In 1929, the Tokyo Chronicle becomes the focal point of an international storm when the so-called “Tanaka Memorial” surfaces, a document attributed to Baron Giichi Tanaka that proposes a plan to conquer the world. The publication immediately attracts the attention of Japan’s secret police, who descend on the newspaper’s headquarters and press editor Nick Condon, [James Cagney], to reveal the source. Condon stands firm and answers with a bold line that echoes through the newsroom: > The American Press.
Among the Chronicle staff, Ollie Miller, a reporter who originally secured the copy, has his own dangerous plan to move the document out of Japan. After he shows the money he was paid at a bustling press bar, a secret police informer arranges for his murder. When Condon goes to Miller’s cabin on the ship to say goodbye, he finds Miller’s wife Edith Miller, [Rosemary DeCamp], murdered and their cabin ransacked. A fleeing woman escapes his line of sight, but a ruby ring on her finger becomes a troubling clue. That same night, Miller is shot dead outside Condon’s house, and before he dies he entrusts Condon with his copy of the Tanaka Memorial. The secret police, led by Captain Oshima, [John Halloran], quickly close in, and Condon hides the document in his bedroom behind a portrait of Emperor Hirohito, a choice that seems to shield it—at least temporarily—as Oshima refrains from disturbing the portrait and instead searches elsewhere.
When dawn arrives, Condon wakes to a story of a drunken party concocted by the police and a missing document. The pursuit resumes as a courier invites him to Baron Tanaka’s home, where the Baron offers a substantial reward if Condon returns the document. Condon soon realizes that Tanaka does not possess the precious paper; the hunt appears to be a scramble among factions with different aims. Suspecting that liberal anti-war elements within Japan want to slip the document out, Condon publicly declares his intention to return to the United States. That evening, he crosses paths with Iris Hilliard, a half-Chinese woman who draws him in with her presence. He suspects she may have been the woman seen near Edith’s cabin, yet attraction and tension blossom between them. Unbeknownst to him, Iris works for Tanaka but remains loyal to Japan’s liberal faction and is tasked with retrieving the plan.
Their uneasy liaison grows more complicated when Iris confesses that, though she does work for Tanaka, her heart remains with Japan’s liberal wing; she did, in fact, remove the Tanaka Memorial from Tanaka’s residence. Condon retrieves the document, but Iris is soon detained by the Secret Police in her hotel room; she escapes, and Tanaka’s political prospects suffer a crushing blow as the scandal forces him to confront a possible seppuku—an act he eventually undertakes.
Before Condon departs for the United States, Iris reaches out to arrange a meeting at a fishing dock. He evades the police tailing him and attends, accompanied by Prince Tatsugi, a liberal within the Japanese government who despises the militarist hard-liners. Tatsugi attaches his signature to the document to lend it credibility, and the police close in. Tatsugi is killed, and Condon entrusts the document to Iris, who flees in a fishing boat. Condon stays behind to delay the pursuing officers, buying time for Iris to escape.
The chase brings Condon to the threshold of the American embassy, where he is wounded but not yet out of danger. His attackers fail to locate the document on him, and an American diplomat rushes to his aid. The head of the secret police tries one final gesture of reconciliation, offering a handshake to forgive his enemy, but Condon refuses and delivers a final, hard-edged verdict: “Sure, forgive your enemies – but first, get even!”
Along the way, the scheming and opportunistic reporter Cassell, [Rhys Williams], injects tension into the narrative, prowling the margins of the story as the various factions maneuver for advantage. The film braids political intrigue, journalistic ambition, and a volatile web of loyalties as it traces how a single document can ignite a web of danger, blackmail, and heroism. Across the tense cat-and-mouse game, the characters move through a landscape of shifting loyalties, personal risk, and dangerous secrets, with each choice bringing them closer to or further from the truth about the Tanaka Memorial.
In the end, the saga remains a gripping look at the costs of political conspiracy and the courage to stand against those who would use intelligence and power for domination. The story underscores how information can become a weapon—and how the right person, in the right moment, can refuse to bow to pressure, choosing instead to seize the chance to set things right, even at the cost of personal safety and reputation.
