The Quiet Duel / Shizukanaru kettō (1949) — Akira Kurosawa’s postwar medical melodrama (screenplay Kurosawa & Senkichi Taniguchi from Kazuo Kikuta’s play; cinematography Sōichi Aisaka; music Akira Ifukube) . During WWII, army surgeon Dr. Kyoji Fujisaki (Toshirō Mifune) cuts himself operating on a syphilitic soldier (Kenjiro Uemura) and contracts syphilis; back at his father’s clinic (Dr. Konosuke Fujisaki, Takashi Shimura), he treats himself in secret and, rather than risk infecting his fiancée Misao (Miki Sanjō), breaks their engagement without explanation . He wrestles with guilt and desire while mentoring apprentice nurse Rui (Noriko Sengoku), who matures as she learns his secret . When he finds the same patient—now married to Takiko (Chieko Nakakita) and expecting a child—he forces the man to face responsibility and get treatment .
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