Tonight's Movie: Blood on the Sun (1945) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

James Cagney stars in BLOOD ON THE SUN (1945), which will be released on Blu-ray this month by Kino Lorber.

BLOOD ON THE SUN is set in pre-World War II Japan, a decade or so ahead of Pearl Harbor.

Cagney plays Nick Condon, a newspaper reporter at the Tokyo Chronicle. Condon riles the Japanese government and secret police with a story on Baron Tanaka (John Emery) and his plans for Japan's world domination.

Ollie Miller (Wallace Ford), a reporter who originally obtained Tanaka's plans, and his wife Edith (Rosemary DeCamp) are murdered just as they're about to leave Japan. The dying Ollie gives Nick a copy of the plans; Nick hides them, but they're taken by a mysterious woman named Iris (Sylvia Sidney).

From here the film is an ongoing espionage game as Condon tries to figure out who he can trust while hunting for the plans so he can send them out of the country.

BLOOD ON THE SUN is a moderately interesting 94 minutes, directed by Frank Lloyd. It has in its favor the fact that it's a "newspaper" film, as I tend to like those, and the fact that it has an unusual story angle as sort of a "prequel" to the actual war.

Cagney's typical energy plus ongoing action keeps the film moving along, but the plot isn't always the easiest to follow, and overall I don't think the film reached its potential. The bottom line is it could have been presented in a more interesting fashion; there's a great deal of talking to go along with the action, scripted by Lester Cole. Less chat and greater clarity about each character's goals would have helped.

Sidney is elegant as a half-Chinese woman who may or may not be a double agent. I didn't think she and Cagney had particularly good chemistry, but that sort of fits with it being a "mid-range" film. Like most of the movie, it works just well enough.

It's interesting to note that DeCamp, seen only briefly here, was Cagney's mother in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942). The supporting cast also includes James Bell, Rhys Williams, Frank Puglia, Robert Armstrong, John Halloran, Leonard Strong, Hugh Beaumont, and Marvin Miller.

As a side note, while Japanese characters were typically played in WWII films by Chinese and Korean actors, in this film the significant Japanese roles are played by Caucasian actors. I felt they were pretty effective -- and it is, after all, called acting -- but some viewers may wish to be aware of that at the outset.

The movie was shot in black and white by Theodor Sparkuhl. It was scored by Miklos Rosza; I thought the opening credits music particularly good.

The Blu-ray print is a 2020 HD master from a 4K scan of 35mm nitrate materials. It looks great, with excellent sound.

Extras consist of the trailer; a gallery of five additional trailers; and a commentary track by Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff. I think Kirgo is one of the better commentary track contributors and will be interested to listen to this one and learn more about the film.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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