Blood on the Sun (1945)

Director:

Frank Lloyd

Writers:

Lester Cole (screenplay)
Nathaniel Curtis (additional scenes)

Release Date:

15 October 1945 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

To know their secret is to court Death !

Plot:

Nick Condon is a newspaper reporter working in Tokyo who refuses to toe the Japanese line on the expansionist...

Plot Keywords:

Newspaper | Dead Woman On Bed | Judo | Framed | Militarism

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

James Cagney	...	Nick Condon
Sylvia Sidney	...	Iris Hilliard
Porter Hall	...	Arthur Bickett
John Emery	...	Premier Giichi Tanaka
Robert Armstrong	...	Col. Hideki Tojo
Wallace Ford	...	Ollie Miller
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Edith Miller
John Halloran	...	Capt. Oshima
Leonard Strong	...	Hijikata
James Bell	...	Charley Sprague
Marvin Miller	...	Yamada
Rhys Williams	...	Joseph Cassell
Frank Puglia	...	Prince Tatsugi

Also Known As:

Du sang dans le soleil (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Spionage in Fernost (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Aima ston ilio (Greece) [el]
Blod på solen (Denmark) [da]
Bloed op de zon (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Den blodbestänkta solen (Sweden) [sv]
Sangre sobre el sol (Spain) [es]
Sangue Sobre o Sol (Brazil) [pt]
Sangue sul sole (Italy) [it]
Verta auringossa (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

98 min | 94 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate # 10705) | Canada:PA (Ontario) | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

General Service Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

William Cagney Productions

Trivia:

According to the DVD sleeve notes, prior to production, James Cagney trained intensively in the martial-art of judo in preparation for his role in this movie. Cagney trained under Ken Kuniyuki who was a 5th Degree Judo Master. Cagney insisted he perform his own stunts in the movie. Moreover, another instructor for Cagney was former policeman John Halloran who plays the role of Captain Oshima in the film and can be seen in the movie's closing fight sequence.

Goofs:

Continuity: In an early scene, when Ollie Miller stumbles through the window at Condon's home, he falls completely inside. However as soon as Nick gets there, Miller's feet protrude out over the bottom of the panel.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Arthur Bickett: But gentlemen, I know nothing about this article being printed. I was out of town.
Secret Police Major Kajioka: Then let me read what is printed here in your paper. "If Japan wants to control China we must first crush the United States just as in the past we have to fight in the Russo-Japanese war."

Movie Connections:

Featured in Going Hollywood: The War Years (1988)

Culturally sensitive war thriller

Nicely done war thriller with Cagney as a suave but pugnacious newspaper reporter in Japan who comes into possession of secret war plans. The plans are the work of a fascist Baron Tanaka who pushes the war agenda for the right-wing militarists over the objections of those opposed to war. The characters are interesting, and while many are static yet well-played, quite a few others are nicely fleshed out and grow during the plot. Cagney, some of the newspapermen and the female spy have some plot movement to develop their characters with. Even the villains, who could easily be cardboard, are well-played and exhibit human motivation. Obviously this is not a documentary, but it's also not pure melodrama either.

Perhaps the most visually interesting areas of the film are the contrasts between beautiful, high-class modernist settings, a representation of more traditional Japanese architecture, and gritty realistically-dressed street scenes. All the more interesting that the good production and pretty sets were created in Hollywood backlots in 1945 during the war. While this is not a huge film, the production design is as good as anything from the golden age. There is a lot of eye-candy in the set design, tastefully filmed and a treat to view.

The politics and cultural sensitivities of the film are also fascinating and far more balanced and subtle than other reviewers seem to indicate here. Cagney's character is well-immersed in Japanese culture and aware of the social issues of the time. He speaks Japanese, in addition to Chinese, and is a highly-skilled Judo aficionado. The film portrays Japanese opponents of the war as well-meaning but fairly easily countered by ruthless militarists and their secret police which is likely generally accurate. Surely similar struggles played out in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, along with Stalinist Russia, Mao's China and other 20th century totalitarian dictatorships both right and left.

This film is not anti-Japanese; it's anti-Fascist. Those who claim to be unaware of the difference would imply that Japanese are Fascists. That would be unfortunately ignorant.