Kurosawa also paces the film quickly, scene-wise, even in the first half, while virtually set all in a single room. This allows for the feeling of sharing memories with a character later in a film. Yet, this is not done in the pointless and MTV-like way most Hollywood thrillers do. Likewise, Kurosawa sets his film in a specific geography. During their investigation, the viewer and the police see Gondo’s posh Yokohama home and the kidnapper’s hideout from many locations. We see the placement of the pay phones, an island in the harbor, the tenements and Dope Alley, downtown, and assorted other places. All of this helps frame the port city, and where and when things took place, even though Kurosawa shows us nothing of the crime as it happens. Even the difference in sound of a certain trolley line helps place the action in a certain locale.
The DVD is a new two-disk release of the film, replacing an earlier one-disk version, and slated for release later in July, 2008. The quality of the print is excellent, with virtually no flaws. The first disk contains the film and an audio commentary by Stephen Prince, a scholar of Kurosawa’s work. The second disk has the features, which include a 37 minute long making of documentary on the film, from the Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful To Create series.
There are also interviews with Mifune (from a 1981 television talk show) on his career, and a recent one with Tsutomu Yamazaki, the kidnapper. Both are top notch. There are also theatrical trailers from Japan and America, as well as a teaser trailer. There is also a booklet with essays from film critic Geoffrey O’Brien and Japanese film expert Donald Richie. Truthfully, all of the extras, while good, could have easily been encoded onto the one disk. It is likely that Criterion made it a two-disk set merely to distinguish this release from the earlier one disk release that was shorn of extras. As the film is shown in its original Tohoscope 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the fact that the subtitles are in white is no problem, because, instead of having to read them against the black and white cinematic images, they stand out well against the black letterboxing on the bottom of the screen.
The assorted extras speak about how the film helped change the legal system in Japan, adding extra harshness to kidnapping convictions. Prince’s excellent commentary goes into depth about how the cops’ actions are questionable, and allow Takeuchi to kill the junky, which was preventable. He also compares the film to Sidney Lumet’s 1957 film 12 Angry Men, as a set piece (especially in the first hour), and to Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train- especially the scene where the soon to be dead junkie is reflected in Takeuchi’s sunglasses. He also goes into detail on the great use of widescreen cinematography that Kurosawa uses (with his two main camera men, Asakazu Nakai and Takao Saitô), and how modern filmmakers now shoot closer and obsessively cut and edit, which never allows a viewer to pick and choose which actions to focus on, thereby robbing the film of its narrative and character depth.
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