Early in his career, Akira Kurosawa seemed unable to be make two good films in a row (or at least films that seem good from a distance of 6 decades and several thousand miles). While his odd-numbered films prove very good, with a promise of the master to come, the odd-numbered ones are usually a chore to sit through.
His eighth film, The Quiet Duel, begins well, and is a hell of a lot better than One Wonderful Sunday, but that doesn’t make it a good movie. Before watching the DVD Friday night, I had seen The Quiet Duel once before, at the Pacific Film Archive, about 30 years ago. I barely remembered it.
The opening sequence, set in a mobile hospital near the front in World War II, shows what the master-to-be was already capable of. In one of those Kurosawa-patented torrential downpours, a young surgeon (Toshiro Mifune) accidentally cuts his own finger while trying to save a wounded private’s life. The operation is a success, but the irresponsible private had syphilis, and now the good doctor has it, too.
The rest of the movie is set after the war, with the doctor hiding his condition while otherwise acting like a saint. He breaks off his engagement without giving a reason, and devotes himself to helping others. Kurosawa brings in some interesting supporting characters, including the veteran who infected him (the doctor’s opposite–marrying and fathering a child while keeping his condition secret) and a nurse who got pregnant out of wedlock. But the main character is just to virtuous to be interesting.
The good doctor in his previous film, Drunken Angel, was alcoholic and short-tempered. But this time, Kurosawa’s respect for the medical profession gets the better of his dramatic instincts, and he creates a flawless and boring saint.
And if there’s anything worse than a flawless and boring saint, it’s a flawless and boring saint played by Toshiro Mifune. The energy, intensity, and mischievousness that made his a great movie star are nowhere to be found in The Quiet Duel.
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