Home
search
more | tips
SHOP TENGOKU TO...
Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk Amazon.de Amazon.fr
IMDb > Tengoku to jigoku (1963)
Tengoku to jigoku
[Add to My Movies]
Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotes
Overview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditstv schedule
Awards & Reviews
user commentsexternal reviewsnewsgroup reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guiderecommendationsmessage board
Plot & Quotes
plot summaryplot synopsisplot keywordsAmazon.com summarymemorable quotes
Fun Stuff
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQ
Other Info
merchandising linksbox office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specslaserdisc detailsDVD detailsliterature listingsNewsDesk
Promotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo gallery
External Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clips

Tengoku to jigoku (1963)

advertisement
Register or login to rate this title
User Rating: 8.2/10 (5,383 votes)
Photos (see all 10 | slideshow)
IMDb Coverage of Comic-Con 2008

Overview

Director:
Akira Kurosawa
Writers:
Eijirô Hisaita (writer)
Evan Hunter (novel)
(more)
Release Date:
26 November 1963 (USA) more
Genre:
Thriller | Drama more
Plot:
An executive mortgages all he owns to stage a coup and gain control of the National Shoe Company, with... more | add synopsis
Awards:
3 wins & 3 nominations more
User Comments:
If you like ransom/police storiesmysteries, and have interest in Kurosawa &/or Mifune, check it out at least once more

Cast

  (in credits order) (complete, awaiting verification)
Toshirô Mifune ... Kingo Gondo
Tatsuya Nakadai ... Chief Detective Tokura
Kyôko Kagawa ... Reiko Gondo
Tatsuya Mihashi ... Kawanishi, Gondo's secretary
Isao Kimura ... Detective Arai
Kenjiro Ishiyama ... Chief Detective 'Bos'n' Taguchi
Takeshi Katô ... Detective Nakao
Takashi Shimura ... Chief of Investigation Section
Jun Tazaki ... Kamiya, National Shoes Publicity Director
Nobuo Nakamura ... Ishimaru, National Shoes Design Department Director
Yûnosuke Itô ... Baba, National Shoes executive
Tsutomu Yamazaki ... Ginjirô Takeuchi, medical intern
Minoru Chiaki ... First reporter
Hiroshi Unayama ... Detective Shimada
Eijirô Tono ... Factory worker
Masao Shimizu ... Prison warden
Yutaka Sada ... Aoki, the chauffeur
Koji Mitsui ... Second reporter
Susumu Fujita ... Chief of First Investigating Section
Kyu Sazanka ... First creditor
Kamatari Fujiwara ... Junkyard cook
Yoshio Tsuchiya ... Detective Murata
Kazuo Kitamura ... Third reporter
Gen Shimizu ... Chief physician
Akira Nagoya ... Detective Yamamoto
Jun Hamamura ... Second creditor
Masao Oda ... First executor at tax office (as Masao Orita)
Kô Nishimura ... Third creditor
Yoshifumi Tajima ... Chief Prison Officer
Koji Shimizu ... Fish market office worker
Hiroshi Unanzan ... Detective Shimizu
Yoshisuke Makino ... Detective Takahashi
Jun Kondo ... Detective
Tomoo Suzuki ... Detective Koike
Senkichi Omura ... Messenger passing note to intern
Kazuo Kato ... Identification center worker
Ikio Sawamura ... Yokohama Station trolley man
Kin Sugai ... Female drug addict
Keiko Tomita ... Murder victim
Isamu Onoda ... Male drug addict
Seiichi Taguchi ... Detective Nakamura
Takeo Matsushita ... Second executor at tax office
Kiyoshi Yamamoto ... Detective Ueno
Kenji Kodama ... Detective Hara
Minoru Ito ... Detective
Kazuo Suzuki ... Undercover detective 'drug addict'
Kôzô Nomura ... Detective
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Toshio Egi ... Jun Gondo (uncredited)
Masahiko Shimazu ... Shinichi Aoki (uncredited)
Create a character page for: ?

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa 
 
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Eijirô Hisaita  writer
Evan Hunter  novel "King's Ransom" (as Ed McBain)
Ryuzo Kikushima  writer
Akira Kurosawa  writer
Hideo Oguni  writer
Hayakawa Shobo  translator of novel

Produced by
Ryuzo Kikushima .... producer
Akira Kurosawa .... associate producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka .... producer
 
Original Music by
Masaru Satô 
 
Non-Original Music by
Franz Schubert (from "Die Forelle")
 
Cinematography by
Asakazu Nakai 
Takao Saitô 
 
Production Design by
Yoshirô Muraki 
 
Costume Design by
Miyuki Suzuki 
 
Production Management
Hiroshi Nezu .... production supervisor
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masanobu Deme .... assistant director
Yoichi Matsue .... assistant director
Shirô Moritani .... chief assistant director
Kenjiro Omori .... assistant director
 
Art Department
Jun Sakuma .... assistant art director
 
Sound Department
Ichirô Minawa .... sound effects editor
Jin Sashida .... sound assistant
Hisashi Shimonaga .... sound mixer
Fumio Yanoguchi .... sound
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Fukahirô Akike .... assistant lighting technician
Masao Fukuda .... still photographer
Kazutami Hara .... assistant camera
Ichirô Inohara .... lighting technician
Hiromitsu Mori .... lighting technician
 
