Suzuki on DVD: Fighting Delinquents (Kutabare Gurentai) Review

From the earlier stage of the director's career, only the dynamic gangster picture Underworld Beauty (1958) has been made available on DVD prior to Fighting Delinquents (corrections in the comments section are welcome). Though Fighting Delinquents never rises to the level of convention-bursting originality achieved by Suzuki a few years later, it remains a top-flight melodrama that is broadly appealing. Considered together with the gorgeous black and white imagery and entertainment value of Underworld Beauty, it makes one wonder what other so-called 'minor' delights may be lurking, waiting to be discovered, from the early period of the Suzuki canon.

While it's true that this was the director's first excursion into color, don't expect anything revolutionary or experimental with the photographic palette: that would come later. Here, Suzuki and cinematographer Nagatsuka Kazue stick to the basics. Still, Suzuki's playfulness with shot compositions and camera angles is readily apparent, which adds a refreshing layer to what is otherwise a standard plot line.

The title sequence helpfully identifies the characters. As the story begins, it's been six months since Izeki Sanshiro ("Counsel and retainer of the Matsudaira clan," played by Takashina Kaku) left Awaji Island (off the coast of Kobe City in Japan) in search of the sole remaining heir after the family patriarch died. The young man is the illegitmate offspring of the recently-deceased patriarch, but his grandmother, Lady Ikuyo ("Matriarch of the Matsudaira clan," essayed by Hosokawa Chikako), does not want control of the family to fall to an outsider.

Sanshiro finds young Sadao (Wada Koji) by chance in a Tokyo bathhouse and convinces the reluctant heir to return home. Sadao's modern ways put him in immediate conflict with the tradition-bound Lady Ikuyo. The family clan has owned the choicest parts of Awaji Island for generations, but a ruthless Tokyo businessman wants to buy them out so he can build an amusement park and hotel. The businessman's secret ally is Lady Ikuyo's brother, who feels that he has been shunted aside in favor of the "Young Master." But Sadao is wise to the businessman's plans; eventually gaining the trust of his grandmother, he launches a counter-attack.

The wide divide of the generation gap is the main thrust of the film. Sadao decorates his room Western-style, plays "wild" music, and invites his orphan friends from Tokyo to come dancing. Lady Ikuyo screeches out insults and generally treats everyone badly, putting the honor and survival of the family above all else, and she works hard to keep Sadao away from his birth mother. Sadao's mother represents a bit too obviously the generation caught between tradition and modernity, never able to completely please either the hard-core traditionalists or the forward-thinking moderns, and forced to sacrifice personal desires.

When it comes, the rapprochement between the generations is conventional -- we all have to work together for the common good -- yet still somehow heart-warming. It's sentimental without being overly gooey, perhaps thanks to Suzuki's lively sense of action. In the world of Suzuki, no moment is too good to pass by without notice.

The movie itself is so entertaining, it's a shame to report that the visual presentation of the PAL Region 2 DVD is so disappointing. Even on my 26-inch television, it's apparent that the original source material was not in good shape. I lack the technical knowledge to pinpoint any problems with the transfer itself, but in many scenes portions of the background appear to shimmer and the picture does not appear stable.

This may have been the best that could have been done with what was available. It's a film that deserves to be seen, and in an ideal world someone would have ponied up the money for a proper restoration.

Though my review copy did not, the release copy should include a "Suzuki trailer reel" and an essay by Tony Rayns.