Indeed, the film has many Hitchockian touches (it’s based on a novel by Hitchcock collaborator Ed McBain). Part intimate kidnapping drama, part police procedural, it’s also a scathing social commentary.
It opens with Toshiro Mifune fighting for control of his company and never lets up. Like Stewart and Hitchcock, Mifune is Kurosawa’s onscreen counterpart, and he gives a staggering performance here.
Grade: A
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