The Crimson Kimono

Director: Samuel Fuller Samuel Fuller

Overview

Crimson Kimono stars Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta as Korean War army buddies, working side by side with the LA homicide squad. When stripper Gloria Pall is murdered, Corbett and Shigeta are sent to investigate. Both are smitten by the lovely Victoria Shaw, who is implicated in the crime. Corbett becomes jealous of Shigeta, who is deeply hurt, feeling that Corbett's animosity is borne of racism. Their friendship, and the central romance, is resolved after the detectives bring the murderer to heel in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. Samuel Fuller's love of oriental exotica is never more pronounced than in the climactic sequences, staged before the backdrop of the Japanese New Year celebration.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/07/2014
UPC:	0043396435858
Original Release:	1959
Rating:	NR
Source:	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMT
Language:	English
Sales rank:	7,175

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Victoria Shaw	Christine Downs
James Shigeta	Det. Joe Kojaku
Glenn Corbett	Det. Sgt. Charlie Bancroft
Paul Dubov	Casale
Anna Lee	Mac
Jaclynne Greene	Roma
Neyle Morrow	Hansel
Gloria Pall	Sugar Torch
Barbara Hayden	Mother
George Yoshinaga	Willy Hidaka
Kaye Elhardt	Nun
Aya Oyama	Sister Gertrude
George Okamura	Karate
Ryosho S. Sogabe	Priest
Robert Okazaki	Yoshinaga,Actor
Fuji	Shuto
Robert Kino	Announcer
Rollin Moriyama	Man
Jack Carol	Man
Brian O'Hara	Police Captain
Carol Nugent	Girl
David McMahon	Police Officer
Harrison Lewis	Waiter
Walter Burke	Ziggy
Torau Mori	Kendo Referee
Edo Mita	Gardener
Chiyo Toto	Woman
Allen Pinson	Stunt Double
Katie Sweet	Child
Stafford Repp	City Librarian
Nina Roman	College Girl

Technical Credits

Samuel Fuller

Samuel Fuller

Director,Producer,Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Sam Fuller's The Crimson Kimono kicks off with the shooting of a stripper named Sugar Torch, who staggers out of her seedy place of business to die in the middle of a busy Los Angeles street. It's a suitably lurid beginning to this perfectly Fuller-ian blend of gritty pulp noir, over-the-top melodrama, and in-your-face social commentary. Two detectives, one white (Glenn Corbett) and the other Japanese-American (James Shigeta), roommates and best friends since serving together in the Korean War, are sent to investigate the murder, and along the way have a vicious, jealousy-fueled falling out over a beautiful painter (Victoria Shaw), whose work is involved in the crime. Shot in and around Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood, The Crimson Kimono has a surprisingly complex take on racial and cultural prejudice, and a blunt, almost cynical view of human relationships ("Love is like a battle," says one character, "Somebody has to get a bloody nose."). This provocative film was received rather poorly at the time, but the daringly prolonged interracial kiss that concludes it packs more of a wallop than anything in the more earnest social issue movies of the day.

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