Kidnapping (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Kidnapping |
| Original title | Ransom! |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1956 |
| length | 109 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alex Segal |
| script |
Cyril Hume Richard Maibaum |
| production | Nicholas Nayfack |
| music | Jeff Alexander |
| camera | Arthur E. Arling |
| cut | Ferris Webster |
| occupation | |
| |
Kidnapping is an American feature film in 1956. The film by director Alex Segal describes the kidnapping of an industrialist's son and how the victim's family it almost breaks.
action
In a small town somewhere in the southern United States, wealthy vacuum cleaner manufacturer David Stannard lives happily with his family. One day his eight-year-old son Andy is kidnapped in front of his school . The criminal police take the usual surveillance and wiretapping measures and want to keep the matter as secret as possible. But the resourceful reporter Charlie Telfer gets wind of the matter and interferes. However, he promises to keep quiet for the time being. While Stannard's wife Edith is devastated and cannot think clearly, David initially remains surprisingly calm and wants to rely on the work of the police. He even refuses any alcohol to calm himself down, while otherwise he has a whiskey every time in problematic situations .
When the kidnappers finally report after a grueling waiting time, the police manage to trace the call back to a public telephone box , but they are too late. David asks his older brother, who runs the company with him, to collect the ransom together with the general manager . $ 500,000 is required. David is certain he will have his son home soon, but the police and reporter familiarize him with the fact that Andy may already be dead. David is torn and wondering if he should even pay the ransom when there is little chance he will see his son alive.
Eventually the public found out about it and besieged Stannard's house, and the kidnapping was also reported on TV. David makes a momentous decision, despite warnings from the police and his brother. Nor did he think about the reputation of the company or his own reputation when he announced via the company's own long - term advertising broadcast on ABC that he would not pay the ransom, but instead offer the sum as a bounty on the kidnappers.
While he is torn apart by the local and national press and opposed to public opinion, only Charlie Telfer's newspaper takes David's side. He is showered with desperate accusations from his wife, who had previously been immobilized with pills . David himself is plagued by deep remorse, but determined to see it through.
Besieged by a crowd that is slowly becoming hysterical, the police show David his son's bloodstained shirt. Convinced that Andy is now dead, Stannard remains outwardly composed. His wife, however, moves in with her sister-in-law without even looking at her husband, and David hands over management of the company to his brother. When everyone has left the house, he collapses in despair.
When David is standing in the garden in front of his son's little wooden house, Andy suddenly comes running towards him. He was apparently released and apparently survived the kidnapping unscathed. Overjoyed, his parents hug him. However, who the kidnappers are remains in the dark.
background
The script is loosely based on the episode Fearful Decisio n of the television series The United States Steel Hour from 1954. In 1996, Ron Howard made a remake with Mel Gibson , Gary Sinise and Rene Russo under the title Bounty - One Will Pay . While this newer version focuses more on the hunt for the kidnappers, the original film focuses more on what happened and the psychological relationships in the victim's family. The original English title of both films, Ransom, means neither kidnapping nor bounty , but ransom .
Reviews
"No criminal entertainment in the true sense of the word, but a psychological and socially critical piece of dialogue that loses its credibility through black and white painting, blurred social criticism and pathos."
"Encouraging moral courage and self-assertion in front of so-called" public opinion ", therefore recommended."
Web links
- Kidnapping in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Kidnapping in rotten tomatoes (English)
- Kidnapping in the online film database
Individual evidence
- ↑ kidnapping . In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Ev. Munich Press Association, Review No. 11/1957