Scandal
(1950)
|
|
| 0Share... |
Scandal
(1950)
|
|
| 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Toshirô Mifune | ... |
Ichirô Aoye
|
|
|
|
Shirley Yamaguchi | ... |
Miyako Saijo
(as Yoshiko Yamaguchi)
|
|
|
Yôko Katsuragi | ... |
Masako Hiruta
|
|
|
Noriko Sengoku | ... |
Sumie
|
|
|
Eitarô Ozawa | ... |
Hori
|
| Takashi Shimura | ... |
Attorney Hiruta
|
|
|
|
Shin'ichi Himori | ... |
Editor Asai
|
|
|
Ichirô Shimizu | ... |
Arai
|
|
|
Fumiko Okamura | ... |
Miyako's mother
|
|
|
Masao Shimizu | ... |
Judge
|
|
|
Tanie Kitabayashi | ... |
Yasu Hiruta
|
|
|
Sugisaku Aoyama | ... |
Dr. Kataoka
|
|
|
Kokuten Kôdô | ... |
Old Man A
|
|
|
Kichijirô Ueda | ... |
Old Man B
|
|
|
Bokuzen Hidari | ... |
Drunk
|
Ichiro Aoye, a young painter, encounters a famous singer, Miyako Saijo, while on holiday in the mountains. He gives her a ride and coincidentally stays at the same inn. A tabloid magazine specializing in scandals blows this encounter up into a huge falsehood designed to humiliate Miyako, who has been uncooperative with the press. Ichiro sues, but his lawyer, needing money for his sick daughter's treatment, accepts a bribe to throw the case. Written by Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Frequently neglected in comparison with his earlier works, this 1950 film provides a naturalistic look at conditions in post-war
Japan and hits on themes that seem oddly contemporary: the price of celebrity and the debate over the responsibility of a free
press
All the right characters are here: a pop star, a prominent artist, a seedy attorney, an unscrupulous gossip magazine publisher and the obligatory angelic daughter with tuberculosis! ItÕs even topped off with a climactic courtroom scene.
While Toshiro Mifune is the marquee name,Takashi Shimura, as the conflicted attorney Hiruta, is the star of this moral melodrama. His performance may seem excessive to some but he gets the great self condemning line that resonates today, ÒA bad lawyer is the worst scum.Ó
One trivia note: While Mifune and Shimura are among the better known members of KurosawaÕs stable, Scandal marks the debut of another familiar face, Bokuzen Hidari, as a drunk in a hostess bar belting out Auld Lang Syne