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Tokyo Joe

1949, Movie, NR, 88 mins

Tokyo Joe: Review

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Bogart is a former Air Corps hero who returns to Tokyo years after deserting his wife, Marly, mistakenly believing her to have died in a Japanese concentration camp. When he arrives at "Tokyo Joe's," the bar he used to co-own with Shimada, Bogart learns that Marly is alive, remarried to lawyer Knox, and living with a 7-year-old daughter, Michel. Bogart tracks Marly and her husband down, learns that Michel is really his daughter, and becomes determined to win back his ex-wife's love. He enters a business deal with former Japanese secret service head Hayakawa that calls for Bogart to run an airline franchise that ships goods across the border. Bogart is actually forced into the deal when Hayakawa threatens to reveal the fact that Marly made wartime propaganda broadcasts. Marly, however, insists she got involved with the broadcasts only to save the life of her child. When Bogart learns that part of the airplane shipment is three Japanese war criminals, he tries to back out. Hayakawa, however, takes Michel as a hostage in order to guarantee safe passage for the criminals. Before Bogart can safely land the plane, the criminals hijack it and fly on to another airport, but are apprehended by alert military police. Since the criminals are arrested, Bogart fears for the life of Michel. He tracks his daughter to Hayakawa's cellar hideout, and after a highly charged judo match with bodyguard Mori, he winds up in a shootout with Hayakawa. Bogart is shot in the back by the abductor, but manages to fill Hayakawa with lead before breathing his last breath. In sacrificing his life, Bogart saves the life of his child. The second of four pictures produced by Bogart's Santana company and released by Columbia, TOKYO JOE failed to live up to the expectations of many critics. His harshest detractors even wrote that TOKYO JOE would have been nothing but an overlooked B picture without Bogart's involvement, a criticism that could also be leveled at CASABLANCA. Although compelling and well-crafted, the film was on par with neither the previous Santana film, KNOCK ON ANY DOOR, nor the following one, IN A LONELY PLACE, chiefly because it lacked a director with the talent of Nicholas Ray at the helm. Practically the entire list of technical credits remained unchanged, however, from Anthiel's provocative score to Peterson's art direction and Louis' costumes, with the only new face being cameraman Lawton, who supplied some superb low-key compositions. leave a comment
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