HIGH AND LOW

Having recently watched a dull British police procedural (‘Jigsaw’) released in 1962, I then went to the opposite end of the quality spectrum with this Japanese police procedural from 1963, by the great Kurosawa.

With a running time of nearly two-and-a-half hours it’s really two films in one, with the second half homing in on the police investigation of the kidnapping of a child.

The first half, all of which takes place in one apartment, is a masterpiece of blocking, i.e. moving the actors around in a relatively confined space. 

The apartment belongs to Mr Gondo, a rich and successful company executive.  

I would say that it belongs to Mr Gondo and his wife, except that he doesn’t seem to see it that way.  At the beginning of the film we learn that he is taking a huge financial gamble in order to take full control of the company, a decision he has made without consulting his wife at all.  If the gamble fails they will be ruined so you’d think he might consult her, but not a bit of it.

But I imagine his attitude towards women was emblematic of Japanese society at the time - it is striking for example that all the countless police detectives we see here are all men.

Anyway Gondo’s corporate scheming is scuppered when his chauffeur‘s son is kidnapped my mistake, the true target being the Gondos’ son.  The ransom demanded is huge (30 million yen) and if it is paid by Gondo it will ruin them.

It’s a tough decision for Gondo to make, and seeing him agonise over it, with advice from his wife (she’s for paying the ransom), the police, his male secretary (who has his own agenda) is gripping stuff.  Even the lowly chauffeur is occasionally allowed to express a view about the fate of his child.

Eventually he decides to pay it, which leads to a short exciting scene on a train whereby the money is exchanged for the boy, thankfully unharmed.

This leads us onto the painstaking police investigation  which eventually enables them to identify the kidnapper, a hospital intern who resents Gondo’s wealth and status.

The police hold off arresting the kidnapper - instead they keep tabs on him until they can prove that he murdered his accomplices.  This seems tough on the Gondos who could really do with recovering the ransom money asap given that their apartment is just about to be repossessed.

Anyway it means we get a rather surreal and atmospheric scene among the drug addicts of the city.  

The actor playing the kidnapper makes a real impact considering he only appears late on, so much so that it led Kurosawa to change the film's original ending to one where Gondo gets to meet the kidnapper in prison shortly before the latter is to be hanged.

It’s a great way to end a film which maybe could have done with being a bit shorter but apart from that is absorbing and entertaining from start to finish.