I think this is the earliest Kurosawa film I've watched so far, and it's reminded me that I have to keep going through his filmography, as there looks to be many worthwhile films in there that I'm still yet to see.
This starts off wonderfully simple, almost like Bicycle Thieves except set in Japan and involving a missing gun instead of a missing bike. Once Takeshi Shimura's character becomes involved, it becomes more of a police procedural. It's still somewhat interesting (and I assume very influential on future cop movies) but it wasn't quite as fascinating as the mostly dialogue free, very atmospheric depiction of Mifune's character navigating the streets of post-war Japan for any lead on where his missing gun is, which is largely what the first 30-40 minutes was.
In the end it's a little long and not always engaging in some places, but the first act is great, Kurosawa's knack for visual storytelling (and just great visuals in general) is already fully on display here quite early in his career, and he gets two very good performances out of the always excellent Mifune and Shimura.
Absolutely worth a watch, but I wouldn't quite put it up amongst Kurosawa's best films.
This starts off wonderfully simple, almost like Bicycle Thieves except set in Japan and involving a missing gun instead of a missing bike. Once Takeshi Shimura's character becomes involved, it becomes more of a police procedural. It's still somewhat interesting (and I assume very influential on future cop movies) but it wasn't quite as fascinating as the mostly dialogue free, very atmospheric depiction of Mifune's character navigating the streets of post-war Japan for any lead on where his missing gun is, which is largely what the first 30-40 minutes was.
In the end it's a little long and not always engaging in some places, but the first act is great, Kurosawa's knack for visual storytelling (and just great visuals in general) is already fully on display here quite early in his career, and he gets two very good performances out of the always excellent Mifune and Shimura.
Absolutely worth a watch, but I wouldn't quite put it up amongst Kurosawa's best films.