Evengyny
Thanks for the memories!
Derry Herrera
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
blanche-2
"Tokyo Joe" from 1949 was the first film that was allowed to film in post-war Japan. Produced by Bogart's Santana Productions, it's just fair.Bogart plays Joe Barrett, who returns to Japan after the war to start a business. While there, he discovers that his wife Trina (Florence Marly) is still alive. However, when he finds her, he discovers that she has divorced him and remarried a man named Mark Landis (Alexander Knox). Joe is determined to get her back and needs to extend his visa; he is approached by Baron Kimura (Sessue Hayakawa) who wants him to front an airline freight company for him. He would be importing frozen frogs. However, there is some additional freight, and for that, Kimura blackmails Joe by telling him what Trina was involved in during the war, which he will make public if Joe doesn't work with him.This film bears a passing resemblance to Casablanca, and Bogart is clearly going through a transition which would lead to some of his greatest films and performances in the '50s. Rick of Casablanca is clearly pretty tired out. Being a small company, Santana Productions did not make big films or hire actors equal to Bogart, so the effect here is mediocre.Florence Marly as Trina is a disaster - cold, very haughty looking, without much acting ability. It's impossible to see why Joe fell for her in the first place. She is no Ilse Lund, and she has no chemistry with Bogart. Her intentions are very unclear as well - as an actress, it doesn't look like she made any decisions about the character. Alexander Knox and Sessue Hayakawa are very good. Bogart, for my money, is always terrific.Definitely worth seeing for the Japanese location and for Bogart. It's not horrendous, but considering that Bogart starred in so many classic films, it's not that good.
Michael O'Keefe
This is a Humphrey Bogart movie you don't often hear about. I found it to be interesting and believe it or not I think better than some of his earlier movies. Joe Barrett(Bogart)has turned in his Army clothes and returns to post WWII Tokyo to check on a bar that he co-owns; and to check on his wife Trina(Florence Marly), who has since divorced him and married an important man in Tokyo, Mark Landis(Alexander Knox). Joe ends up getting involved into smuggling exiled criminals back into Japan. Well photographed. A touching relationship between Bogart and the young Lora Lee Michel, who plays Trina's daughter. Other players include: Sessue Hayakawa, Jerome Courtland, Teru Shimada and Hideo Mori.
bob_gilmore1
Several years ago I stumbled upon a 35 cent biography of Humphrey Bogart written shortly after his death. In it he comments on many of his films, including Tokyo Joe. "Utterly worthless picture" he noted. Many critics agree as they dismiss this piece of hokum about what happens when a former soldier returns to what was his "home town" before the war. Thing have changed. It is not the paradise it once was to him and it is certainly no "Rick's" Instead of "As Time Goes By" we hear "These Foolish Things," a better song but not nearly as famous.Tokyo Joe was made not long after Bogey had left Warner Brothers and it has more than a whiff of a "message picture" that strikes to find some meaning in postwar Tokyo. But like "House Of Bamboo" this film works not only as melodrama but as historical artifact of a period that is now forgotten. We don't think of the Japanese as a defeated power. Ever since the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry started blowing away American competition we have thought of the Japanese as a superpower economically, not as a crippled defeated country. This film captures a mood that is rarely expressed in movies and it captures it with rather high production values. The rest of the cast isn't much but they play it straight and thus Tokyo Joe stands up even better after the initial viewing. The DVD transfer is very good and it remains a worthy addition to the Bogart canon.
Claudio Carvalho
Minor Spoilers In a post-war Tokyo, with Japan totally dominated by the USA occupation forces, the American Joseph 'Joe' Barrett (Humphrey Bogart) lands in the Haneda Airforce Base, trying to return to his small business in the nightclub, cabaret, restaurant and casino Tokyo Joe. His former Japanese partner and friend Ito (Teru Shimada) has administrated and kept the place working during the war. When they meet each other, Ito tells him that Joe's wife Trina Pechinkov Landis (Florence Marly), supposed dead, is still alive. Joe goes to her address, and finds that Trina is married with the American Mark Landis (Alexander Knox), and she had a daughter with Joe called Anya (Lora Lee Michel). Joe decides to stay in Tokyo, trying to retrieve the love of Trina, but due to the difficulties in obtaining a visa, he opens a small transportation business, buying an old plane, hiring three pilots and accepting to transport the load of a powerful man, Baron Kimura (Sessue Hayakawa). However, he finds that the reason of being of the transportation was to smuggle stowaways. Further, Kimura has Trina in his hands, since she broadcasted for the Imperial Japanese government in the war to protect her daughter. Meanwhile, Kimura kidnaps Anya, to squeeze Joe. Pressed by the military forces, who wants him to leave the country, and by Kimura, Joe tries to save Anya from the hands of Kimura. Although not being a bad movie, "Tokyo Joe" is certainly the worst film of Humphrey Bogart that I have ever watched. One interesting point in this movie is the situation of Japan in those times, and the progress of this admirable people in some decades, being one of the most powerful nations of the world since the end of the last century. Anyway, I am a great fan of Humphrey Bogart, my favorite actor ever, and it was worthwhile for me to know this movie. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Tóquio Joe" (" Tokyo Joe")
