The Crimson Kimono

A stripper runs out onto a Los Angeles street in the Little Tokyo district, in a state of undress, mortally wounded by a gunshot. Police detectives Joe Kojaku and Charlie Bancroft, partners and bachelors who share an apartment, are assigned to the case. They find portraits of the stripper, known as Sugar Torch, dressed in a kimono as a geisha, apparently preparing a Japanese-themed act.

The police search for a man who had been helping the stripper with her act. They interview a student artist, Christine Downes, who draws a sketch of the man for them, and Charlie develops a romantic attraction to her. They meet a man named Hansel who did the portrait of the dead woman; and a wigmaker, Roma, who provided the wig for the stage act.

Joe worries for Christine's safety, that her sketch could result in the killer also pursuing her. He, too, begins to fall for Christine, and the interest is mutual. Charlie's facial reaction makes Joe believe that he resents the multi-racial nature of the relationship. Joe aggressively attacks Charlie during a martial-arts competition, then decides to quit the force, disillusioned after having felt for so long that his partner was free of this kind of racial bias. Charlie confronts Joe, telling him that the look he saw on his face was a flash of hatred for the envy and betrayal he felt towards Joe and his relationship with Christine, and was not racism. Joe doesn't believe him.

An unknown assailant attempts to shoot Christine, and Joe and Charlie assume Hansel is the man behind the killings. It instead turns out to be Roma, who considered the stripper a threat to her relationship with Hansel because of a look that Hansel gave Sugar Torch. Joe relates this to Charlie, and realizes that just as Roma saw what she wanted in Hansel's face, Joe projected his own struggles with racism onto Charlie. After Roma's arrest, Joe asks Charlie if they can still be partners. He replies with a no, citing his bad feelings about Joe and Christine's relationship, but adding that he is, nevertheless, glad that Joe has "wrapped his own case". The movie ends with Joe and Christine embracing.

• James Shigeta as Detective Joe Kojaku
• Glenn Corbett as Detective Sgt. Charlie Bancroft
• Victoria Shaw as Christine Downes
• Anna Lee as Mac
• Paul Dubov as Casale
• Jaclynne Greene as Roma
• Neyle Morrow as Hansel
• Gloria Pall as Sugar Torch
• Pat Silver as Mother (as Barbara Hayden)
• George Yoshinaga as Willy Hidaka
• Kaye Elhardt as Nun

Fuller was acquainted with a Nisei who worked for the LAPD as a detective; he was the basis of the Joe character. Harry Cohn, who was the executive leader of the production studio, approved the film although he earlier told Fuller his belief that average Americans were unlikely to be receptive to the film when Fuller proposed making the film.[3]

The Academy Film Archive preserved The Crimson Kimono in 1998.[4]

The Crimson Kimono was met with critical acclaim. The film scored a perfect rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 7 reviews.[5]

The staff at Variety magazine said of the film, "The mystery melodrama part of the film gets lost during the complicated romance, and the racial tolerance plea is cheapened by its inclusion in a film of otherwise straight action...The three principals bring credibility to their roles, not too easy during moments when belief is stretched considerably. Anna Lee, Paul Dubov, Jaclynne Green and Neyle Morrow are prominent in the supporting cast."[6]

The critics of Time Out magazine wrote of "Fuller developing his theme of urban alienation: landscape, culture and sexual confusion are all juxtaposed, forcing the Japanese-born detective (who, along with his buddy, is on the hunt for a burlesque queen murderer) into a nightmare of isolation and jealousy. Some fine set pieces - like the disciplined Kendo fight that degenerates into sadistic anarchy - and thoughtful camera-work serve to illustrate Fuller's gift for weaving a poetic nihilism out of his journalistic vision of urban crime."[7]

More recently, Ed Gonzales of Slant Magazine liked the film and wrote, "The opening is a triumph of grungy lyricism achieved through snaky cutting and blunt compositions: Sugar Torch (Gloria Pall), a stripper, is shot to death in the middle of a Los Angeles street after witnessing a murder inside her dressing room. The tenor of the film oscillates between tight-fisted noir and chamber drama, but the theme is always the same: cultural and romantic unrest. ... Fuller's feat is giving the film's nonstop interrogations, meetings and confrontations profound racial and political meaning."[8]

The BFI Companion to Crime described the film as "One of Fuller's most striking melodramas".[9]

In the film Joe perceives his partner as being hostile to him which in a manner which Chung states is "portrayed as being largely self-created"; in response to this, Gina Marchetti argued in Romance and the "Yellow Peril", that the film therefore argues racism only exists "in the deluded minds of its victim."[3]

• List of American films of 1959

• The Crimson Kimono on IMDb
• The Crimson Kimono at AllMovie
• The Crimson Kimono at the TCM Movie Database
• The Crimson Kimono essay by Jeremy Arnold at Turner Classic Movies
• The Crimson Kimono opening titles on YouTube