Viewed on DVD. Perhaps the best in the Kurosawa canon! A close to seamless cinema/home-video experience with suspense (the nail-biting kind), intrigue (the edge-of-your-seat kind), thrills (due to an excellent script with many NON-telegraphed twists and turns), terrorism, kidnapping, restrained but none-the-less powerful acting (mostly involving the director's acting troupe), etc. The black & white cinematography in ultra wide format (at least 2.35 to 1.0) is often startling with frames always fully utilized (side to side) by the Director. The music score underlines what is on the screen without drawing unnecessary attention to itself. There are many now classic cinema scenes. Those in the police station especially stand out. Every question you may have asked yourself while watching events unfold are methodically raised, explored, and addressed with reasoned discourse (by a cast of about 20 police officers and undercover investigators). Hitchcock Japanese Style And With A Vengeance! (You might want to watch it frequently with the subtitles off to expand your formal/informal Japanese comprehension.) WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
Review of High and Low
