Drunken Angel (1948)

3/5

Drunken Angel is an early Kurosawa film, billed as a film noir but playing more like a character study. The story follows Dr. Sanada (Shimura), a gruff physician working in a poverty-stricken district with a trash-infested swamp serving as the centerpiece for the village (and thematically probably much more, although I can't figure out what). He works not for money or prestige, but for the inherent reward of helping people in need. He begins an uneasy friendship with a gangster named Matsunaga (Mifune) after diagnosing him with tuberculosis. Tensions heighten when Okada (Yamamoto) returns from prison, declaring power over Matsunaga's turf and claiming ownership of a young woman who works for Dr. Sanada (Nakakita).

The movie is surprisingly unique, and for whatever reason I could not predict what would happen next. Kurosawa has a way of making movies that envelop you in them, that place you in the action, so that you enjoy the story instead of analyze it. Even so, I was disappointed in the film. Some characters were written flat while others felt like explosive caricatures. The titular doctor has an unusual habit of throwing bottles at his patients and calling them fools. The compositions were second-rate (made worse by the sub-standard Criterion transfer), the camerawork was shoddy, and the editing was choppy. Much of the medicine in the movie is unintentionally comic, likely because it is old medicine and not because of bad writing. Overall the movie just felt a little less put-together than his later films. You could see sparks of genius and the direction he wanted to take it, but without the proper tools to get him there. A fine effort, but there is much better Kurosawa to be had.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040979/

Unfaithfully Yours (1948)

4/5

Preston Sturges's Unfaithfully Yours follows a British concert conductor who suspects his young and beautiful American wife of being unfaithful to him. The movie is a dark comedy, but one that changes mood throughout. As Kyle described it, the film starts as a witty comedy, does a 180 into a tense murder mystery, then finally ends as a Looney Tunes episode of gags and silly sound effects. It really is quite remarkable and unexpected. And yet it maintains a coherence I wouldn't have thought possible given the various dissonant moods.

Technically, the cinematography is pretty good. The directing and music were above average. The characters are fairly shallow and the acting fairly lackluster. Not like it matters that much. It is the humor that you focus on, and the humor you remember. And the humor that makes this movie 4 stars. Check it out if you like Preston Sturges.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040919/

Red River (1948)

3/5

I can't imagine who would want to make this movie or who would want to watch it. Howard Hawks's Red River is a 2+ hour Western about a cattle herder herding cattle. I can't really make it much more exciting than that, and neither can Hawks. The cinematography and editing are both uninteresting. The visuals don't sync up with audio in wide shots, where Hawks perhaps assumed we wouldn't be able to tell. There is a 30 second montage of men yelling out "Yee haw!" The acting is often theatrical and melodramatic. The story took over an hour to grab your attention, but once it did, it held onto you for the remainder of the film.

John Wayne's Thomas Dunson provides a fascinating base for a character study. It allowed the film to explore some interesting themes through Dunson's words, actions, and emotions. We see how he deals with aging, declining mental faculties, making mistakes, being hard-hearted, and being betrayed. Still, it would take a lot more than that for me to recommend this movie to anyone but the most die hard of Hawks fans or Western fans.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040724/