Drunken Angel is a masterful gangster film, evoking in many scenes the sinister shadows of American film noir and depicting with compassion the devalued life of underworld characters. But it is moreover a perfect, poetic allegory of postwar Japan; the malaise of a society ravaged by war is symbolized (as in Ikiru) by a disease-ridden sump near the center of the action--the Tokyo slum where the samaritan Dr. Sanada (Takashi Shimura) runs a neighborhood medical clinic. When the arrogant hoodlum, Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifune) is discovered to be tubercular, the two become locked in a struggle of mutual loathing and grudging respect. Their relationship is played out with impressive subtlety, reflecting the moral ambiguities within both the "angel" and the gangster. Mifune's astounding performance led director Akira Kurosawa to rethink his original conception and alter the script midway. Kurosawa has stated, "Shimura's portrayal of the doctor was excellent, but I just couldn't restrain the overpowering force of Mifune's performance. Naturally, as the title indicates, the doctor was supposed to be the film's hero. But what a shame it would have been to stifle Mifune's vitality.... I decided to turn him loose." (in Donald Richie's The Films of Akira Kurosawa)