The Quiet Duel

The Quiet Duel
File:Shizukanaru ketto poster.jpg
Directed by	Akira Kurosawa
Produced by	Sōjirō Motoki
Written by	Senkichi Taniguchi, Akira Kurosawa
Starring	Toshiro Mifune Takashi Shimura
Music by	Akira Ifukube
Cinematography	Soichi Aisaka
Production company	Daiei Film
Distributed by	Daiei Film
Release dates	March 13, 1949
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

The Quiet Duel (静かなる決闘, Shizukanaru Kettō) is a 1949 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It was the second of sixteen film collaborations between director Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune.

Plot

Toshiro Mifune plays Dr. Kyoji Fujisaki a young idealistic doctor who works at his father's (Takashi Shimura) clinic in a small and seedy district. During the war, he contracts syphilis from the blood of a patient (Kenjiro Uemura) when he cuts himself during an operation. Contaminated with a disease that was virtually incurable in 1940s Japan, Fujisaki returns home from the war to the clinic presided over by his obstetrician father. Treating himself in secret and tormented by his conscience, he rejects his heartbroken fiancée Misao,(Miki Sanjō) without explanation. He had been engaged to Misao for six years but has still not set a date due to his disease. Minegishi (Noriko Sengoku), a probationary nurse that he took in after he prevented her suicide attempt, learns of his illness and sacrifice. She dedicates herself to becoming a fully qualified nurse. Misao becomes engaged to another man. She makes one last plea to Fujisaki but he stands firm in rejecting her. The end of the film shows him continuing his work as a surgeon.

Cast

• Toshiro Mifune as Dr. Kyoji Fujisaki
• Miki Sanjō as Misao Matsumoto
• Takashi Shimura as Dr. Konosuke Fujisaki
• Kenjiro Uemura as Susumu Nakada
• Isamu Yamaguchi as Patrolman Nosaka
• Noriko Sengoku as Apprentice Nurse Rui Minegishi
• Chieko Nakakita as Takiko Nakada
• Kenichi Miyajima as the Dealer
• Masateru Sasaki as the Old Soldier
• Seiji Izumi as the Policeman
• Tadashi Date as the father of the boy with appendicitis
• Shigeyuki Miyajima as the Officer

Home video

The Quiet Duel was released on DVD in the US by BCI Eclipse, as the first title in their "Director's Series". It was never released in UK cinemas but was released on DVD in 2006 under the title of "The Silent Duel".

External links

• The Quiet Duel at IMDb