Tokyo Joe (1939) **1/2

Release Date: October 26, 1949

Running Time: 88 minutes

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Alexander Knox, Florence Marley, Sessue Hayakawa

Back in 1949, when World War II was still fresh in the minds of movie goers, the opening scenes of Tokyo Joe would have been immediately understandable. The idea that an American having difficulties with bureaucracy as he tries to enter Japan would have been something immediately poignant to the audience of the day.  It also gives audiences an early levity that will be lacking for much of the remaining film. An early line where Joe Barrett (Bogart) is getting his picture taken for his limited Visa stands out as one of the rare humorous moments in the film. Lining up for the photo Bogart is asked to stand closer to the bar and he wryly responds that that has always been one of his problems. 

Joe is trying to reenter Japan and go back to Tokyo Joes, an establishment ran by him before the start of the war. The place is off limits and shut down but that doesn’t stop him from going straight there and meeting up with his old friend Ito (Teru Shimada, More recognizable to modern American audiences for squaring up against James Bond in You Only Live Twice). It doesn’t take long to find out that Joe has an alternative motive for being back in Japan. It seems that when the war was ramping up he abandoned his wife, Trina (Florence Marly), and fled the country. Trina has, unbeknownst to him, since divorced him and remarried. Upon learning this we get the first glimpsed of just how self-centered a character Joe is, not only in his abandonment Trina in the first place, but of how he reacts to the news that she has moved on. He immediately makes his intentions clear to her that he intends to take her back from her husband and family. “She’s mine,” he says to her husband. This sets up one of the major flaws that alienated critics back in the day. Joe is not a particularly likeable character.  

Audiences back in the day didn’t really care though making Tokyo Joe a success back in 1949. Much of this had to be just to see the star on the screen again rather than what it was he was actually in. Tokyo Joe, while watchable, is convoluted and messy. It awkwardly juxtaposes rear projection scenes of Japan with an obvious soundstage in LA which would have looked bad even back in the late 40’s. The plot gets unnecessarily convoluted in the second half when everything from smuggling war criminals and kidnapping come into play. Bogart isn’t allowed to be despicable for the entire film; after all this is the star, but his redemptive path seems forced at times and never feels 100% genuine. 

As a film it is watchable. It never quite elevates itself above that though and stays firmly away from some of the actors more classic performances. Bogart is on cruise control in this film, comfortably within his classic persona without venturing far enough to make this character very interesting. It’s definitely not a reach for him at this point to play this character. It’s not bad enough to push us away but not likeable enough for us to care when he goes through the inevitable arch toward redemption.