TOKYO FILE 212


US, 1951, 83 minutes, Black-and-white.
Florence Marley, Lee Frederick (as Robert Peyton), Katsuhiko Haida, Satoshi Nakamura.
Directed by Dorrell Mc Gowan, Stuart Mc Gowan.


This is an American patriotic film of 1951, the period of the Korean War, the period of the House of un-American activities, suspicions of communists.

One of the strengths of the film is that it was shot completely in Japan, bringing Tokyo vividly to life after the war. While Japan is at peace, there are various groups in Tokyo helping the communists in Korea, a network of spies.

An American agent is set in, under the cover of being a journalist, makes contact with the police, a mysterious international femme fatale, Steffi (Florence Marley), tries to make contact with a roommate from college days who is now involved with the Communist gang. Steffi is not all she seems to be – working for the businessman, Mr Oama (Canadian born Satoshi Nakamura). She believes that she is getting letters from her sister in North Korea but the agent reveals that the sister is dead.

The agent makes contact with his friend who resists him. But, he sets up an encounter with his friend and his former girlfriend who works in the theatre but she is abducted by the gang, tortured, in hospital, ultimately dying. The agent is also invited to a dinner at Mr Oyama’s house – with the prospect of his being poisoned.

In fact, the film opens with the agent, Steffi and the college friend’s father all meeting in the public square, a sinister character putting a case under a park bench with a consequent explosion. However, the end reveals how they were saved.

Of particular interest in retrospect are sequences where the young Japanese man is trained as a kamikaze pilot, the ethos of being killed, demonstrations of where to crash into a ship, extreme loyalty to the Emperor – only to find that Japan has surrendered. Which means, that at the end, with the businessman confronting the young man, time running out before the case explodes, the young man becomes a kamikaze for the good, clutching the businessman’s suit and tearing it to have evidence about his fall, giving his life so that the others would live.

The leading man, the Frederick, as Robert Peyton, is a rather stolid strong American-type hero. Florence Marley has more than a touch of the exotic!