Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Voice Without a Shadow Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 4, 2016

Seijun Suzuki's "Voice Without a Shadow" (1958) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment Group. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers; new video introductions by critic and author Jasper Sharp; and promotional materials. The release also arrives with a 40-page illustrated booklet featuring Stuart Galbraith IV's essay "Voices Behind the Shadow", Mark Schilling's essay "Tough Guy, Nice Girl, Hard Choice: Red Pier", Tom Mes' "North by Northwest: The Timeless Adventures of a Rambling Guitarist", and technical credits. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Asako

Note: Voice Without a Shadow is part of Arrow Video's new Nikkatsu Diamond Guys: Vol 1 triple-feature Blu-ray release.

The beautiful switchboard operator Asako (Yoko Minamida, A Sun-Tribe Myth From the Bakumatsu Era, The Crucified Lovers) has an odd exchange with a stranger while trying to assists one of her customers. The police then contact Asako and ask her for assistance because they suspect that she might have spoken to a killer. But the mysterious owner of “the voice with no shadow” is never identified.

Three years later, Asako's husband, Kotani (Toshio Takahara, Seven Samurai), welcomes a few of his friends in their modest home. While they drink and gamble, Asako recognizes the voice of the stranger and panics. The men continue to meet until one of them, a shady character named Hamazaki (Jo Shishido, Youth of the Beast, A Colt is My Passport), is killed. Soon after the experienced Inspector Hatanaka begins working on the murder case, Kotani becomes the prime suspect.

Convinced that her husband has been framed, Asako turns for assistance to an old friend, the handsome reporter Ishikawa (Hideaki Nitani, Massacre Gun, Gangster VIP 2), who is also eager to deliver a big story and please his boss. The reporter begins studying the case, but quickly comes to a dead end. Meanwhile, Kotani confesses that he is the killer and after he is jailed begs the reporter to tell Asako to forgive him. Despite his seemingly genuine request, however, the reporter remains unconvinced that Kotani is the man Inspector Hatanaka has been looking for.

This early film from Japanese auteur Seijun Suzuki feels like a contracted thriller that had to be made because Nikkatsu desperately needed it, not because its creator actually had a clear vision what type of film it should be. Indeed, parts of it easily could have come from a Japanese noir classic, but the film is very inconsistent and excluding the sporadic stylish visuals there really isn’t much else to like.

The events in the film are seen primarily through the eyes of the reporter, who struggles to understand why Kotani would want to kill a man like Hamazaki and spends long hours looking for that crucial clue that would point him in the right direction. For a while it seems like there really is a complicated case that will deliver interesting surprises, but then some awkward subplots emerge and it becomes painfully obvious that someone was trying to prolong the story as much as possible. At the end the murder case is solved logically, but some of the key details in the summation that the reporter delivers are totally random.

Suzuki’s best known and loved films are the ones in which he bends the rules that his fellow directors followed. By the mid-1960s he was already a notorious rebel who routinely challenged the stereotypes that defined pre-New Wave Japanese cinema. Voice Without a Shadow is from his ‘safe’ period, when he was still playing by the rules. It is was lensed by Suzuki’s frequent collaborator, Kazue Nagatsuka, who would later on assist him on the far more exciting Youth of the Beast, Branded to Kill, and Story of a Prostitute.

Voice Without a Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Seijun Suzuki's Voice Without a Shadow arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment Group.

Clarity and detail are consistently pleasing. There are segments in which depth tends to fluctuate, but overall it is also very pleasing. During the indoor footage shadow definition can be slightly inconsistent, but the image is rather well balanced. There are no traces of recent degraining corrections, but grain should be better exposed and resolved. Edge-enhancement is not an issue of concern. The blacks and whites are mostly well balanced; there is a decent range of grays as well, though there should be more nuances. Image stability should be better. Indeed, throughout the entire film there are constant jumps/splice marks in the lower and upper ends of the frame. Typically they appear during camera cuts, which is why I assume that they are actually on the current master. A few white specks and small scratches are visible, but there are no large debris or torn frames to report in our review. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Voice Without a Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provifded for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

Dynamic intensity is limited, but the film's original monaural soundtrack is very modest. Even in sequences where Hikaru Hayashi's score is given a chance to impress there are no notable nuances. The dialog is stable, clean, and easy to follow. Some very light buzz can be spotted in the high-frequencies, but it never becomes distracting.

Voice Without a Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction to the Diamond Guys - included on the disc are two new video introduction by critic and author Jasper Sharp, who discusses the work and careers of Hideaki Nitaini (the handsome reporter in Voice Without a Shadow) and Yujiro Ishihara (the main character in Toshio Masuda's Red Pier). In English, not subtitled.
  
  1. Diamond Guy: Hideaki Nitani (11 min).
  2. Diamond Guy: Yujiro Ishihara (16 min).

• Trailers - trailers for the three films in Nikkatsu Diamond Guys: Vol. 1 and the upcoming Nikkatsu Diamond Guys: Vol. 2.. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles.
  
  1. Voice Without a Shadow
  2. Red Pier
  3. The Rambling Guitarist

• Galleries - promotional materials for the three films in Nikkatsu Diamond Guys: Vol. 1.

• Booklet - 40-page illustrated booklet featuring Stuart Galbraith IV's essay "Voices Behind the Shadow", Mark Schilling's essay "Tough Guy, Nice Girl, Hard Choice: Red Pier", Tom Mes' "North by Northwest: The Timeless Adventures of a Rambling Guitarist", and technical credits.

Voice Without a Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Voice Without a Shadow is an early 'safe' film from Japanese auteur Seijun Suzuki. I quite liked its star, Hideaki Nitani, but there just isn't enough good material in this film for him to shine. Voice Without a Shadow is one of three films that are included in Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment Group's Nikkatsu Diamond Guys: Vol 1 release. (The other two films are Toshio Masuda's Red Pier and Takeichi Saito's The Rambling Guitarist).