24 April 2008

If you aren't already familiar with the 1963 High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku) then imagine a police procedural film noir, based on Ed McBain's King's Ransom, directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura. Interested? You should be.

Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as wealthy industrialist Kingo Gondo, whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper. Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on class and contemporary Japanese society.

High and Low has been available on US DVD from Criterion for close to ten years but in July will be re-released by them as Special Edition Double-Disc set with the following features:

• New, restored high-definition 2.35:1 anamorphic digital transfer, with newly restored original four-track surround sound;
• New audio commentary by Akira Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince;
• A 37-minute documentary on the making of High and Low, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create;
• Rare archival interview with Toshiro Mifune;
• New video interview with actor Tsutomu Yamazaki, who plays the kidnapper;
• Theatrical trailers from Japan and the U.S.;
• New and improved English subtitle translation;
• A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien and a reprinted essay by Japanese film scholar Donald Richie;
• More!

High and Low will be released on US DVD by Criterion in July 2008 (exact date to be confirmed) at the SRP of $39.95.