Movielogr
Scandal (1950)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.
Length 104 minutes
Actors
Toshirō Mifune | Shirley Yamaguchi | Yôko Katsuragi | Noriko Sengoku | Eitarô Ozawa | Takashi Shimura | Shinichi Himori | Kôji Mitsui | Ichirô Shimizu | Fumiko Okamura | Masao Shimizu | Tanie Kitabayashi | Sugisaku Aoyama | Kokuten Kôdô | Kichijirô Ueda | Bokuzen Hidari | Taiji Tonoyama | Junji Masuda | Takashi Kanda | Minoru Chiaki
Viewing History (seen 2 times)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/09/2025 | TV | DVD | Owned | 8 stars |
| 02/28/2010 | Movie Screen | Film | Theater | 8 stars |
| (Average) 8 stars |
Viewing Notes
Have been wanting to revisit this one for a long, long time. Last watched in on 35mm at The Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto for the Kurosawa Festival. That was something.
Oddly recalled more of scandal aspect of the story than the actual story of Shimura’s disheveled and downtrodden lawyer, which becomes the main story by the end. Def forgot this is a Christmas movie (set through the holiday).
The thing that stuck out the most on this viewing, however, is how much chemistry Mifune and Shimura had together early in their careers. They had already done a half dozen films together by this time so they were cooking with gas in this film and would go on to make a few more important films together. That scene of them singing and being totally drunk in the snow is terrific.
In addition, weird to see that Shochiku opening instead of Toho but that so many of these actors followed Akira Kurosawa to Toho and become part of that studio system. Lots of familiar faces, Kurosawa regulars, in this.
TIL Yoshiko Yamaguchi (listed as Shirley here) was Chinese (!) and went on to serve the Japanese parliament for 18 years (!!). She’s an absolute stunner in this and I was hoping by that end the scandal would come to fruition after the trial was over.
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