Nora inu (1949)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Ryuzo Kikushima (writer)
Akira Kurosawa (writer)

Release Date:

31 August 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Murukami, a young homicide detective, has his pocket picked on a bus and loses his pistol. Frantic and ashamed...

Plot Keywords:

Bus | Streetcar | Bellhop | Heat Wave | Arrest

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	Det. Murakami
Takashi Shimura	...	Det. Sato
Keiko Awaji	...	Harumi Namaki, showgirl
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Harumi's mother
Noriko Sengoku	...	Girl
Fumiko Honma	...	Wooden Tub Shop woman
Reikichi Kawamura
Eijirô Tôno
Yasushi Nagata		(as Kiyoshi Nagata)
Katsuhei Matsumoto
Isao Kimura	...	Yusa
Minoru Chiaki	...	Girlie Show director
Teruko Kishi
Ichirô Sugai	...	Yayoi Hotel owner
Gen Shimizu	...	Police Inspector Nakajima

Also Known As:

Stray Dog (USA)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-12 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Film Art Association

Trivia:

During the opening credits, there is footage of a panting dog. However, when American censors saw the footage, they assumed that the dog had been harmed. This run-in with American censors caused Kurosawa to remark that this was the only time he wished Japan had not lost WWII.

Quotes:

Det. Sato: A stray dog becomes a mad dog.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Magnum Force (1973)

Soundtrack:

Barcarolle

Kurosawa's first major masterpiece

STRAY DOG stands as the legendary Akira Kurosawa's first real masterpiece, noteworthy for at least two big reasons: the style - classic American film noir (rich, velvety b&w atmospheres), enhanced with a touch of Italian neo-realism (great use of diverse locations, which provide a great view of day-to-day postwar Japan), and the star, a young Toshiro Mifune, whose truly collaborative association with Kurosawa was cemented here, and would grow in spectacular fashion during the subsequent 16 years.

Mifune became as much of an international icon as Kurosawa, and this is the first film where it's easily evident why. As an example of film noir, STRAY DOG offers plenty of gripping suspense and moral complexity, and holds up well alongside classics like THE BIG HEAT, THE KILLING or THE MALTESE FALCON. Kurosawa touched upon international influences to an unprecedented degree in Japanese film (the internationalist impulses of Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi or Mikio Naruse are just as deep and varied, but far more discreetly deployed), Kurosawa also skillfully highlights Japanese specifics (the rookie cop expecting to be fired, even accepting the possibility in an apologetic fashion, only to be assured that he will not be fired - this would not occur in a similar American setting), while always linking the same details to universals: honor, nobility, responsibility. This would become the thread linking Kurosawa's celebrated period/samurai films to his contemporary dramas. STRAY DOG was perhaps the first of his films where it truly resonates in a global fashion - a timeless, classic film.