Kurosawa has said that he is fond of the works of Georges Simenon, and in Stray Dog he had a chance to exercise his skills in the police thriller genre. A young detective (Toshiro Mifune) whose pistol is stolen searches all over Tokyo for the man who has taken it, and eventually finds his man, but not before the gun has been used for murder. A well-made, highly atmospheric thriller, Stray Dog adds a touch of Dostoyevsky to its other thematic ingredients in the film's exciting and surprising finale.

Stray Dog (Nora inu) is repeated on Wednesday, April 25.