“High and Low”, Original Re-Release Japanese Movie Poster 1977, STB Size (51 x 145 cm) Q30

This is an original Japanese STB poster printed in 1977 for the theatrical re-release of High and Low (天国と地獄), Akira Kurosawa’s towering crime masterpiece. The film was originally released by Toho in 1963, directed by Kurosawa and starring Toshirō Mifune, with Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyōko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi, and Tsutomu Yamazaki. 

Film background
Originally released in Japan on 1 March 1963, High and Low is Kurosawa’s adaptation of Ed McBain’s King’s Ransom. Set between the hilltop world of wealth and the streets below, it follows shoe-company executive Kingo Gondō as a kidnapping case develops into an intense police procedural and moral drama. The film runs 143 minutes, was distributed by Toho, and has long been regarded as one of Kurosawa’s most influential modern thrillers, combining social critique with extraordinary formal control.

Poster design
This is a superb and highly uncommon STB (tatekan) format poster, printed as a tall two-panel display piece for Japanese cinema use. The design is exceptionally bold: the enormous yellow brushstroke title 「天国と地獄」 dominates the composition against a deep black ground, while the bright red vertical text announcing Kurosawa’s name gives the upper section tremendous visual force. The lower panel introduces a stark monochrome montage of the principal characters in states of fear, urgency, and suspicion, echoing the film’s telephone-centred kidnapping plot and suffocating tension. It is an arresting design—minimal, graphic, and unmistakably Japanese in its use of scale, calligraphic energy, and contrast.

Condition
Excellent. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale. The poster presents very strongly overall, with deep colour, sharp contrast, and excellent display appeal. It is the original two-panel STB format, with light age-related handling, minor edge and corner wear, and gentle fold and storage wear consistent with an authentic 1977 theatrical poster. The reverse remains clean overall, and nothing detracts from the poster’s striking visual impact.

It is over 45 years old!
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.