Tengoku to jigoku (Heaven and Hell)

This isn't to say that High and Low can't be enjoyed strictly as a bang-up suspense film, for it's arguably one of the greatest genre films ever made (even if Kurosawa never made a genre picture like it before or after). The film is staged as a series of escalating tensions that converge, divide, subside, and explode: the agony of a missing child, the kidnapper's terse phone calls, the masterful sequence aboard the speeding train, the complex paths of detection and deduction that set the cops on the kidnap ... Full Review

High And Low is uncharacteristically stagey in its first half, which is also, paradoxically, its most compelling.....While not a masterpiece on par with Kurosawa's best work, High And Low is a fine example of his craft....It's well done, but lacks dramatic tension until it arrives at an unforgettable final scene.....further proof that it's not a few masterpieces but the overall scope of a career that defines a great director..... ... Full Review

Akira Kurosawa, who was a fan of American film noir, adapted High and Low from American author Ed McBain's detective novel King's Ransom. The story is of a powerhouse executive in the Japanese shoe industry who lives in a luxurious... ... Full Article

As far as remakes go, few directors have had their works re-imagined as many times as Akira Kurosawa. The most famous of these, A Fistful of Dollars and The Magnificent Seven, have been almost as successful as the originals. ... Full Article

While involved in a high-stakes bid to take over the shoe company for which he has worked since he was sixteen years old, Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune) receives a phone call informing him that his son has been kidnapped, and... ... Full Article

"Don't get too close, but don't take your eyes off him!" exhorts Chief Detective Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai) to one of his assistants in Akira Kurosawa's intense crime drama High and Low . ... Full Article