Stopover Tokyo (1957)

Memorable, crazy movie

Excellent but underrated film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Stopover Tokyo tells the story of a US Secret Agent named Mark Fannon (Robert Wagner). He's sent to Japan to foil a communist plot to assassinate the American High Commissioner. His main contact is murdered soon after he arrives. Before Mark can stop the assassination, he gets himself tangled in a love-triangle with a fellow agent and a woman named Tina (Joan Collins). Stopover Tokyo is one exceptionally dull movie. It took me almost three viewings to get through the thing – I kept falling asleep. For an espionage film, there's very little action. Until the last few minutes of the movie, the most exciting thing I can remember was Mark being locked in a steam room. Not exactly a thrill a minute. I could forgive the lack of action if the rest of the movie was good – which it's not. The Mark/Tina relationship is about as boring as everything going on around them. Robert Wagner is a fine actor. I've enjoyed his work in a number of things he's done over the years. And Joan Collins is one of the most criminally underrated actresses to ever work in film. But here, they look about as disinterested as I was. Maybe it was the dull screenplay or the uninventive direction, whatever, they look bored. The only reason I haven't rated the film lower is for some wonderful post-WWII Japanese photography. Really nice stuff.

Given its location filming and, while not quite A-list, serviceable cast, this film is a major disappointment. The plot is one that normally is associated with a thriller: A government courier's point of contact is murdered and with the aid of a beautiful women whom he has just met, take up solving the murder and stopping the plot behind the murder. But it's not a thriller, not a mystery, not much of anything. With Breen providing both the screenplay and direction, it's difficult to determine in which role he failed more epically. The movie runs 100 minutes but feels interminable, primarily because so little happens in that time. There are numerous plot threads that lead nowhere but eat up the minutes. Principal among these is with the murder victim's young daughter. Wagner meets her at her house and after killing time going room-to-room with her doing small talk, he puts her to bed while giving her a "your father is dead" speech only to have her fall asleep leaving this speech to be repeated later in the movie. Finally Wagner gets to what he intended to do when he arrived, search the house. The plot line finally makes some plot progress when O'Brien shows up just long enough to put Wagner on the scent. So 5 minutes unnecessary setup for that particular scene. And then it's introducing the Koko to Collins and putting her to bed there. And then bringing Koko back to Collins at film's end where Wagner says goodbye to her after again going through the "your father's dead" speech. Probably 15 minutes could have been saved by just eliminating the role and having O'Brien show up while Wagner was searching the house. Having mentioned Collins, her role is equally as irrelevant as written. There really isn't much romance and she's mainly around to make phone calls. Which then gets to Ken Scott. He's in and out of the script and the country as well. He's there mainly to provide the third side of a romantic triangle except there really isn't a triangle because there's minimal romance. Collins heaves Scott over the side for Wagner but accepts neither of them is going to fall for any women because their work is more important to them than any woman. So Wagner and Scott are off to the wild blue yonder leaving Collins and Koko behind with Collins having to deal with what to do with Koko. A fitting ending for a dismal movie.The location filming and some mid-level stars show this wasn't a tiny budget production but Breen the director couldn't see that Breen the writer had thrown in a lot of needless fat. Dumping the Koko line, adding some intrigue, spicing up the romance and love triangle (or better still, just eliminating Scott's role entirely) and this wouldn't have been a blot on the careers of all involved. With more night shooting and some rewriting (OK, I understand, it has color photography), this could even have been a good noir film. As it is though, it's far too tedious for any enjoyment and an exercise in how to choke the life out of an intrigue / mystery film.

Based on of all things a Mr. Moto story, Stopover Tokyo has US Intelligence Agent Robert Wagner foiling a plot to assassinate the American High Commissioner at a ceremony devoted to eternal peace. Along the way Wagner gets a chance to romance Joan Collins working as a ticket agent for British Airlines. Definitely mixing business with pleasure.Another agent Ken Scott has staked his claim on Collins before Wagner got there and that does cause some friction between them. Nevertheless Wagner and Scott do get the job done.Leading the opposition is Edmond O'Brien who has the guise of an American businessman, but is secretly a Communist spy. The 'High Commissioner is Larry Keating and his wife is Sarah Selby who is more concerned for her husband's safety than he is.We did not have a High Commissioner in Japan at that time, we had an Ambassador as our occupation was formally over. We did have a High Commissioner for the Ryukyu Islands chief among them being Okinawa which was our's by UN Mandate. They were not returned to Japan until the Seventies.Stopover Tokyo's biggest asset is the location cinematography done in Japan, particularly in Kyoto the ancestral home of the Emperors. Kyoto was untouched by American bombing and is one of the few places that retains a traditional Japanese look from before World War II. As the city is sacred in Shinto religion the Japanese located no war industries in or near it and we obliged by not bombing same.For all of that Stopover Tokyo is a routine action/adventure Cold War story. It might have helped if 20th Century Fox had gotten Peter Lorre to do Mr. Moto in the film.

Stop Over Tokyo! Very Nice Movie! The Photography is unforgettable! Kohko is great!