Leofwine_draca James Cagney goes to Japan in this dated slice of anti-Japanese propaganda which sees the gangster star tackling a government intent on world domination. With much of the supporting cast made up of American actors "yellowed up" for their roles and a decidedly anti-Japanese sentiment to the storyline and its resolution, it's hard for modern viewers to enjoy this one.Cagney is as good as ever as the crusading reporter aiming to bring to light secret plans by a sinister government, but his role is one of those which could have been played by anybody and he can do little with it. In a nutshell, he's not as fun as he was in his gangster movies. The supporting cast is also a disappointment, made of up caricatures and stereotypes for the most part. While BLOOD ON THE SUN does boast a handful of fun martial arts fight scenes and a couple of decent set-pieces - especially at the climax - as a whole it's a rather middling slice of screen entertainment.

Tad Pole . . . a brave American journalist got wind of Japanese Imperialism and nipped WWII's Pacific Theater in the bud, saving millions of lives. James Cagney portrays Nick Condon in this Biopic, since Nick was half Irish and half Norweigen, just like Cagney himself. Nick got wind of the Japanese militarists' secret plot to conquer first China, then Singapore, the Philippines, Alaska, Hawaii, etc. Being educated in American public schools, Nick easily out-smarted Yamamoto and Tojo, as shown here. So the Rape of Nanking, the Sneak Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, the BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, Midway, Attu, Guadacanal, Corregidor, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, the A-bombs and so forth became the bad dreams of an Alternate Reality. When you try to square today's American interstates being clogged with Japanese cars, today's American fingers being glued to Japanese devices 24\7, and today's American Major League Baseball teams crawling with Japanese players, whose version of U.S.-Japanese relations in the 1900s seems more plausible--Wikipedia's or Nick's? I, for one, say Nick's does.

gpeevers American newspaperman Nick Condon (James Cagney) who is based in Tokyo sets out to expose the imperial plans of a faction of the Japanese government prior to outbreak of WWII. The story is based on an historical incident, but the document in question is now believed by most to have been a forgery. The document supposedly outlined a plan to conquer China and eventually the United States.Condon who has already been critical of the militarist faction in the Japanese government comes into possession of the Tanaka document but before he can expose its contents he needs to get out of Japan though the authorities are watching him very closely. A half Chinese woman (Sylvia Sidney) ostensibly assisting the authorities in their investigation serves as both an ally and a love interest for Condon. The Japanese characters for the most part are thinly sketched and include historical figures such as Giichi Tanaka and Hideki Tojo.James Cagney is moderately successful in his role and Sylvia Sidney is adequate but neither they nor the capable supporting cast deliver any memorable performances. In addition the film had an Oscar winning director in Frank Lloyd and a score by Oscar winning composer Miklós Rózsa but they also fail to deliver anything noteworthy. Despite some solid components there is just not anything very compelling here.The film license unfortunately lapsed and it seems most versions of this film available including the one I watched have been colorized from the original Black and White.Obviously as with all films it is a product of its time; having been made in 1945 and in that context the film is not excessively racist though it is present and certainly does reflect a patriotic American point of view from that era. The common Japanese people are treated fairly well as are aspects of the culture, Condon uses Judo several times in the film.Most of the primary Japanese characters in the film are played by Caucasian actors while some of the supporting cast is actually oriental.

funkyfry This is a bit of a crazy movie, not the type of thing that really holds up on its own after the propaganda value has passed the way "Casablanca" and a few of the other early 40s topical films do (Fritz Lang's "Hangmen Also Die" comes to mind as well). James Cagney is the undoubted star of the film, playing an American news editor in pre-war Tokyo with an unhealthy lack of restraint where issues of Japanese militarism come into play. There is a certain document which proposes a Japanese plan for "world domination" that was supposedly written by a certain Tanaka (John Emery), who the crawl at the beginning of the movie informs us was the "Japanese Hitler." There is also a beautiful part-Chinese woman played by Sylvia Sidney, who is a double agent working for China against Japanese interests.It's hard to take a movie seriously where James Cagney is supposed to be a Judo expert, and he beats up a guy who is 2 feet taller than he is. It's one of those very predictable movies where just because there is this really tall guy who talks at one point about Cagney's Judo skills, you know with 99.9999% certainty that the movie will not end before they tussle. It's a bit like Edward Dmytryk's "Behind the Rising Sun" where Robert Ryan beats up a karate expert with his boxing skills. This is just sort of silly jingoism/propaganda stuck in the movie to get audiences hootin' and hollerin'. Definitely worked in 1945, but it all feels a bit silly now considering that Cagney's only Judo move is to throw a guy over his shoulder.It's not a wretched, awful movie; it does take time like most propaganda movies to remind us that there are at least some Japanese who aren't crazed killing maniacs. Well, the one Japanese guy who helps them happens to have a beard and wear very Western-looking clothing, but at least it's something. The entire plot is telegraphed miles in advance. There is very little dramatic resonance. Basically I believe this film will be of interest mostly to hardcore Cagney fans and people who appreciate unintentional humor from seeing old propaganda and mediocre cross-racial performances.