This is an original Japanese B2 poster printed in 1968 for the re-release of Akira Kurosawa’s crime masterpiece High and Low (天国と地獄). Starring Toshirō Mifune with Tatsuya Nakadai and Kyōko Kagawa, the film fuses boardroom drama and police procedural into a searing portrait of class and conscience. Shot by Kurosawa’s core team (Asakazu Nakai, Takao Saitō) with a taut score by Masaru Satō, it remains one of the greatest detective films ever made.
Film background
Adapted from Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom, the story pivots on a kidnapping that forces a wealthy executive to choose between fortune and morality—before expanding into a meticulous, city-wide manhunt. The film’s shifting visual language (suffocating interiors to documentary street work) and social critique influenced generations of crime cinema in Japan and abroad.
Poster design
A powerful, photo-montage layout: three close, tense portraits—Mifune on the phone flanked by investigators—fill the top field, while a stark black band carries the bold canary-yellow title 「天国と地獄」 in brush script. At the foot, two sepia-toned stills preview the underworld descent. The Toho roundel appears at top right, and the vertical blue sidebar copy (“The tempter calls from the phone… the detective becomes a dog chasing the voice from hell”) underscores the film’s moral stakes. The small ニュープリント note signals this 1968 “new-print” release.
Condition
Excellent condition. Please review the photos; they show the exact poster for sale.
This poster is an original Japanese theatrical B2 from the 1968 re-release campaign.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
It is over 57 years old!
Certificate of Authenticity included.
