The Crimson Kimono

Not like I want to lecture all of you...but this film does a bit more than it's being given credit for. In fact, it engages with the nature of image and illusion and its relation to reality. Maybe it doesn't do this in the profoundest of ways, but this is as proper a subject for film-making as can be. Hitchcock's Rear Window is the obvious masterpiece in this respect, but if you take your attention (or "gaze" if you prefer) off of the story or the genre of this film for a second, you can't avoid the fact that every scene has this at its core. The film is filled with Westerners who have a fixation or fascination with otherness as represented, in this case, by "orientalism". They are experts in Asian art and martial arts; they are infusing their work and life with exoticism.They have a curatorial approach to life; they are voyeurs, to some degree. Painters and painting - imagemaking - plays a key role in the film.The Japanese - American (Nisei) detective Joe attempts to bridge the gap that exists between himself and Christine through a tongue-tied analysis of what is missing in her canvas - what is visible by its absence. He also attempts to figure out whether his thinking is more "Asian" or "American" in its nature. This is symbolized by his playing a Japanese folk song on the most Western of instruments, the well-tempered piano. He sees himself as a hybrid. He is aware of the fact that he sees the world through a combination of several possible filters. The line "You only saw what you wanted to see" has key significance in this film,underscoring as it does several key scenes. By the use of the word "you", it also implicates the VIEWER of the film. The viewer of a film only sees what he/she wants to see: notice, for example, how this whole aspect of this film, which I consider essential, has gone unmentioned in all the other commentaries! Joe wants Christine to see him for himself, fearful of her taking the curatorial or voyeuristic approach to their interracial relationship - Deleuze's famous line "when you are lost in the dream of the other, you are screwed" comes to mind - and yet Joe forgets that he sees HIMSELF as fragmented, made up of parts.

The stripper's dying in the street is accompanied by raucous stripper music and is immediately contrasted with her lascivious life-size representation above the marquee. The life force and escapism represented there is contrasted with the funky facts of life and death. Her manager's description of the Asian - influenced act which she was planning uses the language of aesthetics to describe a piece of cutting-edge trash much as the film we are watching operates both on the level of a program-filling potboiler and an examination of personal tropes. All this having been said, I will admit that, having recently re-seen Pickup On South Street, I was a bit spoiled by the earlier film. Neither Glenn Corbett nor Victoria Shaw seem to inhabit their roles adequately enough. I understand that Fuller films are not about "acting" per se, but still...And Sam Leavitt is no Joe McDonald (cinematography). I loved the denouement's taking place within the fast-moving Nisei parade, but this is a real Wells (Lady from Shanghai) via Hitchcock (39 Steps) moment. And they both did it better, for what it's worth. Still, I love Fuller and his vision. I am glad his work now receives serious attention although paradoxically, like a true example of Heisenberg's principle, such work seems to function much better outside of the self-conscious, self-reflexive world of "art". Fuller is like Anna Lee's character Mac: he can only paint his epic masterpieces in the back room of a sleazy bar.

Sam Fuller directed "The Crimson Kimono," starring Glenn Corbett, James Shigeta, Victoria Shaw and Anna Lee, and this 1959 film is not your usual detective noir. Corbett and Shigeta are Charlie Bancroft and Joe Kojaku, buddies from the Korean war and now partners in the LA Police Department, who investigate the death of a stripper. In the course of that investigation, they meet a beautiful artist (Shaw) and both men fall for her; she in turn falls for the gentle and intelligent Joe. This tests the relationship of the two men, and when Joe sees Charlie's reaction, he assumes it comes from Charlie's latent racism.

This is an odd film, not as good or as well done as Fuller's Pickup on South Street, but good nonetheless. Part of its success is due to the persona and performance of James Shigeta, for a time one of the biggest Asian-American stars ever. "The Crimson Kimono" was the first feature film for both Shigeta and Corbett, and they handle their assignments well. Fifty years later, Shigeta is still working; Corbett worked steadily until his death in 1993. Anna Lee is on hand giving a vigorous performance as an alcoholic artist; the late Victoria Shaw is beautiful but doesn't register much as Chris, the love interest of both men.

There are a couple of problems with this ambitious script, one being Joe's claim that he had never experienced racism. That's impossible if he was in California when World War II broke out; it's a naive statement he wouldn't have made. The other problem is that all of the love connections seem instantaneous, though that seems to be a very "noir" thing. Nevertheless, the story holds interest, the performances are good, the atmosphere authentic, and Sam Fuller always has something to say, if only we'd listen

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.

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 was truly surprised by this movie - I expected a basic potboiler, with a random collection of Japanese and/or Chinese stereotypes... but what I got was a potboiler (sorry, the plot's pretty basic) AND an interesting set of insights into Japanese-American culture. I'm trying to picture a 1959 audience attending this movie... were they expecting an Oriental thriller? Or perhaps a pseudo-noir detective movie? (I'm also trying to resist comparing this to the last half-dozen episodes of Law & Order I've seen)

Meanwhile, this movie has no sense of "outsider's look at foreigners," no sense of "those people are strange," just a lot of "here's what they do, and here's what their daily life includes." All wrapped up in... a B-grade movie. But that just means that the cultural pieces lift up the otherwise-average quality of the rest of the movie!