Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating story of wealth, greed and social "disorder".
Review: Mifune plays the lead role as the wealthy managing director of a shoe factory when his life is turned upside by a kidnapping. Although the kidnapping, which takes an important twist, is central to the story, most of the fun of the movie is Kurosawa's portrait of ciy-life in 50's Japan. The police investigation is as fun to watch as anything out of Hollywood. Life consists of so many levels and "High and Low" takes you through them all. Great movie, especially if you own a business and have employees.
Rating:
Summary: Heaven and Hell
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: masterpiece
Review: the word masterpiece is tossed around alot..while there may be 100 movies maximum that truly desrve that title..its amazing how akira kurosawa has made about 5 of them..
this was the first time i saw a kurosawa film outside of the samurai genre and it blew me away..the acting..pacing..camera work..script..they are all nearly flawless.
as always the criterian collection does an amazing job this is a film that truly desrves the red carpet treatment
Rating: 
Summary: Heaven and Hell
Review: This amazing achievement of cinema simply takes hold of your sub-conscious and does not let go until the Japanese characters of "the end" fade onto screen. Even having read the premise and plot and character sketches of this movie had not prepared me for the film itself. Kurosawa is a genius, not because of his broad range of works and themes but, because of his masterful subtle control of elements within the single movie. The theme is none other than an obvious contrast (although the original Japanese translation of the title can be rendered "Heaven and Hell") and here we have a movie of conflicting opposites as existing only in a modern industrilize society. And the movie itself is broke into two contrasts: first, the money-comfort view of upper-class workaholic dedicated businessman Mufine in an expansive home overlooking the town, people, and indusrty below and, second, the view of a degenerate crimminal element weaving its way through a city of many sub-levels (similar to the effect made in the anime masterwork "Metropolis") where one level, working class, then police quarters, and finally dope alley lead us further into the enormous chasm of rich and poor, fortunate and unfortunate, high and low, heaven and hell. This multi-level construction gives the movie a complexity that only a few movies have even come close to touch. Be sure to watch for the countless composition shots in the first half of the film (almost no two are alike). In addition the contrasts and similes between characters themselves add to the plot giving us the effect much like the enormous city map blow-up down at police headquarters. Everything and everyone intersects at one point and the implications of this is much like watching lives unfold in a documentary that can be compared to some of the best moments in other theater and film (from "Death of a Salesman" to Hitchcock's "Rear Window"). Not that there are obvious similarities but, the mood and feel of certain great movies are universal.
Rating:
Summary: Carella & Meyer would be Proud!
Review: This is just plain good solid movie-making. A kidnap story that reflects some of the tensions & betrayals in the social system of modern Japan, coupled with a police procedural that is first rate.An executive's (Toshiro Mifune) son is kidnapped, but when it is discovered it was his chauffeur's son taken by mistake and the kidnapper threatens to kill him anyway if ransom isn't paid, the executive, who is embroiled in a power struggle within his corporation and needs all the money the kidnapper demands or face ruin, is truly stuck on the proverbial horns. The first half of the film takes place in the executive's living room, and is a character study and a commentary on corporate greed and back-stabbing and where and to whom one's allegiance and loyalty belongs. Mifune's Gondo has hard choices to make and ruin of one kind or another lies at the end of either choice. The second half of the film is a police procedural detailing the meticulous efforts to track down the kidnapper(s). I did not know this film was based on an Ed McBain 87th Precinct Novel until after I had seen it, but this latter part is classic policework McBain-style. Unfortunately, the police characters & personalities cannot be fully defined and detailed as in the 87th Precinct, but we come to get a sense of some of them. And the police work is spot-on. I love the 87th Precinct books, and several so-so movies have been made from them. This is actually one of the better efforts. I don't think this is a great film, missing the poetry of the great Kurosawa classics, but it is solid work, and a good story told well. That'll do.
Rating:
Summary: Detective Story And Moral Dilemma
Review: This is my first Kurosawa film that's not a Samurai story. Once again, I am impressed by Kurosawa's story telling talent. In this film we have the businessman character who loses everything if he pays a ransom, but let's a little boy die if he does not. The story takes so many twists and turns that it keeps your interest. The cinematography is gorgeous black and white. It's very interesting to see Japan and its locations. The Criterion print is very good. And Kurosawa's widescreen compositions are excellent as well. I continue to discover Mr. Kurosawa's work and am loving every film so far!
Rating:
Summary: Thrilling!
Review: This is one of Kurosawa's best movies with another fantastic performance from Toshiro Mifune. The movie is divided into 2 parts (the kidnapping and the search for the kidnapper) separated by a thrilling sequence on a Bullet train that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The Japanese title should be more accurately translated as "Heaven and Hell" which becomes clear once you've seen the movie. In response to the reviewer who said the disc would not play on his player, I contacted Criterion and found out there are 2 pressings of the disc available. According to them, "You can distinguish the original pressing from the second pressing by looking at the back of the package. The second pressing is Region 1 encoded and CSS and Macrovision encrypted. The original pressing does not have either feature.". Last January I tried 2 copies of the original pressing and neither would play in my Panasonic A110 player. I just bought a copy of the second pressing from Amazon and it plays fine! Now I can watch this masterpiece as much as I want in the comfort of my own home!
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful and Cleaver!
Review: This movie is a bit of a divergence from most of Toshiro Mifune's action packed samurai movies, but it shows his wide range as a talented actor. Filmed in black and white, this is a story of a wealthy businessman who's servant's son is kidnapped. The plot twist is that the servant's son was mistaken for Toshiro's son. This puts a burden on Toshiro and his level of responsibility to his servant and his role as a human.
Rating:
Summary: Good as a drama and interesting view of 1963 era Japan.
Review: This movie is interesting to fans of Japanese cinema and those interested in Japanese culture for many reasons. First, this is one of Kurosawa's few contemporary dramas; it is also interesting because he uses very long scenes, signals changes in characters' circumstances by changes in scenery, clothing, etc. Oddly, he has his characters wear their shoes in the house, very un-Japanese-like. However, since Mifune plays a shoe manufacturer.... Second, the film is set in the early 1960s, not 1950s. A key scene in the movie takes place on the shinkansen, aka "the bullet train," which was brand new when the film was made. Just as today's thrillers make use of the latest techonology, so Kurosawa uses the new bullet train. Third, especially for those who know modern-day Japan, the film presents some interesting, and even surprising, views of Japan almost 20 years after the end of the war. Fourth, the scene that takes place in the nightclub was shot in an actually working club, and the extras didn't know they were being filmed. Fifth, this film was the big break for Tsutomu Yamazaki, who played the main bad guy. Fans of Juzo Itami films may recall his as Goro in Tampopo and the love-hotel mogul in A Taxing Woman. He also appeared in Kurosawa's Red Beard and Kagemusha.
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.
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