High And Low

Based on a crime novel by Ed McBain, this brilliant Kurosawa film stars Toshiro Mifune as Kingo Gondo, a rich industrialist who receives word that his son has been kidnapped by a madman demanding an outrageous ransom that will ruin Gondo financially if he pays it. Before Gondo can make a decision, his son enters the house, and we learn that it is his playmate, the chauffeur's son, who has been kidnapped. Gondo is then faced with a tough moral decision: is his chauffeur's son worth as much as his own? When the kidnapper calls and admits his mistake, but demands payment anyway, Gondo initially refuses, but is conscience stricken.

In HIGH AND LOW Kurosawa succeeds i...