The Crimson Kimono

For a long while, this seemed like it was going to be one of Sam Fuller's best movies. The direction is great and the story and characters interesting. Unfortunately, it gets bogged down by a silly love triangle plot and starts to fall apart a bit. It is interesting that the romance in question is an interracial one - it was actually the selling point of the movie if you look at the poster! - but it never really works. The film follows two detectives in L.A., Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta, who are investigating the case of a slain stripper. One of their leads is a painting of the girl in a crimson kimono, done by an artist named Chris. They quickly discover that Chris is actually a woman (Victoria Shaw), and she helps them with their case. Corbett immediately takes a liking to her, and she returns his affection at first. But after an afternoon spent hanging out with Shigeta, she's in love with him. This is quite daring, but then the film starts to focus on nothing but the romantic entanglement for the last third of the film. About five minutes before the end, it feels like Fuller snaps out of it and says, "Crap, we forgot about the plot!" and throws together a reasonably satisfying finale. It's definitely a good film, though, when all is said and done.

Sam Fuller's distinctive movies rarely live up to their opening shots (the bald hooker beating the stuffing out of the pimp who shaved her head in The Naked Kiss being the most unforgettable example). In The Crimson Kimono, a stripper (Sugar Torch!) is chased from the burlesque house's dressing room out into one of Los Angeles' main drags where she is shot dead. It's up to a couple of cops who share an apartment -- Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta -- to find her killer. What makes the movie both appealing and problematic is that Fuller demotes the thriller material to second-billing, while he develops a provocative rhapsody on a white-Asian love-vs.-friendship triangle centering on the buddies' both falling in love with the same witness (Victoria Shaw). Anna Lee and Jaclynne Green fill out the cast as the kind of characters who tend to show up only in Fuller's universe. As with all his movies, The Crimson Kimono has its startling moments, but it's one of the few that presents a complex and, for its day, progressive view of racial stereotypes and tensions in late-Eisenhower-era America.

I first saw this film on television really, really late one night...

At first glance it is a crime melodrama involving downtown Los Angeles, jealouys lovers and strippers...

However what Fuller has done is show a member of the urban sprawl that is Los Angeles that is rarely seen on film...that of the role of the Japanese-American in society and that alone makes it worth seeing the film...

However does anybody know if the film is available on any format? DVD? VHS?

When stripper Sugar Torch disturbs a murder in her dressing room she is chased into the street and gunned down by an unknown assailant. Detectives Charlie Bancroft and Joe Kojaku investigate the only leads they have – the new men in Sugar's life who were to be involved in her new act, embracing teasing, karate and doomed love. Bancroft goes after artist "Chris" who had painted Sugar in full kimono while Kojaku goes after the men who were to be involved in her act. It turns out Chris is Christine and that she is more valuable than they had hoped – problem is, main suspect Hansel knows this too and soon the detectives are guarding her from attempts on her life.

A strange film this one. It opens in the sordid world of striptease, continues with the murder of a young woman and leads straight into a police investigation. This suggested it would be a gritty and tough thriller which at times it is, but at other times it plays up the love triangle aspect and then at others seems interested in just showing us a little bit of Asian-American culture. This individual sections do bump up against one another uncomfortably at times but mostly they sit reasonably well as part of the film. The effect is to produce a really interesting film, partly because the mix is unusual and well delivered. The mystery aspect of the plot keeps the narrative flowing along well enough and engaged me even if the ending was a bit convenient and easy.

The love triangle part works better than I expected mainly because it uses it to compliment the male characters rather than being about the love part. This allows the two actors (Corbett and Shigeta) to deliver solid characters and play off one another really well. They are not brilliant in regards range but both more than meet the requirements of the material – Shigeta being a bit more able to convince in the love regards as well as the conflict side while Corbett does an all-round solid turn as a tough but friendly cop. As writer Fuller mixes the various aspects really well while also producing a bit of cultural significance in the way that the Asian-American thing is merely a trimming and not the whole show.

Overall then a solid film that blends mystery, love, grit and conflict into one story. It doesn't flow perfectly but it is engaging for what it does well and not bad for those aspects it does less well.

If you can, and it would definitely be as rare a chance as I had recently, try and see Samuel Fuller's The Crimson Kimono on the big screen, preferably with a packed audience. True, some of the dialog and mannerisms of the characters end up forty-seven years later coming off as being too funny for its own good. But then again, Fuller's style here, as in the films that would follow in the 60's (and linked of course to his 50's work), is that of sensationalism yet not in a way that feels too dishonest. It's got a sharp cast of professionals, with Glenn Corbett and James Shigetta as the leads playing Detective partners who are investigating a case that somehow leads to a sort of love triangle with a witness Victoria Shaw. And Fuller is able to make the film quite entertaining with at least a few memorable moments almost in spite of the low-budget of things.

The opening sequence is, naturally for Fuller, part of the excitement and close-to-exploitation B-movie-ness of it all, as a stripper gets gunned down running away from her dressing room. Even before this we get the opening titles popping out at the screen, almost being too obvious. But to say that the film is at times leaning towards tongue-in-cheek is more of an observation than a criticism. It fits the style that some of the dialog bits are really sharp and, indeed, well-written, and that as such the actors take it not too seriously as to make it heavy-handed but not too over the top to have the audience lose interest. Indeed, one of the more interesting scenes is when Shaw and Shigeta get to talking while Corbett is out doing work, as they become connected in a way that is different than how earlier Shaw and Corbett flirted around in a cool though 'movie' kind of way.

All through this Fuller pumps up the melodrama with well-shot action (the big Korean guy getting tackled down by the detectives was maybe my favorite scene on a shamelessly enjoyable level) and enough of a kind of mix of psychology and sociology in this cross section of Japan and America. And it's interesting how he slightly improves in flipping the situation from House of Bamboo where the Japanese atmosphere wasn't as convincing. It's probably a tough find for most, and of course even rarer to get on the big-screen depending on where you're at, but it might be one of Fuller's better 'quickie' kind of movies where its 80 minute running time does just enough to make it very worthwhile in not overstaying its welcome. It's funny, thoughtful, and assured film-noir.