NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (February 2024): Kino have transferred Frank Lloyd's Blood on the Sun to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "2020 HD Master by Paramount Pictures – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Nitrate Materials". The 1080P image quality is not stellar with a few soft inconsistencies but overall was presentable on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. Grain textures are quite heavy and there are frequent speckles. We presume this was all a function of the best source materials. The films entered the public domain in 1973 and has been on a few substandard DVDs - even colorized - that had jitter and fluctuating contrast.

NOTE: We have added 64 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Blood on the Sun has plenty of hand-to-hand combat (Judo) to showcase Cagney's abilities but no demonstrative audio effects. The score was by Miklós Rózsa (Time Out of Mind, The Green Cockatoo, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, The Killers, The Lost Weekend, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Double Indemnity) has a strong range from passivity to conflict and dialogue is reasonably consistent via the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film historian / writer Julie Kirgo and writer / filmmaker Peter Hankoff. They state that Blood on the Sun was the 4th highest box-office film of 1945, that Peter considers the film an odd propaganda piece, how journalists were often the heroes in films, Cagney studying Jiu-Jitsu (actually Judo - taught by Los Angeles Policeman Jack Sergel,) the actor's separation from Warner, 'Yellow Face' casting and some Asian actors in Blood on the Sun (although none were Japanese,) plus a lot on war / political history and much more. A ton of information is imparted. There is also a low-res trailer for the film and other films     

Frank Lloyd's Blood on the Sun is a fictional history behind the 'Tanaka Memorial' - an alleged Japanese strategic planning document from 1927 to take over the world for Emperor Hirohito - considered now to be an anti-Japanese hoax. It's quite a fascinating propaganda effort looking back today with Cagney as his usual tough-guy pro-American role. Sylvia Sidney plays a half-Chinese spy with many stunning wardrobe costuming by Michael Woulfe. The 'Christine Cagney' character (played by Sharon Gless) from the 80's TV show Cagney & Lacey, had a poster of Blood on the Sun with the tagline "Cagney's Mightiest". Amazing seeing this through the lens of history and the Kino Blu-ray has the edifying commentary and delightful Sylvia Sidney with boisterous Cagney in an interesting war effort full of stereotypes. I would watch this again.

Gary Tooze