Rating: 
Summary: a great movie and one of Kurosawa's best.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Ups & downs of being human in 60s Japan/elsewhere
Review: This was my first Kurosawa ever and I now finally know why my father always raved about this fantastic "director from Japan" in my childhood. The original title of the film, rendered mostly in Chinese characters, literally mean Heaven and Hell. But don't let that fool you, because what Kurosawa has done is actually an amazingly complex drama about the human condition. Gondo lives a life both of heavenly pleasure (money,patronage, prestige) and hellish pressures (struggles with his business partners, the shoe industry, ideals of shoe-making!)The "main bad guy" doesn't have as complex a portrayl, but it's masterful that Kurosawa made the guy/kidnapper's day-job one of a medical assistant in a hospital. It is such pitting of extremities of what we consider moral and immoral that make this film so interesting. Stylistically it has a lot of attention to detail. Very closed and formal compositions with regards to how the characters are placed on-screen in each shot. And yes, the sequences of the bullet train (intriguingly double-framed during the police meeting) is just fantastic! RIP Kurosawa-san - you've earned it.
Rating:
Summary: Delivers the excellence we expect from Kurasawa
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Delivers the excellence we expect from Kurasawa
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: This Is An Extraordinarily Good Film
Review: Watched this a few days ago for about the fifth time and have been thinking about it ever since. I think it probably is my favorite Kurosawa film. Toshiro Mifune plays a top executive in a shoe company who is secretly planning to take over the company. He wants to keep making quality shoes and gradually expand the market. The other executives want to make cheaper shoes and take advantage of the company's reputation. Mifune has raised every yen he can, including using his house, for the buyout, but his son is kidnapped. For the ransome he'll need all the money he's raised. He's prepared to do this for the sake of his son. Then he finds out that the kidnappers made a mistake. They kidnapped his driver's son, who is the same age as his own. What a terrible moral dilemma. Would you or I give up every dime we had to save a neighbor's or an employee's son? Mifune does, and this act has a great effect on the police and the public. The first half of the movie takes place in his house on a hill while all this unfolds. The second half is the chase to find the boy before he's killed and to capture the kidnapper. We move from the intensity of the dilemma unfolding in Mifune's home to the gritty business of the search which takes us into some of the lowest parts of the Japanese underworld. Mifune is powerful in the role of the father, at first torn by the decision he has to make, then commited to finding his driver's son. Tatsuya Nakadai plays the detective, handsome, smooth, professional, and ultimately deeply touched by Mifune's integrity. Years later Nakadai played the leads in Kurosawa's Kagemusha and Ran. And it was good to see Mifune out of samurai costume. High and Low is the work of a master. The DVD has the quality and extras one has come to expect from Criterion
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