese people in the 40's explains the shame that would be for Dr. Fyoji to disclose that he had the dishonored syphilis. His sacrifice, hiding the truth from Misao, to give a chance to his twenty-seven year-old fiancée to find another husband is awesome. But the emotional scene when Kyoji discloses his feelings to Minegishi made my eyes wet, and is one of the most heartbreaking dialogs I have seen in a classic movie. Last but not the least; the story never becomes a melodramatic soap-opera due to the superb direction of Mr. Kurosawa. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "Duelo Silencioso" ("Silent Duel")
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: well-acted melodrama that isn't one of Kurosawa's best, 2 August 2008 Author: MisterWhiplash from United States
Every Akira Kurosawa film is at least interesting, and even in a work like The Quiet Duel, which is designed possible as something of a 'minor' work in the director's cannon, there's things about it that are striking and exceptional. The opening scene of the doctor, played by Toshiro Mifune, operating on the patient who will change his life forever, has a double-sided tension to it about not just the fate of the operation but of something else (this helps if you don't know what is going to happen). The way the scene is cut, the effect of the rain outside, the pan at the floor, the rain falling on the pan and making the one louder sound, it all amounts of a near-classic Kurosawa scene. This and the climax are, arguably, the best scenes of what is otherwise a good if shaky melodrama.The problem might just be that I'm not tuned into this tearjerker side of Kurosawa, at least one that isn't as well-cooked, so to speak, as some of his best efforts. The premise is really good, as a doctor contracts syphilis by a mistake while operating on a patient during the war, and has to treat himself with medicine and cannot find a way to tell his to-be wife about his ailment (or, in fact, why he cannot marry). And saying that this isn't entirely 'well-cooked' is to say that the premise, while fascinating, doesn't entirely develop into a fully fascinating story. There are patches that seem to kind of coast, like something one might see on day-time television (not quite soap opera but close), and it's only in the last third that things really start to pick up dramatically.Thankfully, Mifune is on his A-game as usual with his best collaborator at the helm, particularly in a scene where he (uncharacteristically for Kurosawa) breaks down in tears after seeing his once-possible-wife off to marry someone else, and there's a strange, cool mixture of musical instruments on the soundtrack- not quite what one would expect for a melodrama (i.e. xylophone, harmonica, harps, accordions). By the climax, as I said, it gets very good with the original patient Takata coming back in a drunken, syphilis-infected frenzy to the hospital. It just isn't enough, overall, to recommend it as highly as Kurosawa's best; Red Beard and Drunken Angel, also starring Mifune, are much better as medical/hospital dramas. 7.5/10
6 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Brilliant but flawed!, 30 August 2001 Author: dorlago from California
As in "Drunken Angel" this film uses illness as a allegory to symbolize Japanese society after WW2. Though not as powerful "The Quiet Duel" does have some fine moments. The beginning sequence is beautifully filmed. All the Kurosawa techniques are there. The play of light, the pounding rain storm, the purposefully annoying fan, and the haunting music give this intro stunning power and make the rest of the film rather pale in comparison. The acting at times tends to be a little melodramatic but the characters are convincing even if their motives are questionable. I won't go into details. I don't want to give the story away. This film contains what I think is one of the best scenes between Mifune and Shimura. It is the magical, simple, and poignant musical cigarette box scene. An interesting point....... Watch this and then watch "Drunken Angel". Many of the same sets and props were used. Shimura's office in "Drunken Angel" and Mifune's office in "The Quiet Duel" are almost identical.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: An Early Film By The Great Kurosawa, 27 February 2007 Author: Hal-900 from WA, USA
This early Kurosawa film might initially seem simply a curiosity in the director's extensive filmography. It is definitely a minor achievement but gradually the movie emerges as a fine demonstration of Kurosawa's storytelling abilities. It is about a doctor (a very young and handsome Toshirô Mifune) that contracts syphilis from a patient he operated. The doctor has to face the stigma that comes with such disease. The film is pure melodrama, very sentimental and high on big emotions and overplayed vignettes. But visually, the film is interesting. Kurosawa's staging (including some interesting use of deep focus photography) is excellent. Mifune's quiet charisma is already visible here (I'm a fan boy of the actor), and Takashi Shimura is very moving as Mifune's loving father; their few scenes together are priceless. Both actors did superior work in subsequent Kurosawa productions, but you can already notice how well these actors fit in the director's universe. Noriko Sengoku steals a few scenes as bitter apprentice nurse. The film is short and its brevity helps. Kurosawa's first masterpiece ("Rashomon") is still a few years ahead but this is a nice warm up for things to come. If you are interested in the director's work, you want to watch it. Regular viewers won't be missing anything special. The new DVD has a few interesting interviews.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Splendid actors, 18 November 2006 Author: RNQ from Canada
An admonitory melodrama movingly sustained by splendid acting. Toshiro Mifune would later play a different sort of strong and silent character (John Wayne's an unworthy comparison). Here the silence is pulled inward, the head often drooped, the silence a wish not to offend. No wonder it's like the female characters are pounding on the door of this tall, handsome man when he cannot open himself to them. He's doing noble work as a physician, and fortunately the sombre story is sometimes lightened with patients grateful for cure, as it is in a way by his irresponsible double with whom he shares a probably incurable infection. Well set-up scenes often beautifully photographed, like the detail of rainwater dripping into a pan during a wartime jungle operation, coming after the surgeon has asked the patient's pulse to be monitored.
