The US military oversaw the government of Japan from 1945 to 1952, presaging later such adventures around the world with varying levels of success. By 1949, when this film appeared, some people in the US, and probably many in Japan, were starting to wonder if this occupation was still necessary, but Humphrey Bogart explains to a Japanese character in this film "You think we're the real enemy because we're occupying Japan. You know why we're doing it? To help the Japanese people to stand up on their hind legs like men and women have a right to." Now you know.
Bogart's character, "Tokyo Joe" Barrett, lived in Tokyo and ran a gambling joint before the war, but after Pearl Harbor joined the US Air Force where, as one might expect, he rose to the rank of colonel. In 1949 he returns to Japan to found an airline.
There are many other surprises in this film, most of which are introduced by characters revealing some fact at an unnaturally late date just to add to the suspense.
It turns out that some bad Japanese people are threatening to take over the Japanese government. Will they succeed or will the US military, aided by Tokyo Joe, foil their evil maneuvers? You'll have to watch to find out.
Bogart, dissatisfied with some of his roles at Warner Brothers, left to found Santana Productions, which produced this film, which could have been done at least as well by Warners.
His intent seems to have been to replicate the success of "Casablanca," with himself as an American running a gambling joint in a foreign country where everybody loves him, then running into his old flame with a foreign accent, now married to another man. There's even an attempt to make the song "These Foolish Things" take the place of "As Time Goes By" in "Casablanca." It doesn't work. American military occupation of Japan isn't as soul-stirring an issue as resisting Nazi occupation of Morocco.
Bogart's character, "Tokyo Joe" Barrett, lived in Tokyo and ran a gambling joint before the war, but after Pearl Harbor joined the US Air Force where, as one might expect, he rose to the rank of colonel. In 1949 he returns to Japan to found an airline.
There are many other surprises in this film, most of which are introduced by characters revealing some fact at an unnaturally late date just to add to the suspense.
It turns out that some bad Japanese people are threatening to take over the Japanese government. Will they succeed or will the US military, aided by Tokyo Joe, foil their evil maneuvers? You'll have to watch to find out.
Bogart, dissatisfied with some of his roles at Warner Brothers, left to found Santana Productions, which produced this film, which could have been done at least as well by Warners.
His intent seems to have been to replicate the success of "Casablanca," with himself as an American running a gambling joint in a foreign country where everybody loves him, then running into his old flame with a foreign accent, now married to another man. There's even an attempt to make the song "These Foolish Things" take the place of "As Time Goes By" in "Casablanca." It doesn't work. American military occupation of Japan isn't as soul-stirring an issue as resisting Nazi occupation of Morocco.
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