The mystery melodrama part of the film gets lost during the complicated romance, and the racial tolerance plea is cheapened by its inclusion in a film of otherwise straight action.

Some fine set pieces and thoughtful camera-work serve to illustrate Fuller's gift for weaving a poetic nihilism out of his journalistic vision of urban crime.

Harry Sukman's score courts condescension whenever the action shifts to Little Tokyo, but it's the film's only slip.

Promoted upon its original release with such lurid and misleading lines like, "Yes, this is a beautiful American girl in the arms of a Japanese boy! What was his strange appeal for American girls?" this is actually a thoughtful drama.