Tokyo Joe

Humphrey Bogart's lesser watched films are so often passed by because the standard for Bogart films is so incredibly high. Is this film as great as "To Have and Have Not"? No it isn't. On the other hand I guarantee you it is more sophisticated and interesting to watch than 90% of the films that came out last year.

People often seem to over look the unique virtues of this film as an interesting film in history. Coming so shortly on the heels of World War 2 one would expect to find a certain amount of racism towards the Japanese and yet (unlike slightly later films like Sayonara) it is almost devoid of any remarks of that kind.

Humphrey Bogart is a superb actor as always as is the rest of the cast. The plot is well written and the direction style suited well to the film. Over all I highly recommend that anyone who wants a sharp and fun movie check this one out just don't expect it to be the classic that "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" or that one of the many other "classic" films he made was. It is nonetheless worth watching and, to my mind at least, quite a bit better than the cookie cutter system they use for suspense films now.

Picture Bogart's Richard Blaine character renamed Joe Barrett for this film. Instead of Casablanca, he's got a place in Tokyo just like Rick's named Tokyo Joe's. World War II interrupts things and he gets out of Japan and goes in the Army Air Corps where he spends a good deal of time bombing a lot of Japanese real estate. Including Tokyo which because of the wooden buildings pre World War II was particularly vulnerable to Curtis LeMay's incendiaries. It's a miracle, but his place survived intact and he'd like to resettle in Tokyo and pick up where he left off.

Bogey gets an even better piece of news. His Ingrid Bergman who he married before the war and thought dead is alive. He goes to her and finds out she divorced him for reasons the plot really doesn't go into and is now married to a high civilian official with the American occupying authority, read MacArthur. That would be Alexander Knox in the Paul Henreid part and Ingrid, in this case Florence Marly has a daughter now.

Still Bogey who would now like to make money as a civilian flier as well is being used at cross purposes by the American Army Intelligence and by some Japanese led by Sessue Hayakawa who haven't adjusted to losing the war.

Tokyo Joe follows in plot lines laid out by Casablanca, but it sure treads softly in those giant footsteps. It was nice to see Sessue Hayakawa appear for the first time in an American film since silent days. He became a star in the early silent era in Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat and left for Japan with the coming of sound where he stayed a popular film star right through World War II.

Hayakawa came here for Tokyo Joe. Other than establishing newsreel shots, this whole production was done on Columbia's back lot. Humphrey Bogart gives it the old Casablanca try, but he must have been wondering why he left Warner Brothers he was certainly doing a lot of the same stuff over at his home studio.

"Tokyo Joe" is rightly called a "lesser Bogart effort." In fact, there is much in this film that obviously derives from earlier Bogart classics, especially "Casablanca." However, this Santana production/Columbia release is by no means without its interesting points. I would point to Alexander Knox's performance in a supporting role, for one. Sessue Hayakawa, as the old fascist surviver, is also good.

On the other hand, Florence Marly is pretty weak as the love interest and the plot is somewhat routine. The main plot problem is the Bogart/Marly relationship. There is just too much resemblance to the relationship between Rick and Ilsa in "Casablanca." When you add in Marly's unconvincing performance, the chances of a having a first-rate film are slim. I must also add, reluctantly, that Bogie seems to be walking through this role, much as he did in another Santana film, "Sirocco" (1951).

That brings me to my final point. Bogart had started Santana Productions in about 1948. "Knock On Any Door" was the company's first effort, and it was somewhat popular at the time. "Tokyo Joe" was the second Santana production. As a small start-up independent production company, Santana did not have a stable of outstanding actors to call upon. Perhaps that is why they had to make due with a Florence Marly instead of a top female lead to go opposite Bogart.

It's also true that "Chain Lightning," 1950, Bogie's next to last Warner Bros. release, wasn't so hot. Maybe the era of the tough but decent Bogart character had simply run its course.

I might add here that the third Santana production was "In a Lonely Place," 1950, one of Humphrey Bogart's best, though perhaps most under-appreciated, films.

Give "Tokyo Joe" a try. It's no world beater, but I have watched it several times, and still find it entertaining.

Did like the idea for the story, not an original concept but an intriguing one. Tokyo is a lovely location and an inspired and interesting one for this kind of film. The main reason for seeing the film was for me Humphrey Bogart, one of the best actors at that time (especially in the hard-edged kind of roles that require intensity) and it's most evident in one of the finest and most iconic screen performances there's ever been as Rick Blaine in the timeless 'Casablanca'.

'Tokyo Joe' is not one of Bogart's best though. If anything it's somewhere in the weaker end. Bogart himself is one of the best things about it actually and the main reason for anybody to see it, and some of the supporting cast are good. The problems were the female lead, the script, some of the story and direction, all of which heavily flawed. All of that will be elaborated upon soon. 'Tokyo Joe' is a long way from a bad film, but considering how interesting the story sounded and how good an actor Bogart was it could have been a lot more.

Good things are quite a lot. The best thing about it is Bogart, who brings his usual authority and hard-boiled intensity to a role that suits him perfectly. Also good are an appealing Alexander Knox and especially a sinister Sessue Hayakawa (Kimura is one formidable threat). Lora Lee Michel is cute without being overly so and her chemistry with Bogart is touching.

It is a stylishly and atmospherically photographed film too, the production values in general had an authentic grit. The first half an hour was very intriguing but it was the last twenty minutes and the climax where the film hit its stride and became exciting and had the edge that was missing in the middle. There is some intriguing scripting early on and when the film comes alive finally. Suitably ominous music from George Anthell as well.

Florence Marly however brings things down significantly, her performance isn't just bland and uncharismatic. At its worst, it was pretty inept. There is no chemistry between her and Bogart, which always looked awkward and distant, and her character is pretty sketchy. The rest of the supporting cast other than those already mentioned are fairly forgettable in come and go roles. The direction had its moments towards the end, but is generally undistinguished and doesn't bring out enough of the tension needed for such a story.

While not without its moments, the script could have been tighter on the whole with it tending to be bogged down by talk of the waffling kind. It could have done with more edge and purpose. The story starts off well and ends even better but what happens in between is rather derivative, with no real surprises, and at times drawn out when the story is especially thin. Some of the rear projection is obvious in a somewhat phony way.

Overall, decent but could have been a lot more. 5.5/10 (was very conflicted on what rating to give between the two)

This could have been a great movie. Post World War II location movies have an intriguing atmosphere. Post-war Japan offered a terrific setting, but the obvious backlot location, with cheesy process shots trying to pass for a Japanese location, ruins the effect.

Alexander Knox is great, sardonic but principled, and Sessue Hayakawa is deliciously malign. Florence Marly is a poor substitute for Lisbeth Scott -- or couldn't Bogey get his own wife Lauren Bacall to work for scale? Bogey himself looks a little shopworn. Even the love child is fat-faced and unappealing.

Compromise pervades the film, from the cardboard sets to the hack director. Because it was cheap, exterior shots were minimal, and so the action scenes, which could have made for a more exciting story, give way to lots of talky interior stuff.

As the studio system weakened, star-owned production companies, like Bogart's, Burt Lancaster's and Alan Ladd's, were in vogue. Stars can't resist the chance to star in a movie where they don't have to take direction, so they often hire weak directors, usually with dismal results. This is one of them.