Stray Dog | 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray (Criterion)
On May 5, 2026, Criterion is releasing the 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray for 1949’s Stray Dog, Akira Kurosawa’s masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo.
A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop’s and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.
Starring Toshiro Mifune as the rookie cop and Takashi Shimura as the seasoned detective who keeps him on the right side of the law, Stray Dog goes beyond crime thriller, probing the squalid world of postwar Japan and the nature of the criminal mind.
Features:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary by Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa
- Short documentary on Stray Dog, from the series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, featuring interviews with director Akira Kurosawa, production designer Yoshiro Muraki, actor Keiko Awaji, and others
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty and an excerpt from Kurosawa’s book Something Like an Autobiography
- Cover by William Logan and Jim McKendree
Watch the Trailer below:
