After just having secured the funds for a takeover of his
shoe company, a businessman (Toshiro Mifune) is torn at having to pay the
ransom when his son is kidnapped from their hilltop mansion. Matters become
even more cloudy when it comes to light that his chauffer’s son and not his own
has been taken, and the local police department launches a major dragnet in
order to trap the killer. Kurosawa’s High and Low, from an American crime novel
by Ed McBain is a measured, sporadically captivating police procedural,
unsurprisingly incredibly photographed with Mifune unfortunately ultimately
relegated to a minor role.
*** out of ****
*** out of ****
