Blood on the Sun ** (1945, James Cagney, Sylvia Sidney, Porter Hall, John Emery, Robert Armstrong, Wallace Ford) – Classic Movie Review 10,605

In 1942 James Cagney left Warner Bros, the studio where he had been so successful, to form his own company with his brother William.

So director Frank Lloyd’s 1945 black and white thriller Blood on the Sun is a William Cagney Production and stars James Cagney as Nick Condon, an all-American newspaper reporter in Tokyo battling against Japan’s plans for world domination in the Thirties.

Blood on the Sun may not be very thrilling but it is good enough, thanks to a vibrant James Cagney and the ample action, though there are too many white actors impersonating Japanese characters for comfort. For example, John Emery plays Premier Giichi Tanaka, while Robert Armstrong, who plays Colonel Hideki Tojo, had to wear a set of false teeth to make his jawline as much like Tojo’s as possible, but when he spoke his lines he could not be understood. So he had to stand in a soundproof booth to loop his lines.

The well-crafted film won one Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White (Wiard Ihnen, A Roland Fields).

Of course they could not use the Warner Bros studio, so it is shot at General Service Studios, 1040 N Las Palmas, Hollywood.

The cast includes Sylvia Sidney, Wallace Ford, Robert Armstrong, John Emery, Rosemary De Camp, Frank Puglia, Philip Ahn, Jack Halloran, Marvin Miller, Rhys Williams, Porter Hall, James Bell and Hugh Beaumont.

Lester Cole’s screenplay is based on a story by Garrett Fort.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,605

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