High and Low 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

High and Low 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 14, 2025

Akira Kurosawa's "High and Low" (1963) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include rare video interview with Toshiro Mifune; video interview with actor Tsutomu Yamazaki; archival audio commentary by author and critic Stephen Prince; vingtage trailers; and more. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Outmaneuvered

Wealthy industrialist Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune) hosts a casual board meeting in his posh home. He is invited to join the efforts to oust the president of National Shoes, a supposedly old-fashioned man. If the coup succeeds, the company will begin producing a new line of shoes -- less durable but more profitable.

Gondo rejects the invitation and instead initiates a surprising takeover bid -- after mortgaging practically everything he owns. A few hours before the bid is finalized, a man (Tsutomu Yamazaki) phones his house and demands a 30 million yen ransom for his kidnapped son. It turns out, however, that the kidnapper has mistakenly taken the son of his chauffeur, Aoki (Yutaka Sada).

The drama presents Gondo with a lose-lose situation. If he pays the ransom, the bid will fail, and he will lose everything. If he finalizes the bid, sooner or later, the media will find out about the kidnapping and question his decision not to help one of his men, ensuring the destruction of his public image.

Based on Ed McBain’s detective novel King’s Ransom, Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low (also known as Heaven and Hell) is a film of two contrasting halves. In the first, Gondo undergoes three major character transformations, which are a pretext for a strong social commentary on Japan’s class system.

The first two transformations are the most consequential. After discovering that his son is safe, Gondo openly argues that paying the ransom would be a mistake. However, after realizing the negative role the media could play, Gondo rethinks his stance, and his confidence begins to evaporate.

The second half is about the flip side of the drama. The kidnapper is quickly identified by an intelligent detective (Tatsuya Nakadai), and it is only a matter of time before he is captured. But High and Low is not a whodunit affair, so the identity of the kidnapper is practically irrelevant. It is the world he comes from, a place Gondo is completely unaware of, which becomes the focus of attention.

The transition from Gondo’s world into the kidnapper's world is marked by a pink trail of smoke, the only bit of color in High and Low. This is the point where the Gates of Hell open, and Kurosawa’s camera visits various slums and congested industrial areas.

Despite producing numerous striking visual contrasts, High and Low remains a beautiful film. In fact, some of its most disturbing sequences are some of its most beautiful and elegant. Also, movement and rhythm, light and shadow, everything has a purpose, and there is always a sense of order.

Completed by Kurosawa in 1963, High and Low was the first of the iconic director's films to utilize stereophonic sound. Also, to recreate the nightlights of the big city where the kidnapper resides, Kurosawa and his team designed an impressive miniature set with approximately 7,000 bulbs.

High and Low has an unusual soundtrack as well. Award-winning composer Masaru Sato blends jazz and edgy electronic harmonies in a minimalistic score that enhances the noirish atmosphere tremendously well.

*In 1963, High and Low was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival. A year later, the film won Best Film and Best Screenplay Awards at the Mainichi Film Concours.

High and Low 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's release of High and Low is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked".

Please note that all screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.

The release introduces a new 4K restoration of High and Low, sourced from the original camera negative, and completed at Tokyo Lab Ltd. The 4K restoration is available only on the 4K Blu-ray. The Blu-ray retains the previous presentation of High and Low from this release, produced by Criterion in 2011.

The native 4K presentation of the 4K restoration is not graded with HDR or Dolby Vision, which I believe was the right decision because High and Low has various darker areas where currently everything looks terrific. I was very impressed by the quality of the visuals from these areas. However, I must also mention that the previous presentation of High and Low also had some quite obvious limitations, affecting delineation, clarity, and depth, and some of the most prominent ones were in the same areas. In other words, I was not surprised that the 4K restoration eliminated them. The 4K restoration also substantially strengthens the grayscale. For example, crushing is eliminated and there is a significantly wider range of healthier grays, ensuring richer, more attractive visuals. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. The density levels of the visuals are outstanding as well. Is there any room for additional, meaningful improvements? I do not think so. High and Low has a very consistent organic appearance now that is very handsome in native 4K.

High and Low 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The original 4.0 soundtrack is placed in a 5.1 container. (This is what your system will display). I did not perform any direct comparisons with the previous lossless track from the original Blu-ray release of High and Low. I thought that all exchanges were very clear, and the music, which does a lot of interesting things throughout the film, sounded terrific. However, there are a few areas, typically with outdoor material, where unevenness is noticeable. I suspect that virtually all of it is inherited, and a few spots, where time has left its mark, are strengthened as best as possible. The English translation is excellent.

High and Low 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by author and critic Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa in 2008.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by author and critic Stephen Prince (The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa) in 2008.

• Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create - in this documentary feature, part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create, the famous Japanese director discusses how How and Low came to exist, how specific sequences were filmed, etc. The documentary feature also presents interviews with actors Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyoko Kagawa, Takeshi Kato, and Tatsuya Mihashi, as well as cameramen Takao Saito and Masaharu Ueda, and script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, among others. In Japanese, with English subtitles. (38 min).

• Toshiro Mifune - in this archival program, Toshiro Mifune discusses his life and acting career. The program was produced in 1981 for the Japanese TV show Tetsuko no heya (Tetsuko's Room). In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (31 min).

• Tsutomu Yamazaki - in this interview, recorded for Criterion in Tokyo in 2008, award-winning actor Tsutomu Yamazaki, who plays the kidnapper in High and Low, discusses his career and collaborations with Akira Kurosawa. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (20 min).

• Trailers - presented here are two trailers and a teaser. The Japanese trailer for High and Low includes the only known footage of the original ending of the film, in which Kingo Gondo and Inspector Tokura leave the prison after the former's visit with Takeuchi. This scene was removed by Akira Kurosawa in the final stages of editing.
  
  -- Japanese Trailer - In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (4 min).
  -- Japanese Teaser - In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (2 min).
  -- U.S. Trailer - Music only. (2 min).

• Booklet - a 30-page illustrated booklet featuring Geoffrey O'Brien's essay "Between Heaven and Hell" and Donald Richie's piece "On the Set of High and Low", as well as technical credits.

High and Low 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Some consider High and Low a film noir, and some have argued that it is a carefully constructed political film. It is a little bit of both, but ultimately, and perhaps most importantly, it is another great film that Akira Kurosawa and Toshirô Mifune made together. I like High and Low a lot and hoped that it would look terrific after it is restored in 4K. It is exactly how it looks on 4K Blu-ray. It is too bad that there isn't a standard Blu-ray release of the excellent 4K restoration so that collectors without 4K systems can enjoy it as well. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.