Blood on the Sun

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1945	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	93:42 minutes	Other Extras	Biographies - Cast
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	2,4	Director	Frank Lloyd
Studio Distributor	Force Video	Starring	James Cagney Sylvia Sidney Porter Hall John Emery Robert Armstrong Wallace Ford Rosemary DeCamp John Halloran Leonard Strong James Bell Marvin Miller Rhys Williams Frank Puglia
RRP	$29.95	Music	Miklos Rozsa

    Nick Condon (James Cagney) is the editor of an English newspaper in pre-war Japan with a hunch about bad things coming. Turns out that an employee of the newspaper Oliver Miller (Wallace Ford) has done a deal to get a copy of the "Tanaka Plan" out of Japan for a chunk of money. Only trouble is, the Imperial Japanese government is not too keen on the world knowing about their plan for world conquest and domination, and proceeds to kill Oliver and his wife Edith (Rosemary DeCamp), but not before Oliver has passed the plan onto Nick. In a Tokyo riddled by intrigue, this is not exactly the best thing for Nick, who now has various Imperial agencies chasing him, with the aid of various scheming Americans and ex-Chinese associates, like Iris Hilliard (Sylvia Sidney). Iris is an employee of Baron Tanaka (John Emery) who formulated the plan and is supposed to be getting the plan out of Nick - only problem she has is Nick does not have it and she falls for Nick. The story then follows a fairly predictable path of cross, double cross, disappearance and eventually the couple managing to escape (presumably?) to freedom.

    Actually the plot is a little better on film than it is to write, and this actually is a mildly engrossing tale of intrigue in pre-war Japan, even if some of the acting at times leaves a little to be desired. Whilst it is quite common nowadays, this is a rare early example of a lead actor - a recognised star - doing most of his own stunts, for which James Cagney undertook tuition. It is also an early example of martial arts in a Hollywood film. Whilst the standard is not exactly the best, it is nonetheless an interesting look at how the art has improved over the years. Likewise, the portrayal of the inscrutable Japanese is a little cliched nowadays, but overall this is still a good view. But this really is all about James Cagney and the rest are along for the ride, although there are a few little gems of performances by some of the cast.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

    Overall, the general transfer is quite sharp and pretty well defined, and in general is better than I was expecting: there are only a few odd instances of loss of focus which is pleasing. Clarity is generally quite good, although there is some variability between indoor and outdoor scenes. Shadow detail is actually quite respectable in general, with only the odd instance where detail is lost. Certainly not demonstration standard, but a pretty decent transfer in general.

    This is a reasonably vibrant black and white transfer with quite a nice depth to the black and white tones: in general this does not fall into the murky shades of gray that can ruin a black and white transfer.

    There did not appear to be any significant MPEG artefacts during the film. Video artefacts were also not especially noticeable during the film. There were patches of quite noticeable film artefacts that did detract a little from the film, but there are also large patches of film that were relatively free from such artefacts and I would rate this as much better than expected in this regard.

Audio

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout.

    There did not appear to be any significant audio sync problems with the transfer.

    Another of the famed names of the thirties and forties is on hand to provide the score in Miklos Rozsa and a decidedly oriental flavour it has too. This is a good score that contributes well to the mood of the film.

    The soundtrack is very much front and centre and there is no use made of surround channels at all. Given the age of the soundtrack, which is from the height of the mono era, we simply cannot expect too much more than what we have.

Menu

Biographies - Cast

    The overall video quality is good for a film of this vintage.

    The overall audio quality is reasonable for a film of this vintage.

    The extras still need a little more effort.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris
19th October 1999