Review: Kurosawa's "HIGH AND LOW" Remains a Superb Police Thriller

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 of 2025 (No. 2041) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tengoku to Jigoku (1963) – Black and White

High and Low – English title

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan; Language: Japanese

Running time:  143 minutes (2 hours, 23 minutes)

Rating: Not rated

DIRECTOR:  Akira Kurosawa

WRITERS:  Hideo Oguni & Ryuzo Kikushima and Eijiro Hisaita & Akira Kurosawa (based on the novel by Ed McBain)

PRODUCERS:  Ryuzo Kikushima and Tomoyuki Tanaka

CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Asakazu Nakai and Taiko Saito

EDITOR:  Akira Kurosawa

COMPOSER:  Masaru Sato

DRAMA/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring:  Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kenjiro Ishiyama, Kyoko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi, Isao Kimura, Yutaka Sada, Takashi Kato, Takashi Shimura, Jun Tazaki, Nobuo Nakamura, Yunosuke Ito, Masahiko Shimazu, Toshio Egi, and Tsutomu Yamakazi

Tengoku to Jigoku (Heaven and Hell) is a 1963 Japanese drama and crime thriller from director Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune.  The film is best known by its English release title, High and Low (which is the one I will use for this review).  The film is a loose adaptation of the 1959 novel, King's Ransom, which was written by Evan Hunter (a pen name of the American crime and mystery fiction author, Ed McBain).  In High and Low, a Japanese businessman becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.

High and Low introduces wealthy Japanese businessman and executive, Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune), who lives in an elegant hilltop house with his wife, Reiko (Kyoko Kagawa).  He is currently engaged in a struggle to gain control of the company where he works, National Shoes.  The board of the company is split between executives seeking to make cheap and low-quality shoes and the “Old Man,” the company's largest shareholder who who wants sturdy but unfashionable shoes.  Gondo rejects both sides.  He has envisioned a strategy of requiring high production costs for long-term profitability by producing high-quality shoes.  Gondo has secretly set up a leveraged buyout to gain control of the company, mortgaging all his property for the money he will need for the buyout.

Just as he is about to put the plan into action, Gondo receives a phone call from someone claiming to have kidnapped his elementary school age son, Jun (Toshio Egi).  The kidnapper demands a ransom of 30 million yen, which Gondo is prepared to pay, but he soon dismisses the call as a prank when Jun returns home from playing outside.  However, Gondo learns that the kidnapper has mistakenly taken Shinichi (Masahiko Shimazu), the child of Gondo's chauffeur, Aoki (Yutaka Sada).

The kidnapper has realized his mistake, but he still wants the ransom.  Gondo is forced to make a decision whether to use his millions to complete the buyout of National Shoes or to pay the ransom to save Shinichi.  Meanwhile, the police arrive, led by Inspector Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai), who becomes the chief investigator of the kidnapping case, and who is ably assisted by his partner, Chief Detective “Bos'n” Toguchi (Kenjiro Ishiyama).  Can the police discover the identity of the kidnapper before Gondo is forced to pay the ransom, which would lead to his financial ruin?

High and Low apparently was and still is a big influence on films belonging to the crime sub-genre known as the “police procedural,” which focuses on the investigative procedures of law enforcement officers and agencies with them also being the protagonists.  [This genre excludes private investigators (P.I.).]  High and Low has been remade and adapted into other films and has also influenced other films and televisions series.  It is currently the subject of a reinterpretation by director Spike Lee in his upcoming film, Highest 2 Lowest, starring Denzel Washington.

High and Low are like two mini-movies joined into one longer feature film.  The first half of the film focuses on Toshiro Mifune's Kingo Gondo and his conflicts and struggles.  Most of the first half takes place in the living room of his home, with Gondo stalking the space like a caged lion or besieged king.  Akira Kurosawa constructs this part of the film like a stage drama, and here, he shows a remarkable sense of staging and in film blocking (facilitating performances in a film via the precise arrangement of the actors).  Kurosawa seems to be composing his action as if each moment is a painting.

The second half of the film fully embraces the police procedural.  Kurosawa moves Gondo a little to the side and the police's chase and hunt of the suspect kicks into high gear.  Lead by Inspector Tokura and Chief Detective “Bos'n” Toguchi, the police attack the case at every angle they can imagine.  They race across the region, working a series of clues involving geographical vistas, background sounds and noises, and a variety of locals connected to the street life and roads in and around the city.  I got the biggest kick out of watching this part of the film.  I followed the the lead investigators as they pound the pavement and as the young police officers chase the suspect, who wears one of the eeriest pairs of reflective sunglasses I have ever seen in film.  There is a trip into the underground lair of zombie-like heroin addicts that is as chilling as any found in a horror movies and as breathtaking as a jaunt through the most sumptuous set.

I loved the actors' performances which emphasize action, procedure, and personality more than narrow characterization.  As usual, I adore seeing Toshiro Mifune, especially when paired with the great director, Akira Kurosawa.  I have seen Kurosawa's great films, such as Rashomon (1950) and The Seven Samurai (1954), which also star Mifune.  I think High and Low should join these two films as being among the great Kurosawa's best works.

