Dragnet Girl Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Dragnet Girl Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson December 13, 2023

Dragnet Girl (1933) is being released as part of the BFI's two-disc set, Three Films by Yasujirō Ozu.

Cinéphiles who are primarily acquainted with Ozu's familial dramas will likely be surprised that the Japanese auteur made some gangster pictures such as Walk Cheerfully (1930) and That Night’s Wife (1930) in between the silent and sound eras. Ozu was slower in transitioning to sound than his contemporaries. He had already made 27 silent features before working on Dragnet Girl, his third gangster film. Film historians have noted the influence that Sternberg had (as much, if not more so, than American directors did) on Ozu during this period. (3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg, including Underworld, which influenced Ozu, is available from Criterion.)

Dragnet Girl has one of the most complicated plots in an Ozu film. It is about a mysterious woman named Tokiko (Kinuya Tanaka), who works by day as a typist for a modern corporation, and by night as a moll for Jyoji (Jôji Oka), a yakuza boss. Hiroshi (Hideo Mitsui), a friendly young man, wants to join Jyoji's gang. Jyoji is an ex-boxer who still hangs around the boxing gym where he becomes acquainted with Hiroshi, a budding featherweight boxer. Kazuko (Sumiko Mizukubo), Hiroshi's older sister, doesn't want her brother to get on the wrong path of leading a criminal life so she asks Jyoji to encourage Hiroshi to re-enroll in school and not pursue criminal or boxing careers. Joji is enchanted by Kazuko's wholesomeness and fine tastes. Kazuko works as a clerk at a record shop and shows Joji some classical albums, which are new to him since he's mainly familiar with popular tunes. Tokiko discovers her boyfriend has been seeing Kazuko, who she considers harming. But Tokiko takes an unexpected liking to Kazuko and holds back. Ozu and his co-writer Tadao Ikeda introduce the plot twist of Hiroshi's decision to steal money from the shop where his sister works. Tokiko and Jyoji contemplate pulling one last job to cover for the money Hiroshi has taken.

Partners in more ways than one.

Ozu and his cinematographer Hideo Shigehara fill the frame with chiaroscuro lighting as well as shots with shadows and silhouettes in the first reel. They also frequently film through windows and doorways, cutting back at reverse angles. It can be difficult for the viewer to follow the plot with all the flourishes from the camera (which dazzle). But once Ozu introduces all his characters, the picture settles down to more of a morality play between Jyoji, Tokiko, Hiroshi, and Kazuko. Ozu wisely doesn't allow the melodrama to become too sentimental or theatrical. The ending, which involves the fates of Tokiko and Jyoji, may surprise many.

Note: Donald Richie wrote in his 1973 book, Ozu: His Life and Films, the first major work on the director available to English-language audiences, that the periods of either during or after filming Dragnet Girl did not go well. After completing it, Ozu reportedly said he just wanted to go on a long trip.

Dragnet Girl Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dragnet Girl has been available in SD before on the BFI's R2 DVD set, The Ozu Collection: The Gangster Films (from 2013), and R1 Eclipse series (#42) DVD set, Silent Ozu: Three Crime Dramas (from 2015). I have not seen either transfer but doubt that as much restoration work was done then than what was completed for this release. The following text appears in the BFI's booklet:

Dragnet Girl was digitally restored in 2022 from a 35mm print from the National Film Archive of Japan, derived from a 35mm nitrate original negative. The 4K restoration was managed by Shochiku and conducted by IMAGICA Entertainment Services, Inc. with the support of The Japan Foundation. Colour correction supervised by Masashi Chikamori.

In his book, Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema (Princeton University Press, 1988), David Bordwell included a number of frame grabs from a print of Dragnet Girl that he viewed. Many of the illustrations show small white specks scattered across the frame. The DI that Shochiku prepared from the 4K-scanned 35mm print is much cleaner. Clarity is remarkable for a silent film from the early '30s. Black levels are inky and deep. Grayscale is excellent. You can see from these screen captures that contrast is often outstanding. A review on another site described a "slight softness" to the transfer but this is rather inherent in the source and not the fault of Shochiku or the BFI. This MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25 receives an rough average video bitrate of 28940 kbps.

Twelve chapters accompany the 100-minute feature, which is projected at 23.98 fps.

Dragnet Girl Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The BFI has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo mix (1635 kbps, 24-bit) of composer Ed Hughes's original score. In the booklet, Hughes writes that he "deliberately employed a modernist, dislocated musical language – at odds with more lyrical episodes to reflect the tension between the fractured, conflicted world of the gangsters, and the regulated world of the office environment." His score not only reflects that tension but also works contrapuntally to contrast with those lyrical episodes. There is quite a bit of melancholic writing for strings which counter-poses moments of levity. The Belvedere Quartet (two violins, one cello, one viola) performs on the sound track. The lossless mix shows very good range when there's variation (e.g., a rise and fall in musical pitch).

The Eclipse DVD runs 73 minutes so the film was projected at a faster speed when transferred to disc (possibly 20 fps.) Neil Brand performs his own score on piano.

There are cards with imposed Japanese intertitles. English intertitles can be switched on through the menu or via remote.

Dragnet Girl Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary by Asian Cinema Expert Tony Rayns - a feature-length track by film historian Tony Rayns that's wonderfully informative and enlightening about Ozu and ways the viewer can interpret Dragnet Girl. Rayns twice prefaces a disclaimer that he won't be describing what's happening on screen and he keeps his word. He discusses where Ozu was in his career and the social climate of Japan in the 1930s. Rayns is highly knowledgeable about the actors and crew members Ozu worked with here, on his other films as well as with his contemporaries. He also talks about the influence of American gangster films and how Josef von Sternberg's silent works shaped Ozu's approach to Dragnet Girl. In English, not subtitled.

Dragnet Girl Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dragnet Girl is a highly entertaining gangster film/romantic drama that sees Ozu utilize more locations than seen in his later films. The movie has been called a "detective thriller" but I believe this is a mislabel because it doesn't become a police procedural until late into the final act. The film's narration and point of view are seen through the four principal characters, especially Tokiko and Joji. The Blu-ray's 4K scan from a 35mm print looks luminous and pretty pristine considering the age. Tony Rayns's commentary track is a must listen. Film fans who appreciate Universal and Warners' gangster pictures of the 1930s should give Dragnet Girl a shot. I hope that the BFI releases Walk Cheerfully and That Night's Wife in the near future. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.