Seijun Suzuki's UNDERWORLD BEAUTY On Blu-ray In January

Source: Radiance Films, MVD Entertainment
Special Thanks to Derek Stubinski

Nikkatsu's UNDERWORLD BEAUTY (暗黒街の美女, Ankokugai no Bijo, 1958) will be released January 28 in a limited edition Blu-ray from Radiance Films. This wildly inventive early noir sees Seijun Suzuki (BRANDED TO KILL, TATTOOED LIFE) infectiously playing with genre rules and gender stereotypes.

Photo courtesy of Radiance Films. ©NIKKATSU CORPORATION

Retrieving the diamonds he stashed before his arrest, thief Miyamoto (Michitaro Mizushima) hopes to help his old partner Mihara (Toru Abe), crippled during the heist. Their former boss, crime lord Oyane (Yusuke Ashida), offers to mediate with a foreign buyer, but secretly wants the stones for himself. The deal goes awry when gunmen appear on the scene. Mihara swallows the diamonds but dies in the chase, leaving a valuable corpse in the police morgue. Miyamoto forms an uneasy alliance with Mihara's wildcat sister Akiko (Mari Shiraki) to keep the gems away from gangsters, cops and even Akiko's greedy boyfriend.

UNDERWORLD BEAUTY is a limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

UNDERWORLD BEAUTY Limited Edition Blu-ray

Running Time: 87 Minutes
Number of Discs: 1
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Audio: Mono

Region Code: 0
SKU: RAD091BDLE
UPC: 760137171300
Street Date: 01/28/25
List Price: $39.95

Region Code: A/B
Product Code: RAD091BDLE
UK Rating: TBC
Street Date: 01/28/25
RRP: £14.99

BONUS 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

About Radiance Films

Radiance Films is founded on a passion for cinema. A series of films, books, merchandise and more curated from a variety of genres and modes of filmmaking, from arthouse provocateurs to genre classics. Each release is created from the best available materials and includes a wealth of supplementary features on disc and extensive booklets featuring new and archival writing, where applicable.

About MVD Entertainment Group

MVD Entertainment Group is a full service music and movie distribution firm, exclusively representing thousands of audio and visual products for DVD, Bluray, CD, vinyl, and digital rights, worldwide. MVD also exclusively distributes a growing line of merchandise including limited edition collectibles, tee shirts, and more. "Serving Artists and Audiences" is MVD's purpose statement; it represents a commitment to the interests of the musicians, filmmakers, record labels, producers, managers, and every link in the supply chain. The customers are the Audience, from wholesalers, sub-distributors, major retail chains, online retailers, specialists, and independent mom and pop stores, all the way to the consumer. MVD Entertainment Group was founded in 1986 by Tom Seaman, an industry veteran with prior experience with The Record Hunter, Sam Goody, CBS Retail, and JEM Distribution. Tom, along with his family Elinor, Eve and Ed, initially focused on music videotapes. At the turn of the century, with the advent of DVD, MVD built a large catalog of exclusively distributed audiovisual content on DVDs, with special strength in music concert films, horror movies, documentaries, comedy, cult classics, and much more.