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Blood on the Sun

1945

In pre-World War II Tokyo the American newspaper editor Nick Condon (James Cagney) working for an English-language daily paper aimed at the American business community is given a document relating to Japan's foreign affairs which could have political ramifications if found. He meets up with Iris Hilliard (Sylvia Sidney), a woman who wants to secure the document even if it means dealing with the Japanese secret police and their threats.


Blood on the Sun (1945) is a film starring James Cagney and Sylvia Sidney. The film is based on a fictional history behind the Tanaka Memorial document.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for a Black-and-white (Wiard Ihnen, A. Roland Fields) film in 1945.< name="NY Times"></> A computer-colorized version of the film was created in 1993.
In 1973, the film entered the List of films in the public domain in the United States due to the copyright claimants failure to renew the copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.<></>

Plot

Nick Condon. (James Cagney) is a journalist for the Tokyo Chronicle. He prints a story disclosing Japan's plan to conquer the world. The newspaper is seized by Japanese officers. Condon gets the Tanaka Plan, a paper in which all the plans are described. The Japanese spies who follow him think that Ollie and Edith Miller (Wallace Ford and Rosemary DeCamp) are the ones who discovered the plan because they suddenly have a lot of money and are coming back to the USA. When Condon goes to the ship to bid them farewell, he finds Edith dead. He can only see a woman's hand with a ring with a huge ruby. Back home, he finds Ollie, in terrible condition. He gets from Ollie the Tanaka plan.
Premier Giichi Tanaka (John Emery (actor)) wants his plans to remain secret, and sends Col. Hideki Tojo (Robert Armstrong (actor)) Capt. Oshima (John Halloran) and Hijikata (Leonard Strong (actor)) to follow him everywhere. Condon hides the document with the Tanaka plan behind the Emperor Picture.
Condon meets Iris Hilliard (Sylvia Sidney), half American and half Chinese. At first, he suspects her of being the lady in the ship, then he doesn't. They fall in love. She seems to be betraying him, especially when Condon sees the ring with the ruby in her hand.
At the end, it turns out she's been sent by a politician who wants peace and was present when the Tanaka plan was devised. Condon leaves his job after ten days. When he's about to leave Japan, he meets the politician and Iris in the harbor. The politician signs the document to prove it's real. They are discovered by the Japanese army.
Iris runs away with the document in a cargo ship which will take her out of Japan. To distract the Japanese officers, Condon fights his greatest enemy and tries to reach the American Embassy. He's shot at by spies dressed in street clothes, but he's not killed. The consular adviser goes out of the Embassy and takes Condon inside still alive, and the Japanese officers can't prevent it, because they couldn't find the Tanaka document when registering Condon.

Cast

  • James Cagney as Nick Condon
  • Sylvia Sidney as Iris Hilliard
  • Porter Hall as Arthur Bickett
  • John Emery (actor) as Premier Giichi Tanaka
  • Robert Armstrong (actor) as Col. Hideki Tojo
  • Wallace Ford as Ollie Miller
  • Rosemary DeCamp as Edith Miller
  • John Halloran as Capt. Oshima
  • Leonard Strong (actor) as Hijikata
  • James Bell (actor) as Charley Sprague
  • Marvin Miller (actor) as Yamada
  • Rhys Williams (actor) as Joseph Cassell
  • Frank Puglia as Prince Tatsugi
  • Hugh Beaumont as Johnny Clarke

Adaptations

Blood on the Sun was adapted as a radio play on the December 3, 1945 episode of Lux Radio Theater with James Cagney and on the October 16, 1946 episode of Academy Award Theater starring John Garfield.

In other media

In the television series Cagney & Lacey, the character Christine Cagney has the poster of Blood on the Sun in her apartment
,<></> with the strapline "Cagney's Mightiest" adding to her characterisation.<>
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Category:1945 films
Category:American films
Category:English-language films
Category:World War II films
Category:Films directed by Frank Lloyd
Category:Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award
Category:United Artists films
Category:World War II films made in wartime
Category:World War II spy films
Category:Films about journalists
Category:Film scores by Miklós Rózsa
3.50
William Cagney

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