How did Drunken Angel make Kurosawa Akira famous?

It was the 1948 film Yoidore tenshi (Drunken Angel) that established Kurosawa Akira’s fame.1

The film is a melodrama set in the postwar desolation of downtown Tokyo, depicting the story of a drunken doctor and a consumptive gangster. Beyond its artistic success, the film was instrumental in launching the career of Mifune Toshirō, who portrayed the gangster. Mifune’s performance made him a star, and he subsequently became a frequent collaborator, appearing in most of Kurosawa’s later films.12