High and Low (1963 film)

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High and Low

Japanese theatrical poster

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Produced by Akira Kurosawa[1]

 Ryuzo Kikushima
Screenplay by
 Hideo Oguni
 Eijiro Hisaita
 Akira Kurosawa[1]

Based on King's Ransom

by Ed McBain

Starring  Toshiro Mifune

 Tatsuya Nakadai
 Kyoko Kagawa
 Tatsuya Mihashi
 Yutaka Sada

Music by Masaru Sato[1]

 Cinematography  Asakazu Nakai
 Takao Saito[1]

Edited by Akira Kurosawa[1]

Production  Kurosawa Films

companies  Toho[1]

Release date  1 March 1963 (Japan)

Running time 143 minutes[1]

Country Japan

Language Japanese

High and Low (天国と地獄 Tengoku to Jigoku, literally "Heaven and Hell") is a 1963 police
procedural crime drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya
Nakadai and Kyōko Kagawa. The film is loosely based on the 1959 novel King's Ransom by Ed
McBain.

Contents
[hide]

 1Plot
 2Cast
 3Production
 4Release
 5Reception
 6References
o 6.1Bibliography
 7External links

Plot[edit]
A wealthy executive named Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune) is in a struggle to gain control of a
company called National Shoes where he is president. One faction wants the company to make
cheap, low quality shoes for the impulse market as opposed to the sturdy and high quality shoes
currently being produced. Gondo believes that the long-term future of the company will be best
served by well made shoes with modern styling, though this plan is unpopular because it means
lower profits in the short term. He has secretly set up a leveraged buyout to gain control of the
company, mortgaging all he has.
Just as he is about to put his plan into action, he receives a phone call from someone claiming to
have kidnapped his son, Jun. Gondo is prepared to pay the ransom, but the call is dismissed as
a prank when Jun comes in from playing outside. However, Jun's playmate, Shinichi, the child of
Gondo's chauffeur, is missing and the kidnappers have mistakenly abducted him instead.
In another phone call the kidnapper reveals that he has discovered his mistake but still demands
the same ransom. Gondo is now forced to make a decision about whether to pay the ransom to
save the child or complete the buyout. After a long night of contemplation Gondo announces that
he will not pay the ransom, explaining that doing so would not only mean the loss of his position
in the company, but cause him to go into debt and throw the futures of his wife and son into
jeopardy. His plans are weakened when his top aide lets the "cheap shoes" faction know about
the kidnapping in return for a promotion should they take over. Finally, under pressure from his
wife and the chauffeur, Gondo decides to pay the ransom. Following the kidnapper's instructions,
the money is put into two small briefcases and thrown from a moving train; Shinichi is found
unharmed.
Gondo is forced out of the company and his creditors demand the collateral in lieu of debt. The
story is widely reported however, making Gondo a hero, while the National Shoe Company is
vilified and boycotted. Meanwhile, the police eventually find the hideout where Shinichi was kept
prisoner. The bodies of the kidnapper's two accomplices are found there, killed by an overdose
of heroin. The police surmise that the kidnapper engineered their deaths by supplying them with
uncut drugs. Further clues lead to the identity of the kidnapper, a medical intern at a nearby
hospital, but there is no hard evidence linking him to the accomplices' murders.
The police lay a trap by first planting a false story in the newspapers implying that the
accomplices are still alive, and then forging a note from them demanding more drugs. The
kidnapper is then apprehended in the act of trying to supply another lethal dose of uncut heroin
to his accomplices. Most of the ransom money is recovered, but too late to save Gondo's
property from auction. With the kidnapper facing a death sentence, he requests to see Gondo
while in prison and Gondo finally meets him face to face. Gondo has gone to work for a rival
shoe company, earning less money but enjoying a free hand in running it. The kidnapper at first
feigns no regrets for his actions. As he reveals that envy from seeing Gondo's house on the hill
every day led him to conceive of the crime, his emotions gradually gain control over him and he
ends up breaking down emotionally before Gondo after finally facing his failure.

Cast[edit]
 Toshiro Mifune as Kingo Gondo (権藤 金吾 Gondo Kingo)
 Tatsuya Nakadai as Chief Detective Tokura (戸倉), the chief investigator in the kidnapping
case.
 Kyōko Kagawa as Reiko Gondo (権藤伶子 Gondo Reiko)
 Tatsuya Mihashi as Kawanishi (河西), Gondo's secretary.
 Kenjiro Ishiyama as Chief Detective 'Bos'n' Taguchi (田口), Tokura's partner.
 Isao Kimura as Detective Arai (荒井)
 Takeshi Katō as Detective Nakao (中尾)
 Yutaka Sada as Aoki (青木), Gondo's Chauffeur.
 Tsutomu Yamazaki as Ginjirô Takeuchi (竹内 銀次郎 Takeuchi Ginjiro), the mastermind and
chief instigator of the kidnapping plot.
 Takashi Shimura as the Chief of the Investigation Section
 Jun Tazaki as Kamiya, National Shoes Publicity Director (神谷)
 Nobuo Nakamura as Ishimaru, National Shoes Design Department Director (石丸)
 Yunosuke Ito as Baba, National Shoes Executive (馬場)
 Minoru Chiaki as a reporter.
 Eijiro Tono as a factory worker.
 Yoshio Tsuchiya as Detective Murata (村田)
 Masahiko Shimizu as Shinichi Aoki (青木 進一 Aoki Shinichi), the chauffeur's son who is
kidnapped at the beginning of the film.

Production[edit]
High and Low was filmed at Toho Studios and on location in Yokohama.[1] The film includes stock
music from The H-Man (1958).[2]

Release[edit]
 High and Low was released in Japan on 1 March 1963.[1] The film was released by Toho
International with English subtitles in the United States on 26 November 1963.[1][2]

Reception[edit]
The Washington Post wrote that "High and Low is, in a way, the companion piece to Throne of
Blood – it's Macbeth, if Macbeth had married better. The movie shares the rigors of
Shakespeare's construction, the symbolic and historical sweep, the pacing that makes the story
expand organically in the mind".[3]

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j Galbraith IV 1996, p. 213.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b Galbraith IV 1996, p. 214.
3. Jump up^ Attanasio, Paul (November 7, 1968) "High and Low" (review) The Washington Post
Bibliography[edit]

 Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-
0032-3.

External links[edit]
 High and Low (in Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database
 High and Low on IMDb
 High and Low at the TCM Movie Database
 High and Low at AllMovie
 High and Low at Box Office Mojo
 High and Low at Rotten Tomatoes
 Essay by Chuck Stephens at the Criterion Collection

[show]

Akira Kurosawa

[show]

Mainichi Film Award for Best Film

Categories:

 1963 films
 Japanese-language films
 1960s crime drama films
 Japanese films
 Japanese crime drama films
 Police detective films
 Police procedural films
 Neo-noir
 Japanese black-and-white films
 Films directed by Akira Kurosawa
 Toho films
 Films set in Yokohama
 Screenplays by Akira Kurosawa
 Screenplays by Hideo Oguni
 Screenplays by Ryuzo Kikushima
 Films produced by Ryuzo Kikushima
 Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka
 Films scored by Masaru Sato
 Films based on American novels
 Films about abduction
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 This page was last edited on 10 February 2018, at 22:40.

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