Cinema: Tokyo Manhunt

Stray Dog, made in 1949 by Japanese Director Akira Kurosawa, is a less expert thriller but a deeper movie than his recent High and Low. Both are cops-and-robbers chase films, starring Toshiro Mifune. But the older work, aglow with zest and freshness, displays abundantly two qualities of Kurosawa's ripening genius: the ability to make moving pictures move, and an aching compassion for his fellow men.

The story is so naively contrived that the audience at times must swallow it out of simple generosity. Mifune—appearing 15 years trimmer and every muscular inch a star—plays an idealistic rookie detective whose confidence is shaken when...

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