9 of 10

A+

Friday, August 15, 2025

The "Criterion Collection" Blu-ray of HIGH AND LOW is available at Amazon.

NOTES:

1963 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Foreign Film” (Japan)

The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#28DaysofBlack Review: "LILIES OF THE FIELD" Feels Timeless and Spiritual

[For his performance in Lilies of the Field, Sidney Poitier became the first Black man to win the “Best Actor” Oscar.  Poitier received his Oscar at the 36th Academy Awards ceremony, held in April 1964.  It would be 38 years later, at the 74th Academy Awards in March 2002, when the second Black man won a “Best Actor” Oscar, Denzel Washington.  That night, Halle Berry also became the first, and of this writing, only Black woman to win a “Best Actress” Oscar.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 of 2021 (No. 1757) by Leroy Douresseaux

Lilies of the Field (1963)
Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
PRODUCER-DIRECTOR: Ralph Nelson
WRITER:  James Poe (based on the novel, The Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett)
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ernest Haller (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  John W. McCafferty
COMPOSER:  Jerry Goldsmith
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring:  Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann, Isa Crino, Francesca Jarvis, Pamela Branch, Stanley Adams, and Dan Frazer

Lilies of the Field is a 1963 drama film from producer-director, Ralph Nelson.  The film is based on the 1962 novel, The Lilies of the Field, written by William Edward Barrett.  Lilies of the Field the film focuses on a traveling handyman and the nuns who believe that he is the answer to their prayers.

Lilies of the Field opens somewhere in the Arizona desert.  Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier), an itinerant jack-of-all-trades, stops at what he assumes is an ordinary farm to obtain some water for his car, a station wagon.  There, he sees a group of women working around the farm.  These women turn out to be five nuns:  Mother Maria (Lilia Skala), Sister Gertrude (Lisa Mann), Sister Agnes (Iro Crino), Sister Albertine (Francesca Jarvis), and Sister Elizabeth (Pamela Branch).  The nuns, who speak very little English, introduce themselves as German, Austrian and Hungarian nuns.

Maria, the “Mother Superior” (the leader of the nuns), persuades Homer, whom she calls “Homer Schmidt,” to do a small job of roofing repair on the main building.  He stays overnight, assuming that he will be paid in the morning.  The next day, Smith tries to persuade Mother Maria to pay him by quoting from the Holy Bible, but she responds by asking him to read a Bible verse from the “Sermon on the Mount” (“Consider the lilies of the field...).  This won't be the last time that Mother Maria stonewalls Homer on the payment she owes him, but his strengths and skills are apparent to her and her nuns.  Mother Maria believes that Homer has been sent by God to fulfill their dream of building a chapel (which they call a “shapel”) on their land.

If people remember Lilies of the Field, it would be for Sidney Poitier's performance, which earned him the “Best Actor” Oscar, and for the film's historical relevance.  Poitier's win for portraying Homer Smith was the first time a black man had won the “Best Actor” Oscar, and it was also the first time a black actor had won an Academy Award in a lead acting category.  To date, Homer Smith is my favorite performance of Poitier's.  Poitier presents Homer as a man full of skill, grit, and determination, with plenty of sly wit and humor.  Most of all, through Homer, Poitier makes the audience believe in man's capacity for kindness and in a man having a sense of duty and honor that he does not use to place himself above other men.

The film is blessed with several good performances.  Lilia Skala, who earned a “Best Supporting Actress” Oscar nomination for her performance, can convince the audience that Mother Maria is a real person and not just a character in a movie.  Skala makes Maria's faith seem genuine, and it is Maria's faith in God that in turn makes this film feel like a religious movie, or even a Christian movie, for that matter, without Lilies of the Field specifically being either religious or Christian.

Faith in God and faith in the goodness of man are at the heart of this film.  James Poe's screenplay and the way that director Ralph Nelson presents this story combine to send a simple message of faith in God over worrying about the things one wants to happen.  Lilies of the Field is not a Christmas movie, but I think it could be a wonderful entry in people's “Happy Holidays” playlist.

I found myself often very emotional while watching this film.  At a little more than a hour and a half of run time, Lilies of the Field seems like a fairy tale, a folk tale, or even a Biblical story.  It is magical.  It is wonderful.  And it makes faith seem like a very good thing, indeed.  When people speak of the magic of Hollywood films, I think that there is plenty of that magic in Lilies of the Field.

10 of 10

Tuesday, February 23, 2021


NOTES:
1964 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Sidney Poitier); 4 nominations: “Best Picture” (Ralph Nelson), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Lilia Skala), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (James Poe), and “Best Cinematography, Black-and-White” (Ernest Haller)

1964 Golden Globes, USA:  2 wins:  “Best Actor – Drama” (Sidney Poitier) and “Best Film Promoting International Understanding” and 2 nominations:  “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Supporting Actress” (Lilia Skala)

1965 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Foreign Actor” (Sidney Poitier) and “UN Award” (USA)

2020 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  1 win: “National Film Registry”


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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