House of Bamboo (1955)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 102m
Director: Samuel Fuller
Cast: Robert Stack, Robert Ryan, Shirley Yamaguchi, Cameron Mitchell, Sessue Hayakawa, Brad Dexter
Synopsis:
1954: an MP works with the Japanese and American authorities in Tokyo to infiltrate a ruthless crime ring.
Review:
The old hero as impostor scenario, actually a reworking of Kleiner's own script for The Street with No Name (1948), with a very wooden Stack and a homosexual subtext: Ryan's smooth-talking villain clearly has the hots for roughhouse Eddie from the outset, and his gunsel (Mitchell) takes umbrage. The big budget takes some of the bite out of Fuller's direction: with this look and location a little more action would have been welcome; instead it gets bogged down in talk and an interracial romance with Yamaguchi to take the curse off the real deal. The socio-political comment one might have expected from a post-war Japanese setting is confined to the Kimono's loss of face and the Americans' insistence on speaking English. There is a chaotic climax on board a rooftop ferris wheel which pays off handsomely, and the Fox production values do look good. However, the major plot flaw of the Japanese police mole (how else would they expect Ryan to get hold of their plant's fictional criminal record?) must consign this picture to the crime movie also-rans.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 102m
Director: Samuel Fuller
Cast: Robert Stack, Robert Ryan, Shirley Yamaguchi, Cameron Mitchell, Sessue Hayakawa, Brad Dexter
Synopsis:
1954: an MP works with the Japanese and American authorities in Tokyo to infiltrate a ruthless crime ring.
Review:
The old hero as impostor scenario, actually a reworking of Kleiner's own script for The Street with No Name (1948), with a very wooden Stack and a homosexual subtext: Ryan's smooth-talking villain clearly has the hots for roughhouse Eddie from the outset, and his gunsel (Mitchell) takes umbrage. The big budget takes some of the bite out of Fuller's direction: with this look and location a little more action would have been welcome; instead it gets bogged down in talk and an interracial romance with Yamaguchi to take the curse off the real deal. The socio-political comment one might have expected from a post-war Japanese setting is confined to the Kimono's loss of face and the Americans' insistence on speaking English. There is a chaotic climax on board a rooftop ferris wheel which pays off handsomely, and the Fox production values do look good. However, the major plot flaw of the Japanese police mole (how else would they expect Ryan to get hold of their plant's fictional criminal record?) must consign this picture to the crime movie also-rans.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 102m
Director: Samuel Fuller
Cast: Robert Stack, Robert Ryan, Shirley Yamaguchi, Cameron Mitchell, Sessue Hayakawa, Brad Dexter
Synopsis:
1954: an MP works with the Japanese and American authorities in Tokyo to infiltrate a ruthless crime ring.
Review:
The old hero as impostor scenario, actually a reworking of Kleiner's own script for The Street with No Name (1948), with a very wooden Stack and a homosexual subtext: Ryan's smooth-talking villain clearly has the hots for roughhouse Eddie from the outset, and his gunsel (Mitchell) takes umbrage. The big budget takes some of the bite out of Fuller's direction: with this look and location a little more action would have been welcome; instead it gets bogged down in talk and an interracial romance with Yamaguchi to take the curse off the real deal. The socio-political comment one might have expected from a post-war Japanese setting is confined to the Kimono's loss of face and the Americans' insistence on speaking English. There is a chaotic climax on board a rooftop ferris wheel which pays off handsomely, and the Fox production values do look good. However, the major plot flaw of the Japanese police mole (how else would they expect Ryan to get hold of their plant's fictional criminal record?) must consign this picture to the crime movie also-rans.