DVD/Blu Ray

Stray Dog (PG) |Home Ents Review

Dir. Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1949, 122 mins, subtitled

Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura

Review by Colin Dibben 

Stray Dog is a sweaty, tense and stylistically impressive early crime drama by probably the most famous Japanese film director. If you only know Kurosawa’s feudal era set works such as Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood and Yojimbo you are in for a subtle treat. 

Military veteran and rookie cop Murakami (Mifune) is pickpocketed on a tram. His pistol is lifted and used in a series of crimes. As Murakami’s sense of guilt and shame grows, he teams up with experienced detective Sato (Shimura) to track down the pickpocket, the fence to whom the pistol was sold and the young gangster whose opportunistic use of the weapon is escalating violently out of control. 

Given Kurosawa’s love of American cinema, it is tempting to see resemblances between Stray Dog and noir films of the same period. They are there, but so are brutal realist and lyrical elements that will go on to feature in Kurosawa’s more celebrated films. 

The grunge and poverty of post-war Japan is on display, although most of the war-pummelled streets that Murakami walks down are studio sets. There are a couple of extended sequences that seem a bit too long; but the hotel lobby scene is exceptionally tense and the climactic scene at a suburban railway station, spiling over into a chase through fields, is a quintessential blend of the brutal and the lyrical. 

It is nice to see Mifune looking young and almost well-groomed – I only recognised him by his gruff voice. Shimura is also really good as the hardened cop. 

Extras include: 

  • Newly recorded interview with Japanese film expert Jasper Sharp
  • Newly recorded audio commentary by Kenta McGrath
  • Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Stray Dog (2002, 32 mins) an in-depth look at the film with the director himself

This presentation is newly restored in 4K. The film looks brighter than before and contrasts are clearer but don’t expect pristine high-res imagery.  

Stray Dog is out on Blu-ray, on iTunes and Amazon Prime on 27 January 2025