87th Precinct 1.21

King's Ransom

Douglas King, the manager of a shoe factory, is told that his son has been kidnapped. It turns out that his son is okay but his chauffeur's son has been kidnapped. The criminals demand he pay $250,000 for the return of his chauffeur's son.

King has just taken out a mortgage on his family's home in an attempt to buy the shoe company. If he uses the money to pay the ransom then not only will he not be able to buy the company but he will very likely lose his job and his home.

The detectives of the 87th precinct step in to help King recover his chauffeur's son.

Thoughts

This is the first time I have watched an episode of this show. I found it on YouTube. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ed McBain. I watched it because I was curious to see how it would compare to High and Low (1963) which I watched yesterday and was also based on the novel. The television version of the story predated the movie by about a year. The novel was first published in 1959.

The setup of this episode was very much like High and Low, with one major exception. The kidnapper is not seen until halfway thought the movie but the kidnappers are in the first scene in the television version of the story. The kidnappers continue to play a major part in the televised version of the story.

The TV version of King's Ransom had a compelling opening act but it also had a much more upbeat ending than the film did. It is considerably less interesting or nuanced than High and Low (1963). It felt like they rushed to wrap things up after the first act.