Godzilla (1954)

I have this vague memory as a kid, reading that the original Godzilla (1954; aka Gojira) was on SBS during the day, maybe a weekend, and trying to watch it, feeling bored by the black and white footage and tired of waiting for the monster to show up. How wrong I was. Watching Godzilla in […]

Drunken Angel (1948)

Past Movie Squad reviewer Paul Grace wrote a recommendation of Drunken Angel (1948) for an old issue of the VHS Tracking zine. Directed by Akira Kurosawa, I only realised after I had watched it that it was his first collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune. While he’s always been a handsome, attractive man to me, Mifune […]

Stray Dog (1949)

In Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (1949; Nora inu), a young Toshiro Mifune plays a rookie detective named Murakami who feels shame and twists himself in knots over losing his newly acquired Colt pistol to a pick-pocket on a tram. This is both a film noir and a police procedural, which seems to have influences on […]