Despite my dad owning a number of his films on DVD,I have somehow up to now only seen James Cagney in the overlooked 1935 movie G-Men. (which in no way is related to X-Men!)Talking to a friend recently,I discovered that he was interested in seeing Cagney's non-gangster titles,which led to me deciding that it would be a good time to see Cagney cover the sun with blood.
The plot:
Being credited as the editor who saved the paper from folding,Tokyo Chronicle editor Nick Condon begins to suspect that he may have just grabbed the story of the decade,thanks to an informant giving him a document titled "The Tanaka Memorial",which contain details about Japan's planned invasions for world domination.
With having enjoyed a high amount of press freedom whilst working at the paper,Condon begins to suspect that he may have gotten hold of something very important,due to a number of police officers and politician's suddenly becoming extremely aggressive towards the paper.Fearing that he and Chronicle are at increasing risk of being permanently shut down,Condon rushes to publish the story,as he begins to find out how far the police,army and politician's are willing to go to keep the document out of the public's eye.
View on the film:
Made just as WWII was coming to an end,and also just before questions about the real Tanaka Memorial began to get raised, (with the document now being seen as a fake,designed to get the Alieies on the side of China's Communist party,which it succeeded in doing) the screenplay by Lester Cole,Frank Melford,Garrett Fort and Nathaniel Curtis initially make the movie appear that it is going to take a close look at the blurred lines separating the government and the press.
Sadly,despite director Frank Lloyd and art directors A.Roland Fields and Wiard Ihnen, (who would both win an Oscar for their work in the title) covering the movie with tense darken alleyways and low-lit lighting,the screenplay burns out after the first 30 minutes,with the exciting espionage moments in the film being drained of their energy by the writer's jumbling them up,instead of allowing each double cross/close escape to twist naturally.
Being filmed as his second feature to be from his own production company,James Cagney gives a rattling performance as Nick Condon,with Cagney showing Condon gradually becoming increasingly distrusting of all those around him as he gets closer to hitting the dead line.Along with Condon using his quick-wit to out smart the dark forces at power,Cagney also displays a surprising skill for excellent stunt work,thanks to the movie featuring a number of great,rough'n' tumble judo battles,all of which are not performed by a stunt person,but are in fact done by Cagney himself (something which Cagney would continue training with,long after the movie had been completed),which leads to this blood stained sun being one that wont fully fade out into a total eclipse.
The plot:
Being credited as the editor who saved the paper from folding,Tokyo Chronicle editor Nick Condon begins to suspect that he may have just grabbed the story of the decade,thanks to an informant giving him a document titled "The Tanaka Memorial",which contain details about Japan's planned invasions for world domination.
With having enjoyed a high amount of press freedom whilst working at the paper,Condon begins to suspect that he may have gotten hold of something very important,due to a number of police officers and politician's suddenly becoming extremely aggressive towards the paper.Fearing that he and Chronicle are at increasing risk of being permanently shut down,Condon rushes to publish the story,as he begins to find out how far the police,army and politician's are willing to go to keep the document out of the public's eye.
View on the film:
Made just as WWII was coming to an end,and also just before questions about the real Tanaka Memorial began to get raised, (with the document now being seen as a fake,designed to get the Alieies on the side of China's Communist party,which it succeeded in doing) the screenplay by Lester Cole,Frank Melford,Garrett Fort and Nathaniel Curtis initially make the movie appear that it is going to take a close look at the blurred lines separating the government and the press.
Sadly,despite director Frank Lloyd and art directors A.Roland Fields and Wiard Ihnen, (who would both win an Oscar for their work in the title) covering the movie with tense darken alleyways and low-lit lighting,the screenplay burns out after the first 30 minutes,with the exciting espionage moments in the film being drained of their energy by the writer's jumbling them up,instead of allowing each double cross/close escape to twist naturally.
Being filmed as his second feature to be from his own production company,James Cagney gives a rattling performance as Nick Condon,with Cagney showing Condon gradually becoming increasingly distrusting of all those around him as he gets closer to hitting the dead line.Along with Condon using his quick-wit to out smart the dark forces at power,Cagney also displays a surprising skill for excellent stunt work,thanks to the movie featuring a number of great,rough'n' tumble judo battles,all of which are not performed by a stunt person,but are in fact done by Cagney himself (something which Cagney would continue training with,long after the movie had been completed),which leads to this blood stained sun being one that wont fully fade out into a total eclipse.