Absolutely Fantastic

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This movie, though flawed is definitely worth seeing. Definitely the love triangle overtakes the murder in significance. That is OK in itself but it means that the details of the murder are dealt with and wrapped up rather sloppily. At least another 10 minutes or so could have rounded things out much better. They seemed in a hurry to make their points. Also, I will never buy into the movie habit which sees so many people fall seriously in love in a few hours of real time.The cinematography works well in black and white and delivers a good feel. The race relations theme was bravely and openly addressed. Placing the East Asian man as a real romantic force, as opposed to a menace or threat, was still adventurous at the time for Hollywood. (East Asian women, on the other hand, had been well established as legitimate love interests) Hollywood seemed to have been very interested in making James Shigeta into a star male lead. He was given a number of lead roles in the late 50s/early 60s but then they pushed him off into supporting roles. I can see why. It was a chore to come up with plausible roles for him that the public of the day would buy into. More fundamentally, he struggled at time with his delivery. Here, both he and Corbett are forced to deliver a good bit of overdone jargon. Corbett, who was never a big star nonetheless handles it better than Shigeta. He didn't deliver with the kind of strength that a lead role generally requires.

Sam Fuller directed "The Crimson Kimono," starring Glenn Corbett, James Shigeta, Victoria Shaw and Anna Lee, and this 1959 film is not your usual detective noir. Corbett and Shigeta are Charlie Bancroft and Joe Kojaku, buddies from the Korean war and now partners in the LA Police Department, who investigate the death of a stripper. In the course of that investigation, they meet a beautiful artist (Shaw) and both men fall for her; she in turn falls for the gentle and intelligent Joe. This tests the relationship of the two men, and when Joe sees Charlie's reaction, he assumes it comes from Charlie's latent racism.This is an odd film, not as good or as well done as Fuller's Pickup on South Street, but good nonetheless. Part of its success is due to the persona and performance of James Shigeta, for a time one of the biggest Asian-American stars ever. "The Crimson Kimono" was the first feature film for both Shigeta and Corbett, and they handle their assignments well. Fifty years later, Shigeta is still working; Corbett worked steadily until his death in 1993. Anna Lee is on hand giving a vigorous performance as an alcoholic artist; the late Victoria Shaw is beautiful but doesn't register much as Chris, the love interest of both men.There are a couple of problems with this ambitious script, one being Joe's claim that he had never experienced racism. That's impossible if he was in California when World War II broke out; it's a naive statement he wouldn't have made. The other problem is that all of the love connections seem instantaneous, though that seems to be a very "noir" thing. Nevertheless, the story holds interest, the performances are good, the atmosphere authentic, and Sam Fuller always has something to say, if only we'd listen

This starts out as a lurid thriller - probably what the studio demanded, and Fuller had fun with - the murder of a stripper on a crowded street. Then we get the two detectives, and we think, "Ah, a buddy film." Our first tip that something fresh is afoot is Joe's visit to the cemetery of the 442nd Battalion - the most decorated group of soldiers in WWII. These were Nisei (Americans of Japanese descent) who were often fighting in Europe while their relatives were in internment camps in California. We also get a brief tour of "Little Tokyo" in Los Angeles. Ah, exotic atmosphere. Our buddies - the handsome winsome Charlie (Glenn Corbett) and nisei Joe (James Shigeta) have a wisecracking patter that covers their deep friendship. Then the case leads them to Chris, played by Victoria Shaw - not only beautiful, but possessing a dignity rare in fifties actresses. We take for granted that Charlie's going to fall for her, and expect her to fall for Charlie...Then there is The Conversation. We learn that Joe has a sensitive side, he plays a nice piano and his father was an artist. Chris is an artist, and they have something to talk about. Shigeta's so charming, we're not surprised that Chris is drawn to him, we're surprised the picture allows it. That's the flip: that this interracial love story is allowed to proceed on its own terms. From that scene on, nobody cares who killed the stripper. We want to see how Joe can resolve stealing his best friend's girl, or whether Chris will react to being treated like something that could be stolen. When Joe finally tells Charlie that he loves her, Charlie reacts "You mean you're going to MARRY her?" Joe responds, "You wouldn't have said it that way if I was white!" Huge blowup. Racism has been thrown into the mix. As it would have been, and probably would be still. Or is it the perception of racism? My only problem was that Joe says the racism is new to him...Impossible. He'd have been called a "dirty Jap" at least a dozen times before he was ten years old. He'd have heard it in the army - that's why the 442nd was sent to Europe, after all. He'd've heard it on the police force. His reaction to Charlie should have been, 'Not you, too!." But nevertheless, it all works pretty much as life does. He gets the girl, but his friendship with Charlie is damaged forever.

When stripper Sugar Torch disturbs a murder in her dressing room she is chased into the street and gunned down by an unknown assailant. Detectives Charlie Bancroft and Joe Kojaku investigate the only leads they have – the new men in Sugar's life who were to be involved in her new act, embracing teasing, karate and doomed love. Bancroft goes after artist "Chris" who had painted Sugar in full kimono while Kojaku goes after the men who were to be involved in her act. It turns out Chris is Christine and that she is more valuable than they had hoped – problem is, main suspect Hansel knows this too and soon the detectives are guarding her from attempts on her life.A strange film this one. It opens in the sordid world of striptease, continues with the murder of a young woman and leads straight into a police investigation. This suggested it would be a gritty and tough thriller which at times it is, but at other times it plays up the love triangle aspect and then at others seems interested in just showing us a little bit of Asian-American culture. This individual sections do bump up against one another uncomfortably at times but mostly they sit reasonably well as part of the film. The effect is to produce a really interesting film, partly because the mix is unusual and well delivered. The mystery aspect of the plot keeps the narrative flowing along well enough and engaged me even if the ending was a bit convenient and easy.The love triangle part works better than I expected mainly because it uses it to compliment the male characters rather than being about the love part. This allows the two actors (Corbett and Shigeta) to deliver solid characters and play off one another really well. They are not brilliant in regards range but both more than meet the requirements of the material – Shigeta being a bit more able to convince in the love regards as well as the conflict side while Corbett does an all-round solid turn as a tough but friendly cop. As writer Fuller mixes the various aspects really well while also producing a bit of cultural significance in the way that the Asian-American thing is merely a trimming and not the whole show.Overall then a solid film that blends mystery, love, grit and conflict into one story. It doesn't flow perfectly but it is engaging for what it does well and not bad for those aspects it does less well.