Toshiro Mifune shines as the businessman while Tatuya Nakadai makes a fine appearance as Inspector Tokura. Tsutomu Yamazaki as the kidnapper debuts into a glorious career. Many of the bit players who appear only briefly eventually became big stars notably Eijiro Tono as the worker in a shoe factory and Nekohachi Edoya as the charming engineer who identifies a train, gesturing with chopsticks, by merely listening to recorded sounds.

An interesting bit is done by Takeshi Kato, who played Mifune's partner in The Bad Sleep Well. Real men did not go into flower shops to buy bouquets in those days, Yet, in The Bad Sleep Well, Kato walks in and orders a bouquet "fit for a wedding night" with devilish daring while Mifune waits nervously outside the shop window looking like he wouldn't be caught dead in such a place. In High and Low, the same Kato is playing one of the four policemen in a squad car stealthily following the chief bad guy Yamazaki. When Yamazaki walks into a flower shop, the cops are ordered via radio to "Go in and buy some flowers." The shocked cops exchange glances and Kato speaks for them all into the radio, "I am sorry, no one here could buy flowers!" Very funny, especially if you knew what a sly rascal he played in a previous film.


45min too long   May 26, 2003
 4 out of 13 found this review helpful

Kurosawa's visual style is, as always, brilliant here, but it's his writing--good, at best even in his greatest efforts--that fails him.

The film is a very lopsided affair, with a riveting first half keeping you glued to the screen, while the sleep-enducing second half leads to a let-down of an ending.

The problem comes from the main dramatic intrigue of the kidnapping resolved WAY too early into the film. The cops then go on the hunt for the criminal who committed the act, only to find that he's a petty crook with NO character development to him. You sit there and feel like you've wasted 45min of your time while these cops go after someone, and it's just "some guy." And the film ends.

Another reviewer mentioned the quote "It's like that house is looking down at the rest of us." Duh. Thanks for the obvious.
This is precisely the flaw with many Japanese films, including Kurosawa's. It seems that the Japanese MUST give you everything you need to know in dialogue, with characters blurting out key plot points or thematic metaphors in token speeches. This happens in many japanimation films (where I would expect it to happen), and unfortunately, in some of Kurosawa's scripts as well. Here, for instance, when Mifune's character picks up the phone, the first thing he says, RIGHT off the bat, is "WHAT?! YOU'VE KIDNAPPED MY SON??!" Most people who would receive such a phone call--especially when it hasn't been established that your child had been out playing for an unusual amount of time, or something of that nature--would first ask: Who is this? or show some amount of perplexion.

The film just didn't do it for me. Kurosawa's brilliant visuals are here, but, as in Red Beard and some of his later films, he starts to lay on the moralising too thick and delays the end of the film by doing so.

A 45-min splice would have made this film brilliant.

As it stands, it's only average Kurosawa.


a great movie and one of Kurosawa's best.   March 29, 2004
 4 out of 7 found this review helpful

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD version of the film.

This film is well written and based on the Novel "King's Ransom" by Ed McBain. Having not read the novel, I cannot determine how faithful the film is to the book.

In the film a wealthy man's son is the target of a kidnapping and ransom. The ransom is 30 million (Yen) which in those days was a lot of money, but today is little over a quarter million US dollars.

The movie itself has some cinematography that has been imitated or is an imitation of. Most of the first 30 minutes of the film take place exclusively in a single house, similar to the film "12 angry men" and it having taken place almost exclusively inside a jury room.

The film is in black and white with a single scene in where part of the film is hand colored. I would go into further details, but it might be considered a spoiler. This scene immediately reminded me of the scenes in Schindler's list involving the girl in the red coat.

The film has some well photographed scenes and is impressive.

The Criterion DVD has no special features which is a bit dissappointing.


Delivers the excellence we expect from Kurasawa   June 6, 2004
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Those from high and low positions in modern industrial Japanese society clash in this drama. While I don't easily commit to watch a long subtitled movie, this one kept my eyes glued to the screen through an effective suspense that grabs early and never lets go. The main story line comprises related subplots that are realistic and gripping without overwhelming. The acting is consistently excellent in portraying a full gamut of human emotions and difficult situations. Select this when you're ready for real entertainment from masters of their craft.


Heaven and Hell   November 11, 2004
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

The Japanese title of Kursawa's film "High and Low" is actually more like "Heaven and Hell". The intensity of the original title is probably closer to the content of this thrilling story. Set in Japan in the 1960's, early on in the film we see Japanese kids in cowboy gear running along a hilltop street. The influence of America in post-war Japan is one of the most interesting plot points: Luigi Barzini notes that after World War II both Germany and Japan emulated American styles, industry, organizational methods, cultural habits, and Barzini goes on to say that the students eventually surpassed their teacher. With this in mind, the struggle of Japan to rebuild itself after the war, and the way in which West and East seem to collide forms a fascinating frame for this story of kidnapping and extortion.

Kuraswa blows me away. He leaves us with an understanding the confusion and mis-directed hate of the criminal antagonist. He takes us into that man's tortured world, too, and we see scenes of the underbelly of society that are truly disturbing and haunting.

In reading Stuart Galbraith IV's "The Emperor and the Wolf", the chapter discussing :"High and Low" indicates that the very last scene of the confrontation between the hero, Gondo/Mifune and his protagonist is an existentialist moment. Gondo, who has been elevated in the newspapers to hero status by his willingness to give his life's fortune..everything he has to rescue another's child finds that, in his confrontation with the criminal kindapper, that they are very similar men. The only thing that separates them is choice.

The genius of Kuraswa makes the final moment of the film one of substance. Rather than the resolution of conflict one would expect, there is a question raised via a troubling image: that of the criminal and his prey blending in reflection through the glass that separates them. Instead of resolution, the hero, Gondo, and the viewer are asked to examine their own responsibilty to humanity, and the thin, awfully thin line that separates good from evil.