I couldn't finish this one, unfortunately.

The problem was not with the film itself but that I appeared to be watching a version with subtitles that were done by someone who clearly has no grasp on the English language at all.

A great shame, really, because although I did try and stick it out and was very much enjoying the performances of Toshiro Mifune and Miki Sanjo especially, it just became too difficult to follow and I'm bloody annoyed because I was looking forward to some more Kurosawa.

Hopefully I'll have more luck with Drunken Angel this weekend but I will definitely come back to this one day when I have a version that is somewhat easier to comprehend. Not happy!

Arguably Mifune's finest hour as an actor.It's a controlled performance and a slow burn but by the end it's worth all the effort!

Pro: In terms of narrative content, especially with early Kurosawa films this in companion with Drunken Angel is where his dramatic storytelling was solidified. His explorations on the relationships between health and humanity are at the forefront here, the performances are top notch but...

Con: It moves at a SNAIL'S PACE. It is made worse by the design, which is very bare and restricted; working against Kurosawa's overall style. Doctor's don't ACTUALLY spend their whole lives hospital rooms don'tchaknow?

Quelle histoire poignante, tout de même. Et moi qui suis habituée au jeu très corporel et puissant (voire dément) de Toshiro Mifune, c'était très beau et émouvant de le voir ici avec un jeu super intériorisé, "dealing with pain dripping with sweat" comme il dit, et tellement seul avec sa souffrance. Pis aussi, l'apprentie infirmière, jouée magnifiquement par Noriko Sengoku, c'était une femme admirable pas à peu près.

Afterthoughts 1948-49 was a very special time for cinema. It saw the birth of one of the greatest actor-director collaborations of all time, and indeed the breakout of one of cinema's finest performers.

I'm yet to see Stray Dogs, but based on Drunken Angel (1948) and this, it's clear to see why Toshirô Mifune became Japan's most celebrated actors, and one of Akira Kurosawa's go-to guys for many of his future projects (Takashi Shimura also stars in both).

While it's clear Kurosawa was very much still discovering his style, The Quiet Duel (or The Silent Duel, which does sound better) is a must-see for Kurosawa-Mifune fans, even if it's just for the pitch-perfect monologue by Mifune in one of the film's best scenes.

Clearly doesn't reach the heights of the Japanese master's all-time greats, but still wonderful work!

So glad I was able to find this. Not sure why this one is so hard to find. Liked it way more than I thought it would. I think I like Kurosawa's films that at least somewhat deal with illness so much because it forces me to think about the terrifying impermanence and unpredictability of physical and mental health. A topic I feel isn't touched on enough.

Would have been nice if the story went more places, or was even an hour longer so it could move more. But I'm ok with what is there. Ended up hitting me really hard. Probably another film that I would rate pretty high just on personal impact but in the middle otherwise. I probably spent too much time self projecting or thinking about related topics.

Pretty amazing how timely this felt when a man gets a horrible disease, spreads it to his loved ones, and then blames the doctor, who he also infected, for his troubles.

Dramalhão do caralho

Ok, questo non mi è piaciuto poi tantissimo. Però Kurosawa riesce comunque a riflettere in modo intelligente sul malessere di un'intera nazione, che indaga sui problemi dei reduci della guerra e sulla condizione socio-pedagogica del Giappone. La catarsi che il regista mostra è quella di persone che, a contatto con la malattia, non riescono a farvi fronte e a trovare rimedio. C'è da dire, però, che il film resta molto sui generis e non spinge mai. La messa in scena risulta alquanto statica e la sceneggiatura, dove sono spinti al massimo i topoi del melodramma, con dialoghi didascalici e intenti pedagogici non riesce a captare per bene la cifra stilistica che Akira ha avuto nei precedenti film.
Un po' sottotono, sebbene alcune caratterizzazioni (come l'infermiera interpretata da Noriko Sengoku) colpiscono precisamente nel segno.

Not Mifune's best work. Shimura is barely memorable. Kurosawa's camera work is subdued because of the setting... You take those three names off of this movie and no one would be watching it today. It's average at best, and one of the weaker films in Kurosawa's catalog. I think it's actually my personal least favorite. The story is decent, but the pacing is poor, and the supporting cast is somehow much weaker than the the main characters. Also the ending was uninspired and left me feeling a bit underwhelmed with the whole thing.

It feels almost as if this was rushed and that's why it's lacking something. It did come out at a time when Kurosawa released 9 movies in a 5 year span. They can't all be bangers and sometimes you just need to get the idea out there so you can move on. Watch it if you're a fan, but I can't recommend this to just anyone.

The ending was surprisingly good, but the rest of this movie suffers from similar issues to No Regrets for Our Youth. The time jumps made the story fell disjointed. It also made it hard to connect with the characters. This added up to a movie that was pretty boring up until the final two or three scenes.
Although his performance is good in this, Stray Dog is a much better film about Toshiro Mifune's secret medical condition.

58

The Quiet Duel presents us with an interesting dilemma: a doctor gets infected with syphilis while operating on a patient and chooses to distance himself from his fiance. The idea is intriguing albeit a bit contrived but the real problem here is that The Quiet Duel never really takes advantage of such a fascinating concept. It's does most of what you would expect to do from a film like this by tackling themes of guilt, shame and regret but the story never goes beyond its initial set up and I found that to a bit disappointing as I really felt like they could have a done a whole lot more with this premise. As a whole, The Quiet Duel is a very tender and subdued drama and works well because of someone like Kurosawa's skills behind the director's chair and Toshiro Mifune's fantastic performance but in the end it just left me wanting more.

Don’t know how I missed this one. A lesser Kurosawa to be sure, but benefits, as expected, from the reliable presence of both Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura.

Leaden, set-bound stuff with overly theatrical acting at points, possibly owing to it being an adaptation of a play. Mifune isn't even that good in this. Any scene were people cry rings false. Also, the moralising about abortions and people with loose morals is not very Kurosawa as he normally finds some humanity in all his characters.

It's not bad but Kurosawa isn't quite all there yet

Quiet desperation is the worst kind of torture you can endure. In The Quiet Duel, Toshiro Mifune's character must choose between putting himself in prolonged anguish, or shortening the anguish of the woman he loves. His dilemma in deciding wether to push her away without telling her why or stay with her, robbing her of her best years, but knowing that you're both with who you truly love is interesting. A relationship built on live that's torn apart for a reason one side does not know, and the other side cannot tell is interesting enough, and I think Kurosawa handles it well. The Quiet Duel does a lot with a little, which is unique in Kurosawa's filmography.

Idk guys, I really dug this one, don't understand the hate

I will say it would have been a lot better if Kurosawa's original vision of a descent into insanity wasn't censored