Although he’s revered today,Samuel Fullerwasn’t exactly considered an important director while he was making films. Working largely outside the Hollywood studio system, the WWII-vet and former crime reporter churned out a number of cheaply-madewesterns, noirs, and war films,often centering around controversial topics. As the leaders ofthe French New Wavepointed out in the pages of “Cahiers du Cinema,” Fuller dealt with sensitive subject matters with more nuance than most of his “important” contemporaries. One of the best examples of this isThe Crimson Kimono,a little-seen 1959 crime thrillerthatbroke new ground in terms of representation of Asians in films.
The Crimson Kimonocenters on two Los Angeles police detectives — one white (Glenn Corbettas Detective Sgt. Charlie Bancroft), one Japanese (James Shigetaas Detective Joe Kojaku) – investigating the murder of a stripper named Sugar Torch (Gloria Pall). Their investigation leads them to art student Christine Downes (Victoria Shaw), aka Chris, who has to go into hiding after drawing a sketch of the murder suspect. Charlie instantly falls for Christine, but she finds herself drawn to Joe, and he to her. The film was radical not just for its depiction of a then-taboo interracial love story, but also for Shigeta’s nuanced performance as Joe,who turns out to be the story’s romantic hero.
‘The Crimson Kimono’ Broke New Ground for Representation
Prior toThe Crimson Kimono,depictions of Asians in movies were relegated largely to white actors wearing heavy makeup and speaking in broken English. Chinese American starAnna May Wongwas famously overlooked for the role of O-Lan in MGM’s adaptation ofThe Good Earthin favor of German-born actressLuise Rainer(whowon the Oscar as Best Actressfor the role).John Wayneplayed Mongolian emperor Genghis Kahn inThe Conqueror,Katharine Hepburnportrayed Chinese villager Jade Tan inDragon Seed,Warner OlandandSidney Tolereach took turns playing Honolulu-born detective Charlie Chan in various movies. Even a well-intentioned silent film likeD.W. Griffith’sBroken Blossoms, which centers on a romance between a white woman (Lillian Gish) and a Chinese man (Richard Barthelmess), is marred by the casting of a white actor to play a character referred to in the movie’s title cards as “The Yellow Man.”
Issues of representation weren’t limited to casting. Even when portrayed by Asian actors, Asian characters often played into racist stereotypes of the time. What made Shigeta’s performance so radical wasn’t just his casting, but the way he went about playing Joe. Shigeta and Fuller avoid many of the clichés that befell depictions of Asians at the time (and even a few that came after it). Instead, Shigeta, who won the Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer for his debut American film, plays a charismatic leading man capable of winning the girl in the end. This flew in the face of conventions at the time, which would have dictated that Christine ends up with Charlie instead of Joe. It even flies in the face of some contemporary conventions, asPhilip W. Chungpointed out ina 2007 essay for AsianWeek. “What was most revolutionary about the film in 1959 Hollywood is, sadly, still revolutionary today,” Shaw wrote. “Even today, when you see an Asian leading man likeChow Yun FatorJet Listarring opposite a Caucasian woman in a Hollywood film, rarely is there any overt sexuality or even so much as a chaste kiss.”
Shigeta, who was born in Hawaii and got his start as a singer before turning to acting, defied stereotypes throughout his career, which continued until his death in 2014. AfterThe Crimson Kimono, he starred as a Japanese diplomat married to a white American woman (Carroll Baker) in the WWII dramaBridge to the Sun. He had a leading role in the movie adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’sFlower Drum Song,the first major Hollywood film to feature a majority Asian cast. And he gave a memorable supporting performance as head of the Nakatomi Corporation inDie Hard. In these roles and many others, Shigeta served as an influence for Asian performers who wished to play real characters instead of caricatures. You can see his impact today in films such asMinari,Everything Everywhere All at Once, andThe Farewell,which feature Asian actors playing against stereotypes in leading roles.
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Samuel Fuller Dared to Go Further Than Other Filmmakers at the Time
UnlikeBroken Blossoms, in which the love affair was only hinted at and never consummated, Fuller includes scenes of Shigeta and Shaw kissing on camera, which was considered taboo in 1959. After all, laws banning interracial marriage in several states weren’t deemed unconstitutional untilthe landmarkLoving v. VirginiaSupreme Court casein 1967. So it was radical for movie audiences of the 1950s to see a Japanese man romantically embrace a white woman and not suffer any consequences. Fuller went further than many of the seemingly important message movies of the time that dealt with interracial relationships. InA Patch of Blue,Sidney Poitierplayed a completely chaste love interest for a blind white girl (Elizabeth Hartman), withscenes of the two kissing removedso that theaters in the South would play it. EvenGuess Who’s Coming to Dinner, released the same year as theLovingdecision, made the interracial courtship between Poitier andKatharine Houghtonas G-rated as possible.
It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Fuller’s filmography that he would push the boundaries of what was acceptable in mainstream Hollywood at the time. Despite his reputation as a pulp entertainer, Fuller often made films with a strong moral conscience, particularly when it came to issues surrounding racism. His 1951 Korean War dramaThe Steel Helmetcenters on a multi-racial platoon of soldiers engaging in frank discussions about segregation and Japanese Internment Camps. His 1982 dramaWhite Dog,which was kept largely out of circulation for years,starsKristy McNicholas an actress who is horrified to learn that her new dog has been trained to attack and kill black people. In these films and inThe Crimson Kimono, Fuller explores the notion that racism is ingrained in American culture, and questions whether it can be overcome by individuals.
This dynamic plays out in the relationship between Joe and Charlie. Former war veterans who both live and work together, the issue of race never came up between the two until they both fell in love with Christine. Joe is hesitant to make his feelings known for fear of hurting his best friend, and when he does (during a surprisingly intense kendo fight), he sees something in Charlie’s reaction that disturbs him: a disgust in his eyes that he interprets as racism. Although Charlie insists his anger has nothing to do with prejudice, Joe doesn’t believe him, having lived with those looks from white people his entire life.
‘The Crimson Kimono’ Hides Its Importance Through the Guise of a B-Movie
In many ways, Fuller’s B-movie instincts helped him deal with complex issues in more nuanced ways than many of his more esteemed peers likeStanley Kramer(Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) andGuy Green(A Patch of Blue). Rather than preach the ills of racial prejudice from the start, Fuller allows his message to emerge from the story organically.The Crimson Kimonois, first and foremost, a murder mystery and a love triangle, one that runs a brisk 81 minutes and contains not a shred of unnecessary material. His blunt visual style, born out of his background as a war photographer, further eschews any type of added importance to the story. As he did with all of his films,Fuller masks his true narrative intentions within the confines of genre filmmaking. For his total lack of pretensions, Fuller made some of the most important films of his era, of whichThe Crimson Kimonois certainly one.
The Crimson Kimonois available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
