“There is no honor among thieves.”
This idea is often at the center of confidence or crime tales within any genre or medium. The people who you trust to pull a job just might be the same people who will betray you for the spoils, so always be on your guard. There are, of course, the rare exceptions with the worlds of the modern Ocean’s Eleven films or the Leverage series (both of them) as criminals operate within a code that could be as simple as “you shook Sinatra’s hand.” Crime thriller Underworld Beauty (暗黒街の美女) from director Seijun Suzuki (Tattooed Life; Branded to Kill) and writer Susumu Saji is a bit of a mix of both, wherein a paroled criminal tries to the do the right thing by a friend, only to learn that trust extends only as far as one’s wallet. Originally released in 1958, Suzuki’s Underworld Beauty is set to have a limited edition 4K high-definition restoration put out by boutique physical media distributor Radiance Films, offering audiences curious about Suzuki’s work within Nikkatsu Corporation (the filmmaker’s original contracting studio) another chance to investigate and explore via this world premiere Blu-ray edition.
Upon release from his three-year bid in prison, Miyamoto (Michitarō Mizushima) immediately sets out to make things right with his friend and collaborator Mihara (Tōru Abe) who was severely injured in the jewelry theft job that got him his sentence. Figuring that the three stones he has from the job that he stashed before going to prison are enough to turn Mihara’s life around, Miyamoto visits his former boss Oyane (Shinsuke Ashida) to receive permission to give Mihara the stones and also to help set up the sale. At first, things are on track for Miyamoto’s atonement until the sale is interrupted, Mihara killed and the stones placed into a free-for-all. Honor-bound to make things right, Miyamoto may find himself going to war with the very people he pledged fealty to in order to give to Mihara’s sister Akiko (Mari Shiraki) that which she is owed, even if it leads to the gang’s mutual destruction.
Underworld Beauty is a strangely compelling and odd film. Historically, women in films of the era were used more for eye-candy or romantic motivation than heroic roles. Here, Saji and Suzuki not only provide a female lead whose inclusion is important to the story, she’s neither a romantic interest for the lead nor completely a damsel. As played by Shiraki, who had previously starred alongside Mizushima in Suzuki’s The Naked Woman and the Gun (1957), the character of Akiko is caught up in the narrative, first, by virtue of being Mihara’s sister, second, by being romantically interested in Hiroshi Kondō’s Arita (an interpreter for Oyane), and, third, by being the main beneficiary of Miyamoto’s atonement when tragedy befalls Mihara. Saji’s writing and Shiraki’s performance make Akiko a character who’s difficult to feel compassion for due to her constant, almost erratic movement and volatile mood swings, at least until the walls start closing in on her and Miyamoto, in which case the narrowing of options clears away the excess to a fine point of survival. In the former, one can understand within the post-World War II setting the excitement that an American sailor might bring to Akiko who, we learn, left school to work in a mannequin factory that Arita runs (and for whom she models to create the mannequins). There’s exhilaration and possibility in the accidental meeting with the sailor who offers to take Akiko for drinks (he looking for a good time; she looking for distraction), so one can understand why she might accept this offer; except, literally moments before, she was wailing at a dock due to the loss of her brother. The expression of grief enables the audience to see Akiko as possessing shades of complexity, but the speed with which she sheds that grief to go drinking is jarring. Later, when Miyamoto finally finds her and the two take a stroll, the girl proclaims boredom before climbing a tree and then running away (again). The unpredictability is a rarity for a female role, making it quite easily stand out against other characters of the era; however, within the context of the film, the frequency that she runs off without listening to Miyamoto, especially in conjunction with edits that find the audience jumping locations and characters seemingly without connection to the ongoing scene before jumping back, often comes across as padding the runtime than doing anything meaningful with Akiko beyond conveying to the audience just how determined Miyamoto is to ease his conscience. Don’t mistake this to mean that the character isn’t without importance, she is and plays a vital role in Miyamoto’s survival at the conclusion of the story, something which would not happen without the type of characterization that Akiko displays. There’s just some unevenness to it in terms of how the character is played throughout, though it may be more of an issue of contrast against Miyamoto’s more quiet and purposeful portrayal by Mizushima.
