The Crimson Kimono

Director: Samuel Fuller
Year Released: 1959
Rating: 2.0

When a stripper (Gloria Pall) gets murdered, two detectives (Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta) stomp all over Little Tokyo to investigate - one of the clues they have involves a painting of said dead stripper by local artist Chris (Victoria Shaw) whom both cops fall in love with. The first half isn't too bad and establishes the strong bond between the Corbett and Shigeta characters - despite Shigeta being Japanese, he fought alongside the Americans in the War (no hard feelings, in other words) - but then drifts off track its last half where it gets tied up with its ho-hum love triangle and almost forgets there was a murder in the first place ... then it rushes to resolve both the love connection and the Whodunit. Other Fuller pictures explore the need for racial tolerance in more detail.