Editorial Department
Reiko Kaneko .... assistant editor
 
Transportation Department
Ginzo Osumi .... transportation coordinator
 
Other crew
Shigeru Kishima .... production assistant
Teruyo Nogami .... script supervisor
Yuichi Yoshitake .... acting office
 
Crew believed to be complete



Production CompaniesDistributorsOther Companies
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Heaven and Hell (International: English title) (literal title)
High and Low (USA)
The Ransom (UK)
more
Runtime:
143 min | USA:142 min
Country:
Japan
Language:
Japanese
Color:
Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor) (inserts only)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 | UK:12 | UK:A (original rating) (cut)
Filming Locations:
Enoshima, Kanagawa, Japan more
MOVIEmeter: ?
V 17% since last week why?

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Based on the novel "King's Ransom" by Ed McBain (pen name of Evan Hunter), part of McBain's "87th Precinct" series. more
Quotes:
Kingo Gondo: Why should you and I hate each other?
Ginjirô Takeuchi, medical intern: I don't know. I'm not interested in self-analysis. I do know my room was so cold in winter and so hot in summer I couldn't sleep. Your house looked like heaven, high up there. That's how I began to hate you.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Obsession (1976) more
Soundtrack:
Die Forelle more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
15 out of 15 people found the following comment useful:-
If you like ransom/police storiesmysteries, and have interest in Kurosawa &/or Mifune, check it out at least once, 30 August 2004
10/10
Author: Filmjack3 from United States

High and Low, like Yojimbo and Throne of Blood, combines elements to create something special while seeming rather routine- while Yojimbo seems like a bad-ass samurai flick, it has the ingredients of a western and satire, and Throne of Blood is a rather faithful, strange adaptation of Macbeth in the guise of a warlord/samurai tale, High and Low does a similar method. Akira Kurosawa, a filmmaker who gets film buff's ears lit up at the mere mention of him, can usually be counted on to keep a film interesting even if it may not be entertaining to some of the crowd that likes a section of his movies or another (there's usually a split between his samurai/medieval tales and epics, and his dramas about the tragedies of ordinary people).

Here he finds a middle ground- the story is taken from a hard-boiled detective novel, the kind you could probably buy for a quarter or fifty cents in the old days- as he tells of two stories interconnected at the hip, both with detail a commercial Hollywood director would brush off. The first is of businessman Gondo (Toshiro Mifune, with his usual bravura presence, but with enough nuanced and quiet moments for two movies), who is about to close a deal to get the shoe company he's worked for for years, when he gets a phone call. There's been a kidnapping- not his son, but his chauffeur's by default. Backed into a corner without options, he gets together 30 million he really can't afford, and gives it to the kidnapper(s). The police, meanwhile, are not about to give up, and start digging for clues with an in-depth investigation that goes to probe every possibility: the chauffeur's son used as a partial witness with drawings; a car; a trolly car; all this leads to nothing and everything, leading to a third act that's as riveting as the first two.

Although the acting by everyone involved, cop characters included (Tatsuya Nakadai and Yutaka Sada are surprisingly good, the later even with limited screen time), Kurosawa keeps the film deliberately paced. Another director (more modern perhaps, but maybe not) might cut to the chase quicker, cutting past most of the investigation details, and even the emotional high-points in the first act. But Kurosawa is as interested in the nature and details of what the police do as he is with the compositions, which are constructed and framed as only an artist would do. The film creates a superb juxtaposition as well- Mifune's Gondo is enraged about what will happen with his money, but his morals stand above everything in his business affairs. Meanwhile, the cops here aren't cruel and unforgiving, but professionals trying to crack a case that the audience can hang onto. And then when the "seedy" underbelly of the city comes into view, it's looked on with at least some compassion by Kurosawa, and it's not too over-the-top.

If all your looking for is thrill after thrill, like in Sanjuro or even Hidden Fortress, look elsewhere- the violence, by the way, is kept to a low level for this one (it'd even be quite suitable for kids, if they don't mind the subtitles and quintessential intensity in the Japanese style of film acting). But for tight, often gripping suspense in the IL' 'whodunit' mystery tale, this is a keeper. Manipulative, perhaps, yet in the hands of a master it's an exemplary deal. And, in the end, it even provides a sad, existential kind of conclusion as good and evil become blurred as the kidnapper looks through glass at the disillusioned Gondo. It's one of the great endings in world cinema. A+

Was the above comment useful to you?
more

Message Boards

Discuss this title with other users on IMDb message board for Tengoku to jigoku (1963)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Are movie execs rating this movie a 1? chamelion7
A Criterion reissue dchozenwan
Inaccurate title? FZ-FX
M? mothboy88
hollywood remake!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! chezchez99
Has anyone read the original Ed McBain story, 'King's Ransom'? debblyst
more

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
King of Chinatown Nora inu The Godfather The French Connection Heaven
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
IMDb Thriller section IMDb Japan section Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.