High and Low (1963) Tengoku to jigoku (original title)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Hideo Oguni (screenplay) &
Ryûzô Kikushima (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

26 November 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.

Plot Keywords:

Ransom | Shoe | Chauffeur | Police | Train

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	Kingo Gondo
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Chief Detective Tokura
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Reiko Gondo
Tatsuya Mihashi	...	Kawanishi - Gondo's Secretary
Isao Kimura	...	Detective Arai
Kenjirô Ishiyama	...	Chief Detective 'Bos'n' Taguchi
Takeshi Katô	...	Detective Nakao
Takashi Shimura	...	Chief of Investigation Section
Jun Tazaki	...	Kamiya, National Shoes Publicity Director
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Ishimaru, National Shoes Design Department Director
Yûnosuke Itô	...	Baba - National Shoes Executive
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Ginjirô Takeuchi - Medical Intern
Minoru Chiaki	...	First Reporter
Eijirô Tôno	...	Factory Worker
Masao Shimizu	...	Prison Warden
Yutaka Sada	...	Aoki - the Chauffeur
Masahiko Shimazu	...	Shinichi Aoki
Toshio Egi	...	Jun Gondo
Kôji Mitsui	...	Second Reporter
Kyû Sazanka	...	First Creditor
Susumu Fujita	...	Chief of First Investigating Section
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Junkyard Cook
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Detective Murata
Kazuo Kitamura	...	Third Reporter
Gen Shimizu	...	Chief Physician
Akira Nagoya	...	Detective Yamamoto
Jun Hamamura	...	Second Creditor
Masao Oda	...	First Executor at Tax Office (as Masao Orita)
Kô Nishimura	...	Third Creditor
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Chief Prison Officer
Koji Kiyomura	...	Fish Market Office Worker (as Kôji Kiyomura)
Hiroshi Unayama	...	Detective Shimada
Yoshisuke Makino	...	Detective Takahashi
Jun Kondô	...	Identification Center Worker
Satoshi Suzuki	...	Detective Koike
Senkichi Ômura	...	Messenger Passing Note to Intern
Kazuo Katô	...	Identification Center Worker
Ikio Sawamura	...	Yokohama Station Trolley Man
Kin Sugai	...	Female Drug Addict
Keiko Tomita	...	Murder Victim
Isao Onoda	...	Male Drug Addict
Seiichi Taguchi	...	Detective Nakamura
Takeo Matsushita	...	Second Executor at Tax Office
Kiyoshi Yamamoto	...	Detective Ueno
Kenji Kodama	...	Detective Hara
Minoru Itô	...	Detective
Haruo Suzuki	...	Undercover Detective 'Drug Addict'
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kôzô Nomura	...	Detective (uncredited)

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits
Hideo Oguni		(screenplay) &
Ryûzô Kikushima		(screenplay) &
Eijirô Hisaita		(screenplay) &
Akira Kurosawa		(screenplay)
Evan Hunter		(novel "Kingu no minoshirokin") (as Edo Makubein)

Produced by
Ryûzô Kikushima	....	producer
Akira Kurosawa	....	associate producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer

Original Music by
Masaru Satô

Cinematography by
Asakazu Nakai
Takao Saitô

Production Design by
Yoshirô Muraki

Costume Design by
Miyuki Suzuki

Production Management
Hiroshi Nezu	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masanobu Deme	....	assistant director
Yôichi Matsue	....	assistant director
Shirô Moritani	....	chief assistant director
Kenjirô Ohmori	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jun Sakuma	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Ichirô Minawa	....	sound effects editor
Jin Sashida	....	sound assistant
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound mixer
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Fukahirô Akike	....	assistant lighting technician
Masao Fukuda	....	still photographer
Kazutami Hara	....	assistant camera
Ichirô Inohara	....	lighting technician
Katsuhiro Kato	....	assistant camera
Hiromitsu Mori	....	lighting technician

Editorial Department
Reiko Kaneko	....	assistant editor

Transportation Department
Ginzo Osumi	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Shigeru Kishima	....	production assistant
Teruyo Nogami	....	script supervisor
Yûichi Yoshitake	....	acting office

Production Companies

• Kurosawa Production Co.
• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1963) (Japan) (theatrical)
• East West Classics (1963) (worldwide) (all media)
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) (1968) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Palace Video (1983) (UK) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Pacific Arts Video (1988) (USA) (VHS)
• Cowboy Pictures (2002) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Continental Home Vídeo (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• trigon-film (2006) (Switzerland) (DVD)
• trigon-film (2006) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Sandrews (2009) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Continental Distributing (196?) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Janus Films (????) (USA) (theatrical)
• Walter Reade-Sterling (????) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Connoisseur Video (????) (UK) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Sandrews (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Toho Company (USA)
• WoWow (2012) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• Kyoto Costumes  costumes
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Tengoku to jigoku" - Japan (original title)
"Heaven and Hell" - International (English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

USA:143 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor) (inserts only)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 | UK:12 | UK:A (original rating) (cut) | Australia:PG | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Enoshima, Kanagawa, Japan

Company:

Kurosawa Production Co.

Trivia:

Most of the outdoor Yokohama shots were filmed on location, with a few exceptions, mostly due to the cold winter that was setting in. The scene where Gondo unknowingly meets the kidnapper on the street had to be filmed indoors.

Quotes:

Kingo Gondo:Why should you and I hate each other?
Ginjirô Takeuchi, medical intern:I don't know. I'm not interested in self-analysis. I do know my room was so cold in winter and so hot in summer I couldn't sleep. Your house looked like heaven, high up there. That's how I began to hate you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bayside Shakedown (1998)

Soundtrack:

It's Now or Never

Best crime film of 1960s, among the best all time

Even at nearly two and a half hours, this movie can rivet even casual movie-watchers. High and Low was adapted from the novel "King's Ransom" by Ed McBain, and though I haven't read the novel, the film stands up surprisingly in a completely different setting (Japan, as opposed to America). The script is great, the cinematography is outstanding, and if you're watching the Criterion print available on DVD you'll find yourself wondering if it was really made in 1963. This film scores an easy 10 with me. I can't think of a crime film that I enjoyed more than this one.