Truly Dreadful Film

Lack of good storyline.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Copyright 1955 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Mayfair: 1 July 1955. U.S. release: July 1955. U.K. release: October 1955. Australian release: 9 February 1956. Sydney release at the Plaza. 9,161 feet. 102 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Army man infiltrates a criminal gang of former servicemen in Tokyo.NOTES: Fox's 33rd CinemaScope feature was filmed on location in Tokyo.The original movie "The Street With No Name" (1948) starred Richard Widmark and Mark Stevens in the roles now played by Ryan and Stack. Fuller tells us that "House of Bamboo" was Joe MacDonald's first color film, which of course is rubbish because MacDonald photographed the 2nd CinemaScope feature movie "How To Marry a Millionaire", as well as Fuller's own "Hell and High Water", plus "Broken Lance", "Woman's World", and "The Racers" which were all in color and all made before "House of Bamboo".COMMENT: Everyone remembers the shoot-out action climax on the whirling globe, but the rest of the film is somewhat slow-moving and disappointing. Robert Ryan give his usual over-intense performance which tends not only to dominate the movie but to throw it off- balance. Robert Stack is still too much the eager Boy Scout, Shirley Yamaguchi supplies the superfluous love interest, and the rest of the players (including Sessue Hayakawa in a small role) have equally little to contribute. Technically the film is much more interesting than either its marking-time players or its stretched-out story. Not only are the action scenes (what there are of them) forcefully staged and the Tokyo locations vividly utilized, but MacDonald and Fuller have made progress in their use of the CinemaScope screen since "Hell and High Water". Many of the frames are strikingly composed, while the lighting and color have a pleasingly rich texture, rare in this early stage of CinemaScope. (Admittedly I am looking at a 16mm CinemaScope print processed by Technicolor which could well be technically superior to the 35mm prints turned out by Fox's own DeLuxe laboratories).

Robert Stack plays an undercover Army Investigator in Tokyo, Japan, who infiltrates an American mob run by Robert Ryan in "Steel Helmet" director Samuel Fuller's foreign crime saga "House of Bamboo" with Cameron Mitchell, Deforrest Kelly, and Brad Dexter. After hoodlums hit a military train laden with guns and ammunition guarded by Americans and Japanese and kill the only American guard, the U.S. Army dispatches an agent to masquerade as Eddie Spanier. Initially, to find out who his adversaries are, the fake Eddie (Robert Stack of "The Untouchables") tries to muscle in on the pachinko parlors that belong to Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan of "The Set-Up"), but he doesn't get far before Dawson reports him to the authorities. Once he is out of jail, Eddie shows up at Sandy's place, and they strike an understanding after Sandy informs him that he protects the places that Eddie tried to compromise. Along the way, Eddie makes us of the real Eddie Spanier's Japanese wife, Marito (Shirley Yamaguchi of "Madame White Snake"), and she masquerades as Eddie's kimono.The action is fast and thick in Harry KIeiner's screenplay, and Fuller provided the original story which he drew from the gritty 1946 thriller "The Street with No Name." Virtually nothing carries over from the American-set "The Street with No Name" to "House of Bamboo" except for the chief villain's use of a P-38 automatic pistol that only he uses when he commits a crime. "House of Bamboo" qualifies as an above-average effort, and Joe MacDonald's widescreen cinematography of Tokyo is a big plus. Indeed, Fuller and MacDonald make maximum use of Mount Fuji. After Sandy takes Eddie into his gang, our stalwart hero makes an enemy of Sandy's second-in-command, Griff (Cameron Mitchell of "Garden of Evil"), who suspects that Sandy likes Eddie too much. Meantime, Sandy thinks Griff has blown his buttons, and he refuses to include him on a major bank heist. Eddie manages to get a note out to the authorities via , but Westerner on the inside at police headquarters alert Sandy about an intruder. Mistakenly, Sandy murders Griff in his bath tub, and then he learn later that Griff wasn't the stooge pigeon.The notion of an American gang of criminals operating in Tokyo must have seemed unusual at the time, and the setting and the criminals both make "House of Bamboo" a different kind of crime thriller. Fuller and Kleiner provide a modicum of Japanese language, but the dialogue isn't as crisp and incisive as it typically is in a Fuller movie. "House of Bamboo" emerges as an off-beat, occasionally exciting, crime thriller with some gunplay.

