Tokyo Joe

Tokyo Joe (1949)

This is a nice post war film. Bogart plays Joe Barrett, a guy who had a bar in Tokyo and a Russian wife. He comes back after the war thinking his wife was dead. He discovers she is still alive.....but married to another guy. Joe gets into a complex jam with the crime lords. It appears Bogart never went to Japan. All the establishing shots are rear screen projection, or a double wearing a fedora and trench coat. Some of the plot mirrors Casablanca. Bogart owns a bar. He finds his lost love only to find that she belongs to another. He is forced to work with unsavory characters. Never the less, it is a good flick. It is worth buying the DVD. It is one of the few Bogies films that I will watch again and again.

This was Bogart's last film of the forties. As the golden era closed (1930-1949), so did the best chapter in Bogies career. I feel that his best movies wereTokyo Joe and before.

With success comes power. Bogart had much more say in the roles he would play, the directors and actors he would work with, even the script. He even created his own production company, Santana Films to develop his own projects.

The problem with actors who become successful is that they think because they know acting that they know all the other crafts involved in film making: Camera, story, directing, lighting and everything else. Because they have the power, they are allowed to make less than great decisions.

Bogart always gave great performances, but most of the Santana movies had poor production value and luke warm stories. His Warner Bro films were better, but never matched the magic of his films from the golden era. Of course there are a few exceptions like The African Queen. It is a superb film.

I just saw on Amazon that all the Bogart films I've had my eyes on are now out on DVD...

By far, with out a doubt his WB era was the best. He would have done better by staying.

Interesting jacket. It looks like an A-2 with a mouton fur collar on it.

What is it?

I don't know. There is another picture of it here:

http://fedoralounge.skyblueproductions.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=774

I began collecting

My Bogart collection began using VHS tapes 15+ years ago when PBS and other channels played the films uncut and un edited. I have almost ALL of Bogarts films, with some missing:

I need the following, but have excluded his very early films (not my liking)

China Clipper
The Great O'Malley
San Quentin
Crime School
Racket Busters
King of the Underworld
You Can't Get Away With Murder
It All Came True
The Big Shot

I have all his films since 1943.

Picked up Tokyo Joe

Just bought it today and sat down and watched it for the first time! I thought it was going in one direction when they threw in some nice plot developments. It's interesting that the more Bogart films I watch, the more of a fan I am becoming.

Chers,
Jeff

Does anyone have a line on a cheap DVD copy? I've been on e-bay but everyone seems to have realized this is a rare film...

^ could you post that in the Outerwear forum in a thread called Famous People in Flight Jackets? it will get more interest there hopefully
then delete your post here
if you've got more pics like that make sure to post them!