Akira Kurasawa's (Yojimbo/Seven Samurai) 1950 drama about an artist, Toshiro Mifune, who is caught in a photograph w/a famous musician, Yoshiko Yamaguchi, prompting a gossip mag to move units as people start to believe an illicit affair occurred (when it didn't). Mifune, miffed at the attention, shows up at the rag's offices & bops the editor one prompting a low level lawyer to come out of the woodwork, Takashi Shimura, who volunteers to sue the paper which Mifune & Yamaguchi agree to but what the plaintiffs don't know is that the gossip mag has Shimura in their pocket (paying off & feeding his gambling habit) & him having a sickly daughter doesn't help his financial situation either which makes the subsequent trial particularly nail biting as we wait for Shimura to finally do the right thing. Kurasawa puts his stamp on something other directors like Frank Capra would've played for laughs but by inserting this sadsack attorney into the mix, the film is deepened for the better elevating the material in spite of itself.
