Blood on the Sun (1945)
In 1920s Tokyo, an American newspaper editor gets hold of a secret Japanese military expansion plan and must outrun the secret police to smuggle proof of it out of the country before he and the woman helping him are silenced.
Made while World War II was still being fought, Blood on the Sun let James Cagney trade his gangster persona for a two-fisted foreign correspondent and reportedly perform his own judo throws, choreography drawn from real martial arts training he undertook for the role.
Background
Made while World War II was still being fought, Blood on the Sun was directed by Frank Lloyd and starred James Cagney as an American newspaper editor in Tokyo, with Sylvia Sidney and Porter Hall in support. Cagney, best known for gangster roles, took on a two-fisted foreign correspondent here. The film’s central document recalls the Tanaka Memorial, a much-discussed plan for Japanese expansion that circulated in American political debate in the late 1930s. It was released in 1945 and reflects the anti-expansionist politics of its wartime moment.
What to watch for
Cagney’s hand-to-hand fights are the set pieces to watch, and the film presents them with the physical energy he brought to his earlier pictures. The chase through the Japanese capital and the hunt for the secret document drive the plot, with the secret police as a constant threat. The film’s portrayal of Japanese officials and militarists is stereotyped by modern standards and reflects wartime propaganda, so viewers should weigh it as a product of its time. Sylvia Sidney’s role as the woman who helps him gives the story its emotional stakes, and the film’s suspense depends on how little the hero can trust the people around him.
