High and Low (Criterion) (4K UHD Review)
Director
Akira KurosawaRelease Date(s)
1963 (September 9, 2025)Studio(s)
Toho Co., Ltd. (The Criterion Collection – Spine #24)- Film/Program Grade: A
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B
Review
Though it might seem surprising source material for a Japanese film, Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 High and Low (the title is also occasionally translated Heaven and Hell) is based in part on writer Ed McBain’s 1959 crime novel, King’s Ransom. Kurosawa’s version once again stars his longtime collaborator Toshirô Mifune, here playing Kingo Gondo, the wealthy factory manager of the leading Japanese footwear company, National Shoes.
As the film opens, we learn that the company’s other executives plan to take their business in a new, more profitable direction, choosing to make lower quality shoes that will wear out faster, thus requiring women to buy them more often. As a man of integrity, this doesn’t sit well with Gondo, so he’s mortgaged his fortune to buy controlling interest in the company’s stock. Just as he’s about to close the deal, however, he gets an anonymous phone call saying that his young son has been kidnapped—unless he pays a huge ransom, the boy will be killed.
Paying the ransom would mean the end of his takeover bid and his family’s financial ruin, but Gondo is willing to make this sacrifice to get the boy back... that is, until he learns that it was actually the young son of his chauffeur, and not his own son, that was taken by mistake. So Gondo wrestles with a moral dilemma: Is he still responsible for getting the boy back? Is he still willing to pay? Can he live with his decision either way?
Whatever else you might call it, High and Low is a cinema master class in the use of staging, deep focus, multi-camera production, sound mixing (Kurosawa’s first use of true stereo) and careful editing to maximize tension. The first half of the film takes place almost entirely in the living room of Gondo’s hilltop home, shot in a series of very long takes. Filmed in TohoScope, every portion of the widescreen frame is used to maximum advantage by the director and actors, ratcheting up the drama as first the family itself, and eventually the police detectives, anguish and plan in an effort to gain some advantage over the kidnappers. Kurosawa’s extraordinary attention to detail is in full evidence here: A real house location was used for daytime scenes requiring an expansive view of the city of Yokohama through the living room windows. But for nighttime scenes, the living room was recreated as a set on a soundstage, complete with a model city (featuring moving, lighted toy trains) in the background.
The film’s second half (bridged by a thrilling sequence set on a speeding commuter train) then details the extensive police investigation, as a small army of detectives follow the available clues to track the kidnappers through the streets, back alleys and heroin dens of Yokohama, determined to uncover the reasons for the plot and bring those responsible to justice. The investigation is so thorough, in fact, that real Japanese police departments used this film to teach proper procedure for many years. High and Low is simply riveting, and features one of Kurosawa’s all-time best conclusions—a cinematic finale of incredible tension and style (of special note is Kurosawa’s use of the actors’ reflections on glass)—posing yet another moral question that the viewer is left to grapple with for themselves. This is, without question, a work of Kurosawa in his prime.
High and Low was shot by cinematographers Asakazu Nakai (High and Low, Dersu Uzala, Ran) and Takao Saitō (Dodes’ka-den, Ran) on 35 mm B&W film in the TohoScope format using Mitchell cameras with Kowa anamorphic lenses. A brief color insert was also added in post production. The film was then released into theaters at the 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio. Criterion’s 4K Ultra HD edition takes advantage of a new 4K scan and digital restoration of the original 35 mm camera negative by Toho Archive Co. Ltd, in Setagaya, Japan. The image has been graded for standard dynamic range (SDR) only and encoded for release on a 100 GB disc (with mastering by NexSpec in Los Angeles and data rates averaging 80 Mbps).
