The last section of the movie originally had a great deal of dialogue, but Akira Kurosawa decided to omit all of it.
There is one shot of the movie that is in color - the scene of the colored smoke rising from the incinerator. Some television prints botch this and have the scene in black and white instead, diluting its impact.
Based on the novel "King's Ransom" by Ed McBain (pen name of Evan Hunter), part of McBain's "87th Precinct" series.