A businessman goes to the extent of mortgaging his properties to get majority stakes of a company to prevent it from going into the hands of his unworthy peers. That is exactly when a kidnapper seeks ransom for kidnapping his son. When the kidnapper gets to know he has kidnapped not his son, but his chauffeur’s son, the game gets interesting & the way the police solve this case makes this one of the very best investigation films.
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Language:
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Japanese
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Running Time:
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143 min
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Rating:
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PG
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Release date:
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01 March 1963
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Directed by:
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Akira Kurosawa
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Produced by:
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Ryuzo Kikushima
Akira Kurosawa
Tomoyuki Tanaka
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Written by:
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Eijiro Hisaita
Ryuzo Kikushima
Akira Kurosawa
Hideo Oguni
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Based on:
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King’s Ransom by Ed McBain
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Starring:
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Tatsuya Nakadai
Toshiro Mifune
Kyoko Kagawa
Isao Kimura
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Music by:
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Masaru Sato
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Shot by:
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Asakazu Nakai
Takao Saitô
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Editing by:
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Akira Kurosawa
Reiko Kaneko
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Distributed by:
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Toho
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What’s Hot
- To me, this one is the best work of Kurosawa! What a gripping narrative, what a clean & neat screenplay!
- Toshiro Mifune, as the businessman has a limited role but performs wonderfully. However, the stellar performances over the latter half of the film are from the graceful cop & the stylish villain.
- There are a lot of touching scenes – the scenes where the entire family is in a catch-22 situation when the caller says he knows he has kidnapped the wrong kid & yet he demands ransom; and the final scene in the jail is the icing on the cake.
What’s Not
- Forget it. This one’s clean as a hound’s tooth!
Badges
Verdict
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