Despite being a "lesser" Kurosawa film, this is an exceptional film, 12 May 2009 Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
THE QUIET DUEL (SHIZUKANARU KETTO) is among the least famous of director Akira Kurosawa's films. You might assume this is because it's a "lesser" film--in other words, one of the director's few misfires. Well, I would disagree strongly. While there are a few small elements that I didn't love (such as the doctor's almost martyr-like unwillingness to tell anyone about his infection), there is also so much to love--and some terrific performances. Perhaps some of the reason this film isn't as highly regarded is because it lacks the spectacle of films like THE SEVEN SAMURAI or RAN. However, I usually prefer the director's quieter and more human films--such as IKARU, SCANDAL and THE BAD SLEEP WELL (among others).The film begins during WWII. Toshirô Mifune is a doctor operating on many wounded soldiers. During one surgery, he removes his surgical gloves and then gets cut--yet continues operating on a man who turns out to have syphilis. Now I really wish the film had explained this scene better, as you either can assume the doctors had a shortage of gloves OR the doctor is simply an idiot. Based on the rest of the movie, you'd assume no more gloves were available and if they were, then operating without them was very reckless.The film then picks up in 1946. Now Mifune is working at a low-income medical clinic and no one knows that he now is infected with syphilis--not even his father or sweet fiancée. All the fiancée knows is that after being engaged for six years and waiting for him throughout the war, he inexplicably won't commit to a date for the marriage now that it has ended. Secretly he continues giving himself injections of a drug to eliminate this usually sexually transmitted disease and he knows that if he does consummate his relationship, he will infect her as well because the treatment regimen at this advanced state is time-consuming. Now the movie did explain his logic for keeping this secret to himself but I still didn't buy into this as in the long run--it would have probably been a lot better just to tell her.However, despite the couple plot problems I mentioned, there is so much to love about the film. Mifune and the rest are great but I was particularly impressed by Noriko Sengoku who plays a wonderful part. I say wonderful because like some of the best characters in film, she isn't exactly who you think she is and her character grows and changes throughout the film. Despite only being a supporting player, I actually think her part is the best in the film. She plays an apprentice nurse who is very lazy and unlikable when you first see her. I naturally assumed that throughout the film she would continue this way and be a major thorn in the doctor's side. However, as the film progresses, she is revealed to have much depth and is a wonderful counterpoint to the long-suffering doctor. I especially enjoyed her scenes late in the film, such as when she and the doctor break down and cry about his predicament as well as the scene where she attacks the man who infected Mifune. The crying scene was particularly effective, as you rarely see this sort of raw emotion in film--particularly in the 1940s as well as from a man.There is a lot more to this film that I haven't mentioned including a couple sub-plots. All are superb and show that even though this is a very muted and understated film, it also is very, very powerful. Overall, a film made much better by the director's gentle touch and some riveting performances.
I have to have the conscience of a doctor, and the conscience of a man. It is hard., 20 March 2009 Author: lastliberal from Florida
One rarely, if ever goes wrong watching a film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshirô Mifune, even if it one of the early ones. In this film, however, the star is not Mifune, but the man who plays his father, Takashi Shimura, destined to achieve greater fame in Ikiru, and The Seven Samurai.Mifune comes back from the war with Syphilis, a disease he contracted during an operation. He must make drastic changes in his life starting with his finance of six years, Miki Sanjo. He finds the man who gave him the disease, and spends his energy trying to get him to stop spreading it, horrified that he has a pregnant wife.Noriko Sengoku (Stray Dog, Drunken Angel, Blind Beast) plays a self-absorbed nurse trainee and provides comedy to an otherwise depressing film. She transforms after having a baby she didn't want, and after learning of Mifune's plight. She is a talented performer in this film showing many facets.
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