This is a Strange One.
Diverse Elements Like a Love-Affair Between Cagney and an Oriental of Mixed Race.
Made at the End of WWII but Takes Place Before the War.
The Main Plot is About an Alleged Document "The Tanaka Memorial" that might get Leaked.
It is a Supposed "Blue-Print" for Japan's World Domination.
The Fact that such a Letter would Cause the World to "Wake Up" and Smell a Rat Years Before Pearl Harbor is a Misplaced Fear.
After All, Hitler Wrote "Mein Kamph" for the Whole World to Read.
A Similar "Blue-Print" and the World Hardly Noticed its Grandiose Proclamation.
So, here We have Much-Ado about a Secret Document Played Out on the Scene in Japan with James Cagney as a Newspaper Editor Exhibiting that Most American of Things..."The Free Press".
The Movie has an Anti-Hollywood Feel.
Artful Flourishes of an Against the Grain Production.
It is Worth Seeing for Seeing Cagney' Break from Hollywood.
This is His Vision and Not That of a Studio.
Plenty of Intrigue and Action.
With some Stereotypes to make the Japanese seem Bumbling and Easily Deceived.
Like the "Played for Laughs" Fellow that Follows Cagney Around and is Foiled at Every Turn by Cagney's Wit.
Contains a lot of "Judo Action" with a Finale that is a Well-Stage Mano-Mano that is Long, Violent, and Impressive.
The Romance between Cagney and Sylvia Sydney is another Curve-Ball Thrown at the Studio System as She is of an Oriental Mix.
Take that Hollywood.
Above Average Independently Produced by the Newly Formed Cagney Productions and is Definitely...
Worth a Watch.
Diverse Elements Like a Love-Affair Between Cagney and an Oriental of Mixed Race.
Made at the End of WWII but Takes Place Before the War.
The Main Plot is About an Alleged Document "The Tanaka Memorial" that might get Leaked.
It is a Supposed "Blue-Print" for Japan's World Domination.
The Fact that such a Letter would Cause the World to "Wake Up" and Smell a Rat Years Before Pearl Harbor is a Misplaced Fear.
After All, Hitler Wrote "Mein Kamph" for the Whole World to Read.
A Similar "Blue-Print" and the World Hardly Noticed its Grandiose Proclamation.
So, here We have Much-Ado about a Secret Document Played Out on the Scene in Japan with James Cagney as a Newspaper Editor Exhibiting that Most American of Things..."The Free Press".
The Movie has an Anti-Hollywood Feel.
Artful Flourishes of an Against the Grain Production.
It is Worth Seeing for Seeing Cagney' Break from Hollywood.
This is His Vision and Not That of a Studio.
Plenty of Intrigue and Action.
With some Stereotypes to make the Japanese seem Bumbling and Easily Deceived.
Like the "Played for Laughs" Fellow that Follows Cagney Around and is Foiled at Every Turn by Cagney's Wit.
Contains a lot of "Judo Action" with a Finale that is a Well-Stage Mano-Mano that is Long, Violent, and Impressive.
The Romance between Cagney and Sylvia Sydney is another Curve-Ball Thrown at the Studio System as She is of an Oriental Mix.
Take that Hollywood.
Above Average Independently Produced by the Newly Formed Cagney Productions and is Definitely...
Worth a Watch.