With this being a world premiere release, let’s now shift to the home edition itself. What follows is based on a retail copy of Underground Beauty provided by MVD Entertainment Group, one of the U.S. distributors for Radiance Films.
Underworld Beauty follows the consistent packaging style of all prior, single-film releases: a clear plastic case with a modern art style on the front and back, a classic art design on the reversible interior, and a removeable OBI strip that contains the release information. There is only space for one disc on the inside, as well as a limited-edition booklet. It’s unclear if the booklet is offered in all of the 3000 pressings of Underworld Beauty, but one assumes that it will not be included in future pressings, just as with prior Radiance releases. The booklet is minimal, including the usual still images from the film; release information regarding the 4K restoration (Nikkatsu Corporation created the 4K transfer and sent the HD digital file to Radiance); cast and crew information; a new essay from Claudia Siefen-Leitich that focuses mostly on the visual elements of the film and their meaning; and an archived review of the film from Sezio Okada.
Regarding the on-disc presentation, let’s be clear that this isn’t a 4K UHD presentation, but a 4K HD restoration, meaning that this is still a Blu-ray disc. Radiance has teased that a 4K UHD edition will be joining their catalogue, but they haven’t identified what film will be offered in that format. That said, this high-definition presentation is quite clear and clean, with only a few visual blemishes that are likely baked into the film from the original production and are not a reaction to time or grime. The film may be black-and-white in presentation, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no sense of color scale or detail with each scene possessing some refinement. The sewer in which Miyamoto hides the stones is as a precise location in its subterranean production design as the opulent massage parlor that Oyane calls his headquarters. Likewise, though the audio track is mono, the dialogue and scoring come through neatly and cleanly, enabling one to start the film and go without messing with the volume once. Additionally, the on-disc presentation is joined by two bonus features: a 15-minute interview with critic Mizuki Kodama and Suzuki’s 1959 short film Love Letter, with optional audio commentary from William Carroll, author of Suzuki Seijun and Postwar Japanese Cinema. The interview between Kodama and unseen interviewer Midori Suiren primarily focuses on Suzuki’s presentation of women in his films and the way that it shifted cinematic conventions. Kodama contextualizes her view by discussing more than Shiraki as Akiko or even Shiraki in The Naked Woman and the Gun, but through an analysis of several Suzuki projects including Branded to Kill (1967) and Pistol Opera (2001). By contrast, audiences are invited to either explore Love Letter solo or accompanied by Carroll, who offers his own insight as an expert on Suzuki’s work that offers connections to future works, specifically Suzuki’s well-regarded Tokyo Drifter (1966). In comparison to other Radiance releases, the bonus materials aren’t necessarily abundant, but the information and context they provide remains valuable.
Suzuki’s works are not unfamiliar with restoration and home release. There are at least seven restorations/remasters available through The Criterion Collection and two through Radiance, with a third, A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness, coming in April 2025. Which is to say that now is a great time to be exploring the filmmaker’s work (my favorite thus far is Tattooed Life which balances tones and genres incredibly well and is a powerful story of inevitability) given the various options to do so via quality restorations. Of course, some of them are not as strong as others and that tends to describe Underworld Beauty due to pacing, editing, and a story that’s already tight at 87 minutes and yet feels like it drags due to the structure. There’re brilliant elements within it, specifically the presentation of Akiko as an against-type heroine and the way Mizushima infuses Miyamoto with a devout sincerity that contrasts beautifully against the codeless members of his gang. Because of this, Underworld Beauty is a film worth exploring for Suzuki devotees and cinephiles looking to close gaps in their collection, but is hard to recommend otherwise.
Underworld Beauty Special Features:
- *New* 4K restoration of the film by Nikkatsu Corporation
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- *New* interview with critic Mizuki Kodama (2024, 15 mins)
- Bonus feature: Seijun Suzuki’s Love Letter (1959, 40 mins)
- Audio commentary on Love Letter by Suzuki biographer William Carroll (2024)
- Trailers
- Newly improved English subtitle translation
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by critic Claudia Siefen-Leitich and an archival review of the film
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Available on Blu-ray January 28th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Radiance Films Underworld Beauty webpage.
To purchase, head to the official MVD Entertainment Group Underworld Beauty webpage.
Share this:
Categories: Home Release, Recommendation
Leave a Reply