Once again, Toho’s restoration is excellent, and a major upgrade of previous Blu-ray and DVD releases (including those of both the BFI and Criterion). Whereas the Blu-ray had a slightly coarse appearance, detail here is clean and well refined, albeit with the occasional anamorphic softness around the edges of the frame. Texturing is pleasing too—especially in the first part of the film in Gondo’s home—visible in skin, hair, clothing fabric, wood, tile, and furniture textiles. In the second half, the city of Yokohama comes alive, from claustrophobic train compartments to the prefecture police briefing room, to the seedy environs of “Dope Alley.” There’s the occasional bit of anamorphic softness visible, and once or twice (look up at the couch cushions while the police hide under the table in Gondo’s living room) there’s just a hint of residual warping that the restoration couldn’t completely remove. But remarkably, most of the optical transitions (dissolves, etc) reveal little in the way of generational detail loss. And contrast is excellent, even without the benefits of HDR—shadows are deeply black, the mirrored lenses of Ginjiro’s sunglasses have a pleasing sheen. And even 10-bit SDR allows for much more detail in the brightest areas of the frame, which tended to look a little blown out on the Blu-ray. (I do still think this film would benefit from an HDR grade however, so I hope the BFI does one eventually.) But it’s important to state once again what a big upgrade this is over the previous Blu-ray release. This is another terrific 4K presentation of a B&W film.
The film’s original Japanese 4-track stereo audio is included here in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio format (it’s listed as 4.0 on the package, but it reads as 5.1 on the 4K disc and 4.0 on the Blu-ray). There are no real surround effects, as you’d expect given the film’s vintage, but Kurosawa uses the stereo field effectively (especially aboard the train, and out in the city) and the mix doesn’t disappoint. The sonic imaging here is a little cleaner and more precise than it was on the Blu-ray, and the soundstage is just a bit wider. Dialogue is clear and clean, with good dynamic range. Composer Masaru Sato’s tense score is presented in excellent fidelity. Optional English subtitles are available.
Criterion’s new 4K package is a 2-disc set that includes the remastered film in 4K on UHD and also 1080p HD on Blu-ray (the same disc the company released in 2011 and reviewed here on The Bits). Both the 4K and Blu-ray discs include the following:
- Audio Commentary by Stephen Price
To this, the Blu-ray adds:
- Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create – High and Low (SD – 37:02)
- Toshiro Mifune (SD – 30:31)
- Tsutomu Yamakazi (SD – 19:05)
- Japanese Trailer (SD – 3:38)
- Japanese Teaser (SD – 1:54)
- U.S. Trailer (SD – 1:43)
None of this material is new for the 4K edition, but all of the fine extras from Criterion’s 2008 DVD release carry over here, starting with another great audio commentary track featuring Kurosawa historian Stephen Prince, who guides you through the film, highlights its many noteworthy aspects and puts things in context. There’s another 37-minute documentary on the making of the film from Toho’s It Is Wonderful to Create series. You also get a lengthy interview Mifune did in 1981 with the Japanese TV series Tetsuko no heya, as well as a 2008 interview with actor Tsutomu Yamazaki, who played the kidnapper. Finally, U.S. and Japanese theatrical trailers for the film are included, along with a 35-page booklet featuring rare production photographs and liner notes by Japanese cinema historian Donald Richie and author and film critic Geoffrey O’Brian.
High and Low is one of Kurosawa’s best films, and also his most accessible for mainstream audiences. It’s a taut and morally complex suspense thriller that’s influenced a generation of filmmakers, including the likes of David Fincher, Martin Scorsese, Bong Joon Ho, Matt Reeves, and Spike Lee (who’s recently remade it as Higher and Lower). Criterion’s 4K UHD release offers a significant upgrade of the Blu-ray image, making it a must-have for Kurosawa fans. Image quality this good makes me hope for future 4K upgrades of Ikiru, Stray Dog, The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, Rashomon, and Red Beard from Criterion—all of which have now been restored in 4K by Toho—not to mention Blu-ray upgrades of Kurosawa’s earliest and postwar films. Let’s face it: If any filmmaker deserves to have his complete filmography restored in the highest possible quality, it’s this one. In the meantime, Criterion’s new High and Low 4K is very highly recommended.
-Bill Hunt
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