The Quiet Duel

The film centers on Dr. Kyoji Fujisaki, a young, idealistic doctor who, during his service as an army physician during World War II, contracted syphilis from the blood of a patient when he accidentally cut himself during an operation.

Contaminated with this infectious, typically shameful, and then-virtually incurable disease, Fujisaki returns home from the war to the clinic presided over by his obstetrician father, Dr. Konosuke Fujisaki. He comes into contact with the patient who contaminated him, in the process seeing the consequences of ignoring the disease. Treating himself in secret with Salvarsan and tormented by his sense of injustice for not being able to help the man, he rejects Misao, his fiancé of six years, without explanation, as he does not wish her to have to wait for a number of years until he is cured. Heartbroken, Misao becomes engaged to another man. She makes one last plea to Fujisaki, but he stands firm in rejecting her.{{cite web|url=http://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=27118&key_search=%E9%9D%99%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8B%E6%B1%BA%E9%97%98|title=静かなる決闘|publisher=Kinema Junpo|accessdate=27 December 2020}}

• Toshiro Mifune as Dr. Kyoji Fujisaki
• {{ill|Miki Sanjo|ja|三條美紀}} as Misao Matsumoto
• Takashi Shimura as Dr. Konosuke Fujisaki
• {{ill|Kenjiro Uemura|ja|植村謙二郎}} as Susumu Nakada
• {{ill|Isamu Yamaguchi|ja|山口勇}} as Patrolman Nosaka
• Noriko Sengoku as apprentice nurse Rui Minegishi
• Chieko Nakakita as Takiko Nakada
• {{ill|Kenichi Miyajima|ja|宮島健一}} as the dealer
• Masateru Sasaki as the old soldier
• Seiji Izumi as the policeman
• Tadashi Date as the father of the boy with appendicitis
• Shigeyuki Miyajima as the officer

Production was interrupted due to a lengthy strike at the Toho movie studio, and Kurosawa would ultimately finish the movie at rival studio Daiei. At that time Daiei also owned a baseball team, the Daiei Stars, whose players visited the movie set during filming.Conrad, David A. (2022). Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan, 63, McFarland & Co.

According to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film received three critic reviews rated 'Fresh', but did not receive enough reviews to earn a consensus.{{Cite web |title=The Quiet Duel {{!}} Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/quiet_duel |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=www.rottentomatoes.com |language=en}}

The Quiet Duel was released on DVD in the U.S. by BCI Eclipse, as the first title in their "Director's Series". It was never released in U.K. cinemas, but was released on DVD in the U.K. in 2006 under the title "The Silent Duel".

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0041870}}
• [https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B01E4D7123BF936A15752C1A965948260 1983 Review of film] at New York Times
• [http://akirakurosawa.info/2009/02/02/akira-kurosawa-film-club-vol-10-the-quiet-duel/ The Quiet Duel] at Akira Kurosawa Info
• [http://www.hackwriters.com/QuietDuel.htm Review of film] at Hackwriters

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Category:1949 films

Category:1949 drama films

Category:1940s Japanese-language films

Category:1940s pregnancy films

Category:Daiei Film films

Category:Films about father–son relationships

Category:Films about syphilis

Category:Films directed by Akira Kurosawa

Category:Films produced by Sōjirō Motoki

Category:Films scored by Akira Ifukube

Category:Films set in hospitals

Category:Films with screenplays by Akira Kurosawa

Category:Films with screenplays by Senkichi Taniguchi

Category:Japanese black-and-white films

Category:Japanese drama films

Category:Japanese-language drama films

Category:Japanese pregnancy films

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Category:Medical-themed films