Tokyo Joe

Humphrey Bogart is equal to himself in this tightly devised plot. First a clear situation : Japan after the war under occupation by the Americans who are trying to chase the remnants of a militaristic and fanatical recent past. The Americans come back to Japan too to start some joint ventures with some Japanese. Then a personal situation : Joe had a joint business before the war and he tries to recuperate it and finds out it is impossible though he goes along with his ex-partner in another business that is a lot more shady than it should be. Then a sentimental situation : his ex-girlfriend and wife is married to a big shot in the American embassy or something. She has a daughter and this daughter is Joe's though she had her adopted by her second husband. This daughter was the backmailing tool of the Japanese during the war to force this woman to broadcast propaganda aimed at American forces in the Pacific during the war. But Joe and his new business is used to bring some old militaristic fanatics back to Japan to stir some trouble for the Americans. Joe, as an ex-colonel, has to go along with the allied forces, but his « business associates » kidnap his daughter to force him to do what they want. Then the rest is resistance and heroism, courage and back-fighting. Humphrey Bogart cuts the character quite convincingly and gives us an interesting thriller.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

America's involvement in World War two was bookended by two Humphrey Bogart movies. Going into the War, there's Rick in the classic Casablanca; coming out of the War, there's Joe Barret in Tokyo Joe, but basically they are both the same hard-boiled-with-a-heart-of-gold guy. As if to emphasize this there's a nightclub in each, the Tokyo joint eponymously named "Tokyo Joe's."

The movie kicks off in 1948, as Joe Barret comes back after 7 years away to occupied Tokyo to take care of some unfinished business, soon getting into a playful Judo bout with his old friend and nightclub partner, Itoh (Teru Shimada). There's more unfinished business than he reckoned on, however, as he finds out that the beautiful wife he thought was dead is still alive. But this is no Madame Butterfly in reverse. The lady in question is Trina, a White Russian played by an actress with great cheekbones but with none of the smouldering quality of Ingrid Bergman. The writers lay on the twists thick and fast as we discover that Trina is now married to an Occupation bigwig, Mark Landis (Alexander Knox), and she has a kid which is Bogey's.

In order to protect Trina from a blackmail scam, Bogey gets sucked into a plot led by the evil Baron Kimura (Sessue Hayakawa) who bears an uncanny resemblance to former Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone. This scheme to revive the Black Dragon organization by smuggling Imperialist leaders back into Japan, is implausibly attributed to the Communists. The climax comes when Bogey's chubby little daughter gets kidnapped and Bogey's Japanese nightclub partner blames himself and commits hari-kiri.

"Still covering up for Kimura," Bogey admonishes him as he realises his old buddy won't be helping him with his judo practice anymore. "Don't you understand what guys like that have done for you? For a thousand years they've made suckers out of you. All they've wanted was the gravy and guys like you down on their hands and knees to hand it up to them. You think we're the real enemy because we're occupying Japan. You know why we're doing it? To help the Japanese people stand up on their hind legs, like men and women and have a right to in this world."

Anyway, Bogey manages to rescue his daughter taking a bullet in the process. This leads into a noticeably fudged ending. There are two possible ways to look at it. Either Humphrey dies as he is carried away out on the stretcher or he doesn't. The way the camera fades on Trina in the last scene, suggests that Joe has in fact passed on, but this is so vague that it's left open for those people who prefer a happier ending to imagine that he gets better in some unfilmed future after the movie.

The first possibility naturally packs more emotional punch - Bogey sacrificing himself once again and conveniently getting out of the way so that Trina can continue her glamorous life with Landis who turns out to be a thoroughly decent chap. But I've seen Bogey take too many knocks in too many movies not to try and imagine the second possibility.

This second string Humphrey Bogart flick has its moments. The "Casablanca" wannabe story of love, intrigue, and suspense in post-war Japan starts well with Bogie returning to Tokyo to reclaim the woman he loves. To his dismay, she is married to another man, and has a daughter. As in "Casablanca," Bogie owns a cabaret that is operating under wartime difficulty. He has to sort this all out and deal with his emotions, especially after he discovers the little girl is his own daughter. After the first 30 minutes or so, the plot shifts gears to a crime drama of gangsters, smuggling, and Communist activity. One definite strength of the film is Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa as a gangster. Hayakawa's aristocratic demeanor and distinct accent as he speaks English is almost an oriental version of Bela Lugosi. At least some of the exteriors were filmed on location in Japan. Bogie dons the familiar hat and trenchcoat that were his trademark look in many films. There is an amusing segment early in the story where two stunt guys, pretending to be Bogie and his Japanese buddy, throw each other around the room in an impromptu judo match. This movie may not be top quality, but it's okay as an entertaining time-waster. ;-)