Scandal (“Shubun)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa and Ryûzô Kikushima
1950/Japan
Shochiku Company/Shôchiku Eiga
First viewing/Hulu
[box] “Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.” ― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan[/box]
Kurosawa’s beautiful staging and the great actors are overcome by a sudsy story. I was disappointed.
Ichiro Aoye (Toshiro Mifune) is a free-spirited artist. He is staying at a mountain resort to paint some landscapes. Miyako Saijo (Shirley Yamoguchi) is a famous singer staying at the same resort for a much needed break. She is carrying a number of parcels when comes across him in the mountains and has missed her bus back to the hotel. He offers to take her home on his motorcycle. Thereafter they briefly talk in her room with the door open. Reporters from a tabloid are lurking there and their paper uses the resulting pictures to spin up a scandalous love affair between the two.
Ichiro is outraged and announces his attention to sue. Hack lawyer Hiruta (Takashi Shimura) drops by and offers to represent him. Ichiro decides he has his lawyer when he meets Hiruta’s sweet bedridden daughter who is suffering from TB. But Hiruta is a moral weakling with a taste for alcohol and gambling. He is easily bribed by the publisher to throw the case. The rest of the story deals with Hiruta’s battles with his guilt and a really improbable trial sequence in which he eventually achieves redemption.
This is Kurosawa at his most sentimental. It was really not for me. I must say that some of the direction was stunning. The outstanding sequence is a bunch of drunks photographed from a host of angles while belting out the Japanese version of “Auld Lang Syne” in boozy stupors.
Clip – no subtitles but little dialogue
