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**** “Stray Dog�

Sony/Japan Society. $59.95. 1949.

This Akira Kurosawa crime thriller, like his 1963 “High and Low,� puts many of its American equivalents to shame. A rookie cop (Toshiro Mifune) has his gun stolen; driven by guilt and shame, he conducts a remorseless manhunt for the thief. Takashi Shimura, as usual, plays Mifune’s father figure--but what will surprise even many Kurosawa admirers is the dazzling skill with which he evokes the seedy criminal side of postwar Tokyo. The film has a thick, threatening atmosphere, a relentless, hurtling drive and a jolting climax.