Blood on the Sun (1945)

Director:

Frank Lloyd

Writers:

Lester Cole (screenplay)
Nathaniel Curtis (additional scenes)

Release Date:

15 October 1945 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

To know their secret is to court Death !

Plot:

Nick Condon is a newspaper reporter working in Tokyo who refuses to toe the Japanese line on the expansionist...

Plot Keywords:

Newspaper | Dead Woman On Bed | Judo | Framed | Militarism

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

James Cagney	...	Nick Condon
Sylvia Sidney	...	Iris Hilliard
Porter Hall	...	Arthur Bickett
John Emery	...	Premier Giichi Tanaka
Robert Armstrong	...	Col. Hideki Tojo
Wallace Ford	...	Ollie Miller
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Edith Miller
John Halloran	...	Capt. Oshima
Leonard Strong	...	Hijikata
James Bell	...	Charley Sprague
Marvin Miller	...	Yamada
Rhys Williams	...	Joseph Cassell
Frank Puglia	...	Prince Tatsugi

Runtime:

98 min | 94 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate # 10705) | Canada:PA (Ontario) | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

General Service Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

William Cagney Productions

Trivia:

When Iris Hillaird (Sylvia Sidney) tells Nick Condon (James Cagney) that they cannot be together because she is half-Japanese and half-Caucasian, Condon replies that he too is of mixed race. "I'm half-Irish and half-Norwegian." In real life, James Cagney was the son of an Irish-born father and a Norwegian-born mother.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Right after Ollie Miller gets shot you see him stumbling to the ground. When he gets up, under his left elbow you can see carpet moving in what should be grass.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Arthur Bickett: But gentlemen, I know nothing about this article being printed. I was out of town.
Secret Police Major Kajioka: Then let me read what is printed here in your paper. "If Japan wants to control China we must first crush the United States just as in the past we have to fight in the Russo-Japanese war."

Movie Connections:

Featured in Going Hollywood: The War Years (1988)

error in continuity or facts

Not Cagney's best but still interesting enough to watch. The goof or error is that the Tanaka plan, which the story is about and has the Baron Tanaka in the movie is off historically. Cagney dates the time when he says to Slyvia Sidney, " left the US in 1921, spent 2 years somewhere and 10 years in China" That total would make the current time in the movie 1933! Baron Tanaka, died in 1929! The director should have caught this historical error! Although this is not the best movie and revues are not the best, it was Slyvia Sydney's last leading role and for movie buffs it is worth seeing. Overlook the terrible and obviously staged fight scenes and the political errors of the time based on what we know today and you can enjoy it. For movie buffs I think it is worth viewing.