Back Tengoku to jigoku Catalan Zwischen Himmel und Hölle (1963) German Ο δολοφόνος του Τόκιο Greek Ĉielo kaj infero Esperanto Tengoku to jigoku Spanish Tengoku to jigoku Basque بهشت و دوزخ Persian Taivas ja helvetti Finnish Entre le ciel et l'enfer French למטה ולמעלה (סרט) HE
| High and Low | |
|---|---|
&sq=Sri Lanka&lang=en&file=File:HIGH_AND_LOW_JP_.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Akira Kurosawa |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | King's Ransom by Evan Hunter |
| Produced by | Ryūzō Kikushima Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | |
| Edited by | Akira Kurosawa[1] |
| Music by | Masaru Sato[1] |
Production companies | |
Release date |
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Running time | 143 minutes[1] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | ¥230 million[2] |
| Box office | ¥460.2 million[3] |
High and Low (Japanese: 天国と地獄, Hepburn: Tengoku to Jigoku, lit. 'Heaven and Hell') is a 1963 Japanese police procedural crime film directed and edited by Akira Kurosawa. It was written by Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Eijiro Hisaita, and Ryūzō Kikushima as a loose adaptation of the 1959 novel King's Ransom by Evan Hunter.
In the film, Japanese businessman Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune) is struggling for control of the major shoe company at which he is a board member. He is planning a leveraged buyout of the company with his life savings, when kidnappers led by Ginjirô Takeuchi (Tsutomo Yamazaki), from the shanty town downhill from Gondo's house, kidnap his son Jun to ransom him for 30 million yen. Paying the ransom would consequently stop the buyout. However, they accidentally kidnap Shinichi (Masahiko Shimizu), the son of Gondo's chaffeur Aoki (Yutaka Sada). Shinichi is ransomed for the same price, and Gondo has to choose between controlling the company or helping get Aoki get his son back. Afterwards, Inspector Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai) leads the police investigation into the kidnappers' whereabouts.
Production began in 1962 at Toho Studios. Shot mostly on location at Yokohama, and on set at Toho, filming lasted from 2 September to 30 January 1963. The film has been regarded as embodying the post-World War II Japanese economic miracle in anticipation of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, particularly with the use of the Kodama express train. Post-production took just under a month, and after positive test-screenings in mid-February 1963, it received a wider distribution.
Released in Japan on 1 March 1963, High and Low received generally positive reviews domestically and abroad. With a budget of ¥230 million, it was the largest budget Kurosawa had worked with at the time, and became the highest-grossing film at the domestic box office that year. It was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globe Awards for 1964. The film has since received greater acclaim, and is considered by some to be one of the greatest films of all time. It is viewed as influential on police procedurals, and numerous international films have remade and reinterpreted it.