Just watched this. WOW. It's almost two films in one. The first is like a play, all set in a living room where the amazing Toshiro Mifune (many have commented on how weird it is not to see him in samurai garb) must come to a difficult moral decision. He has just mortgaged everything he has to buy controlling rights in the company where he works when he receives a phone call that his son has been kidnapped and the ransom is almost the same amount as the cost of the shares. Then he finds that the kidnappers have mistakenly taken his chauffeurs's son, not his. If he pays the money he's ruined. If he doesn't... The police are brought in and stand impotently like some Greek chorus while Mifune struggles with the decision. The most agonizing character is the chauffeur himself. He brought in his son's sweater before they realized that he'd been taken and he stands helplessly clutching it. His body language conveys such grief and defeat. Mifune (I read after) was 5'...
nov·el /ˈnɒvəl/ –adjective/ of a new kind; different from anything seen or known before: a novel idea. *** eye -noun/ 6. the power of seeing; appreciative or discriminating visual perception: the eye of an artist. 8. an attentive look, close observation, or watch 9. regard, view, aim, or intention 10. a manner or way of looking at a thing