Source: American Cinematheque

The American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre follows this past January’s twelve movie Akira Kurosawa retrospective with another of the director’s classics on the big screen. A brand-new 35mm print of the HIGH AND LOW will launch the Aero’s “Essential Art House: A Celebration of 50 Years of Janus Films!”, a 50th anniversary tribute to the acclaimed art house film distributor that runs from March 28 to April 1.

Akira Kurosawa’s HIGH AND LOW plays the Aero Theatre.
© 1963 Toho Co., Ltd.

Wednesday, March 28– 7:30 PM
HIGH AND LOW (Tengoku to Jigoku), 1963, Janus Films, 142 min. Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct mystery King’s Ransom provides an ideal starting point for Akira Kurosawa’s study of a man who must measure the extent of his responsibility to others in a society with a huge gulf between the haves and have-nots. Toshiro Mifune stars as a Yokohama shoe manufacturer who has just arranged a 50-million-yen loan in order to gain control of his corporation. His phone rings and a kidnapper (Tsutomu Yamazaki) demands the very same amount in ransom for his only son. That the kidnapper has taken the son of his chauffeur by mistake only makes the manufacturer’s dilemma worse: must he face financial ruin in order to save the life of another man’s child? The answer lies in this supremely stylish and suspenseful film, as visually and structurally dazzling as it is provocative. With unflagging support from Tatsuya Nakadai as the unassuming head police inspector, Kenjiro Ishiyama and Isao Kimura as dogged police detectives, Kyoko Kagawa as Mifune’s wife and, last but not least, Tatsuya Mihashi as Mifune’s double-dealing personal secretary.

The Aero Theatre is located at 1328 Montana Avenue at 14th Street in Santa Monica, CA 90403. Ticket prices to the theater are $10.00 general, $8.00 students and seniors, and $7.00 for American Cinematheque members. Tickets can be purchased at the theater box office and on fandango.com. Check the Aero Theatre website for complete ordering instructions, parking info, directions and information on the other movies being shown in “Essential Art House” series.