Drunken Angel

Tokyo: Toho Company, Circa 1948. Draft script for the 1948 Japanese film noir. Text and titles in Japanese.

The first of sixteen film collaborations between director Akira Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune. Kurosawa's seventh film saw him exploring the inter workings and motivations of the yakuza and machismo. Censorship was tight regarding the occupation, forbidding criticism of Americans, leading Kurosawa to slip in references to the US presence in Japan, satirizing jazz, "pan pan" girls (unlicensed prostitutes catering to American soldiers), and Western clothing and hairstyles.

Set in the slums of postwar Japan.

White titled wrappers. Approximately 40 leaves, with last page of text numbered 79. Mimeograph duplication, printed on rectos and versos. Pages Very Good plus, wrapper Very Good plus, covered in a protective plastic wrapping from when the script was used during filming, side stapled.

BFI 638. Criterion Collection 413. Grant Japan.

[Book #151633]