Scandal

Audience Reviews

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Henry D @Henry_Domke Apr 21, 2026 An unusual turn for Kurosawa, taking on a libel case built around bribery and media corruption. The story held our interest and the actors were appealing, especially Noriko Sengoku. But the tone often tipped into melodrama, which weakened it, and the print didn’t help, low contrast and soft. See more

Virgo V @vision Jul 12, 2025 Scandal (Sukyandaru or Shūbun) is a 1950 Japanese film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa. It stars Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Yoshiko Yamaguchi and Noriko Sengoku. It was distributed and produced by Shochiku Company, Limited. Scandal was described by Kurosawa himself as a protest film about "the rise of the press in Japan and its habitual confusion of freedom with license. Personal privacy is never respected and the scandal sheets are the worst offenders." Vision wrote: "a display of the so-called kasutori culture; a phenomenon of early postwar Japan that refers to the proliferation of sleazy magazines and cheap alcohol. Hence, the Scandal. Ruthless and vicious. Poor Toshiro and Takashi. Toshiro Mifune comes out on top. Three and a half fries for direction and screenplay. Brilliant and underrated. A must watch for Kurosawa fans." See more

TheFilmReviewer 1 @TheRealAckervold Mar 2, 2023 A brilliantly undervalued early work from Akira Kurosawa and a young Toshiro Mifune, Scandal shines bright with a riveting Takashi Shimura supporting performance. Although touchingly close to It's a Wonderful Life, Scandal provides its own surprises in addition to its heartwarming premise. See more

william d @acsdoug Oct 13, 2021 I expected a film about a man and woman dealing with Japanese libel law and civil procedure. Instead, it's really a story about a weak man who happens to be a lawyer, and it's not particularly interesting. See more

Sep 7, 2021 In 1949 Japan, an artist is in the mountains doing a painting when he is approached by a woman who turns out to be a news media-shy female celebrity singer. As she has missed her intended bus, he takes her on the back of his motorcycle to an inn where they separately stay the night. When they converse together, some photographers in the area spot them and take a photograph of them, and the scandal sheet they work for invents a story about their being lovers, confident that they will get away with it. But both artist and singer are outraged by the false story, with the scandal making them both public laughingstocks, and a decrepit lawyer visits them and offers to help them in filing a lawsuit against the scandal sheet. Suspicious at first, the artist visits the lawyer's home and discovers that he has a daughter who is seriously ill with tuberculosis. Then the lawsuit is filed...but how trustworthy is this lawyer? Great performances from all, especially the questionable lawyer who suffers poverty and guilt and shame as the scandal sheet people press bribes upon him, knowing how desperate for money he is. What will happen? Will the lawyer end up destroying himself, his family, and the clients who trust him? The performers put life into this otherwise trite message, and we learn a few things about Japan in that era-they do celebrate (secular) Christmas and New Year's, and even sing Western songs with Japanese lyrics to go with these holidays. See more

Feb 19, 2017 Kurosawa frequently deals with addiction and its consequences; the addict is easily bought and sold to feed their need. Thus far, Takashi Shimura has been his go to guy in that role. In Ikiru, it takes him off course from his true purpose in his dying body, and Drunken Angel speaks for itself. Here it's gambling that makes him an easy target for the Amor tabloid establishment. Shimura and Mifune drunk by a dirty pond - where have we seen this before? Kurosawa takes inspiration from himself, but never is it more lovable than in this Christmas scene, when the stars have apparently fallen in the filth and cleansed it like a baptism. The way they stumble around and eventually fall is priceless. This theme of star purity threads itself in the end, that for the first time, Aoe saw a star come into existence through his fallible lawyer, whose arc this story belongs to. Step aside Mifune, you only looked like you were the lead. The daughter's well-being determined by the darkness her father is dipping in and out of is a beautifully organic device. Her tragedy is what finally gives the lawyer nothing left to live for; defending the truth is fighting for her honor, and he now transforms through her passing. In Ikiru, Shimura is the Christ figure, in Scandal, his daughter is. I love the holiday setting and the use of the New Year song, Kurosawa framing his subjects through tinsel and ornaments. I should note that I happen to be watching two paparazzi films tonight, this and La Dolce Vita, and they both feature Jingle Bells. Another staccato, teary, drunk hunchback, brilliantly emotional performance by Shimura, and a bravado, tough, handsome one for Mifune. The tabloid image of the supposed scandal that fed the whole story is ripped to shreds by wind erosion in the final frame of the film. Winter kicked it's ass. See more

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Scandal

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