Tokyo File 212

The acting and direction in the film is C level. It was hard to tell the obvious amateur actors in the military intel office from the supposed professional actors. But despite the horrible acting and direction, the characters were well-developed and a few were even sympathetic. The commie Jap who sees the light was one of those. This was not your usual phony commie scare movie of the fifties. This was the real McCoy, because North Korea did try to disrupt Japanese shipping from Tokyo to the war effort. And there was quite a large communist movement in Japan after Japan was returned to the Japanese; it gave some Japanese men a way to oppose American occupation of their homeland. Fortunately, making money became more important than regaining international honor in the eyes of the world, and the vast majority of Japanese rejected communism naturally. Socialism really did not appeal to the Japanese masses. Capitalism was far too attractive. The movie does not bring this out well, but the story was more interesting than the acting.

The cliches come thick and fast with this story of cops and gangsters in post war occupied Japan. American intelligence officer posing as journalist comes to Japan to find an old college classmate, Taro, who's mixed up with a crime syndicate involved in about every 1950's evil including labor agitation and spying for the North Koreans. Taro, who just missed becoming a Kamekaze pilot before the war ended, finally turns to help the police after his own band of thugs attack his ex-fiancee and father. Predictable and cheap film noir. Beautiful and dangerous dame with strange accent, villains hiding in the shadows, blah blah blah. Two things make it worth watching: the pace is quick and the location shots and re-creation of Japanese setting are remarkably good. Tokyo looks beautiful and mysterious. Many shots of street markets and public gardens. The scene in the Japanese-only bar complete with drunken tattooed men and hula dancers is a 1950's masterpiece of the ultimate den of iniquity.

Strange Film From 1951 that Seems a World Apart from Hollywood.

Entirely Set on the Streets, Back-Alleys, Night-Clubs, and Office Buildings in Tokyo.

It Makes for an Off-Beat Treat for Spy and Cold-War Fans.

Rising Above its Obvious Low-Budget with Actual Scenes Taking Place Within the Bowels of Occupied Japan.

Good Cinematography Captures a City that is Crowded, Defeated just 6 Years Earlier, but Still Animated and Buzzing with Life.

Gritty, Intriguing, Pulpish Exposition and Characters Livens Up the Shortcomings.

Like a Stiff Leading Actor that is Overwhelmed by All Else that is Primitively Stunning.

Highlighted by a Sparkling Performance from Florence Marly.

She is a Combination of a Beautiful, Sexy Subservient Assistant,

and an Intelligent Independent Thinker that Talks About Herself in a Charming 3rd Person.

She Almost Steals the Show from the Cinema Verite Style and Low-Down Locations with Numerous Japanese Actors and Extras.

It's Hard to Imagine, Given the Resources, How this Little Unknown Gem could be Any Better.

A Concurrent-Korean-Conflict, Espionage Film with WWII Echoes that is a Time-Capsule Circa 1951 that is a Hard One to Beat by its Peers.

An Independent, Ultra-Low Budget Look-See at Life Reeling from Global Conflict,

Communist Aggressors, and an American Govt. Trying to Figure it All.

Refreshingly Apart from the Restraints of Studios, Politics, and the Pressure of being Politically Correct.

Although it is Surely an American Perspective.

Definitely Worth a Watch for Something Undeniably Unordinary.

A B-Movie must. The lousy dialogue is compensated for by the fact that a lot of key scenes are in Japanese - without subtitles.

Filmed entirely on location, it provides some interesting shots of post WWII Japan and the cast includes real soldiers who were part of the American occupation force. Francis Marly is great as a broadly sketched femme fatale. A trivia buff's footnote: the producer was famous San Francisco attorney Melvin Bell

This isn't actually as bad as it looks. It is really a Japanese tragedy, the main protagonist being a young idealist soldier being trained to be an infallible kamikadze suicide pilot, and just as he is to be awarded his final approval and to be sent out on his first and final mission, the war ends. He is picked up by interests who don't want the conflict to be over, and so he is involved in the Korean war on the communist side. The main asset of the film is that it is made on location, all the rich environment scenes are genuine, and the film gives a fascinating overview of Tokyo after the war in the shadow of the Korea war. The story isn't bad either, it is a bit muddled and unclear, but if you can follow the dire straits of its windings, you will understand the logic of it. Florence Marly is the asset among the actors, giving a very interesting and entertaining performance, while Lee Frederick is like a worse copy of Fred MacMurray. It's the Tokyo scenes that make the film something you shouldn't miss, if you are at all interested in Asia and especially not if you are a fan of Japanese culture.