8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe You Have to Live It to Appreciate It, May 31, 2005
In "Blood on the Sun," James Cagney plays an expat newspaper editor who discovers Japan's plot for world domination. Made in 1945, the film is a bully piece of wartime propaganda--but it also has surprising depth. It isn't PC, but it's not all stereotype either. There are some real Asians in the film, the plot is a true story, and not all the Japanese are evil. That said, yes, there are a lot of quasi-offensive squinty-eyed caucasians with fake buck teeth in the film, too.
Cagney does a very good job as the editor. A bundle of self-assured energy, as ever, he nonetheless adds depth by trying to speak a bit of Japanese and Mandarin, and by doing some very credible judo. Matter of fact, his judo coach was LAPD's Jack Halloran, who also took a role in this flick and went on to become a regular Hollywood character actor!
The movie is filmed almost entirely in sets at the studio, which is unsurprising. Nevertheless, it looks fairly good. In fact, the "expat bar" set is a faithful reproduction of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed bar at the old Imperial Hotel in Tokyo!
Cagney was just coming off an Oscar and just out of contract with WB Studios. Here, he and his brother produced, and they did a decent job. In short, the films hold up. Not a major classic, but an exciting potboiler! And as a correction to various reviewers, the film takes place neither in "post-WWII Japan" nor "The 1920's" but in the 30's.
As a personal aside, I served many years as a US diplomat in Communist China--another ruthless east Asian dictatorship. Maybe some other viewers will find the Japanese officials in Blood on the Sun to be too fake, smarmy, and banal. I found them pretty realistic!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best DVD Transfer, December 21, 2007
Unfortunately, it's difficult to find a good transfer to DVD for this title. Fortunately, this version of Blood on the Sun is an excellent transfer to DVD! I've seen several other versions of this title and they are terrible quality transfers. This one by Image Entertainment studio is very nice.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hollywood vs The Kodakan, August 17, 2001
This video is a must have item for any long time devotee of the Martial Art of Judo. Not only does it feature Jimmy Cagney in a Dojo during Class, but it also features a "Judo" fight in the climactic good vs evil battle at the end.
Sure, the fights scenes are a little hokey by today's standards, the Japanese villians are just Americans with bad makeup, and of course the movie is in Black & White, but this movie is now a permanent part of my Hollywood Judo movie collection. Well actually it's my only Hollywood Judo movie.
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