Kimono Murder

 

 (imdb)

THE CRIMSON KIMONO-1959-A standard crime drama is taken one step further by writer/director Sam Fuller's unique touch. In LA's Little Tokyo, American detective Charlie Bancroft (Glen Corbett, in his film debut) and Japanese American detective Joe Kajaku (James Shigeta) are trying to catch the murderer of a stripper. They are best friends until Christine Downes (Victoria Shaw) comes between them.

 Interesting love triangle twist that also touches on Asia-American racism. Also with Anna Lee and Paul Dubov and Water Barry and Stafford Repp in uncredited roles.

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Serious Buchanan

HIGH YELLOW-1965-17 year old Cindy (Cynthia Hull) is the new maid for Hollywood producer Harry Langley (Bob Brown), his freaky wife (Anne MacAdams aka Annabelle Weenick), his hip flirty daughter Judy (Kay Taylor) and son George (Warren Hammack), thrown out of college for being a “queer boy”. No sooner does she get there when gardener Major Bates (Bill Thurman) kills a rabbit in front of her. Then Harry and George have a confrontation over George’s “queer-ness” and Harry's war record. The butler/chauffeur Joseph (Bill McGhee) lectures Cindy about her light skin (High Yellow is a Southern term for a light skinned black person; now considered a racial slur) because she believes she could pass for white and then he shows her how to set a table. The family seems more like some decadent out of touch Southern white trash than one living in the heart of Tinseltown. 

Judy takes Cindy to the Disc A Go-Go where everyone frugs violently. She successfully passes for white but again Joseph lectures her. Later George relates in heart wrenching detail to Cindy his run in with a transvestite that labeled a “queer boy”. They have sex. The next morning Judy is found dead. The investigating detective suspects the major and uses Cindy to help catch him. She's nearly killed though. Cindy and George declare their love but Cindy knows they can never be together. She leaves now content with herself. 

This interesting thought provoking low budget black and white drama from writer/director Larry Buchanan is well done and kind of ahead of it's time though it suffers from some preachy dialogue. It's too bad he's mostly remembered for his cheap incompetent direct to TV remakes for AIP.

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The First 42

THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY-1950-This is a low budget biography (unlike the recent 42) of the the great African American baseball player who broke major league baseball's "color line". And Jackie Robinson plays himself!

It starts with little Jackie getting his first beat up glove, then in jr. high school breaking the high jump record (held by his brother) and later playing for the UCLA bruins. He gets drafted while his girlfriend Rae (Rudy Dee) becomes a nurse. He says "Baseball is one sport they'll never let me in". He joins the Negro league anyway and faces discrimination and almost blows his chance with the Dodgers when he thinks it's a joke! Branch Rickety (Minor Watson) recruits him and gives him the lowdown on what's going to happen. He needs a player with "the guts not to fight back". His mom (Louise Beavers) tells him to listen to God. He joins the Brooklyn farm team and is immediately ignored. His manager doesn't even consider him a human being! He takes a lot of abuse (much much worse in real life) but proves himself and wins over some bigots and makes a speech in DC.

Bernie Hamilton, Joe Devlin, Joe Kirk, Dick Wessel and Ben Welden have roles. It's a good little film hampered only by it's low budget. Director Alfred E. Green made two other Hollywood "bios": THE JOLSON STORY and THE EDDIE CANTOR STORY.

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The Legend

RIKIDOZAN: A HERO EXTRAORDINARY-2004-If you don't know anything about Japanese professional wrestling you might still enjoy this Korean made biographical drama about The Rising Son's greatest grappler.

Kyung-gu Sol stars as Kim who comes from Korea to study Sumo wrestling in Japan soon after the end of WW2. Although he becomes Sumo he's not allowed to participate because he's Korean. After beating up a bouncer he meets actor Harold Sakata (played by real pro wrestler Kenji "The Great Muta" Muto) who beats him up and then introduces him into the world of pro wrestling. He changes his name and goes to America to make a name for himself. He makes pro wrestling a national past time in Japan after making a speech about standing up to "the big and bad white man". Later he helps Japan "regain it's lost pride" and get revenge on America by trouncing a foreign tag team but he dies from a stab wound he receives in a fight. (Some say he was killed by The Yakusa but this film seems to say he was just paranoid)

His main promoter Mr. Kanno is played by Tatsuya Fugi (from IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES). The story leaves out a lot of details especially regarding his wrestling career. It is true that he gave the post-Japanese population a much needed moral "shot in the arm" but pro-wrestling was (and still is) a choreographed sport so even though Rikidozan was standing up to "the American bullies", it was these very same bullies who had agreed to playing arrogant, cheating Westerners. Still his impact on pro-wrestling jn Japan can't be denied.

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