This film (which I had previously watched several years back on Italian TV but that viewing suffered from very poor reception at times) is a remake of THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948) – which, interestingly, comes from the same scriptwriter (Harry Kleiner), cinematographer (Joe MacDonald, now adopting color and Cinemascope) and production designer (Lyle R. Wheeler, though the setting has been relocated from the U.S. to Japan)! The earlier plot line is followed very closely but, apart from this exotic change in locale, there are a couple of other effective differences: whereas in the original the gangster was involved with a woman, here it’s the hero (which actually heightens the danger prevalent in the undercover operation); incidentally, this time around we only learn his real identity half-way through – while the fact that she is Japanese adds an unexpected but sensitively-handled element of miscegenation.The gangster is essayed by a typically impressive Robert Ryan (memorably introduced as the hero is almost literally shoved into his lap, his portrayal here is remarkably restrained but grows in intensity as the film progresses), Robert Stack, the hero, is well cast as an army investigator (rather than an F.B.I. agent) and the woman by an excellent Shirley Yamaguchi; even so, the gangster’s moll character played by Barbara Lawrence in the 1948 film is present here in the figure of Cameron Mitchell, the outfit’s second-in-command (suggesting homosexuality – the latter even throws a fit when his role is usurped by new recruit Stack – and, therefore, marking yet another novel/mature aspect in HOUSE OF BAMBOO; incidentally, Mitchell’s demise is one of the film’s highlights)! The role of the hero’s associates – in this case, an amalgam of U.S. and Japanese personnel, embodied by Brad Dexter and Sessue Hayakawa – is much reduced here, while the presence of a second undercover agent (played in the original by John McIntire) is omitted entirely; by the way, in the cast is also Maltese actor Sandro Giglio but, not being overly familiar with his physical features, I didn’t recognize him.Given director Fuller’s involvement, brutality is even more to the fore in this version – while the exciting climax takes place on a larger scale than before i.e. inside an amusement park; the Widescreen format allows for controlled but striking compositions throughout, particularly during the action sequences (which include a couple of raids by the gang). In the end, the two films are pretty much on a par: the first may have a more genuine noir feel to it perhaps but, at the same time, it lacks the individualistic touch afforded the remake by Fuller’s hand (who collaborated personally on the script, as was his custom) – a more stylish but dispassionate approach which keeps close-ups to the barest minimum. It’s worth mentioning here that another valid contribution to the film’s overall value comes courtesy of Leigh Harline’s fine music score.P.S. Just as I’ll probably get to William Keighley’s BULLETS OR BALLOTS (1936) earlier than expected in view of THE STREET WITH NO NAME, I’ll be giving a spin to a couple of unwatched Fullers as well – namely THE STEEL HELMET (1951) and RUN OF THE ARROW (1957) – thanks to this one; besides, I guess I should make some time for a viewing of THE YAKUZA (1975) too, being another Oriental noir I’ve long wanted to check out…

I was pretty excited about another Fuller film after being pleasantly surprised by his first two films seen the previous week, both of which were better than their reputations. Well, everyone has their missteps and this one seems to me to be a minor and fairly pointless film from this great director. A remake of the 1948 B&W noir Street with No Name, this moves the action -- a tale of an undercover cop trying to infiltrate and ultimately take down a big crime boss -- to occupied Japan, widens the screen to 'scope format and adds bright color. Small-time hood Eddie Kenner (Robert Stack) is ostensibly in Japan to make contact with an old friend who turns out to have recently been murdered, perhaps by his own organization, a pachinko parlor cartel run by Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan). Stack makes friends with the dead man's widow Mariko (Shirley Yamaguchi) and worms his way into Ryan's group which of course turns out to be in business for more than just a few yen from gambling parlors.The action moves reasonably well, and the location shooting is nice (first American film made in Japan, apparently), but it just wasn't gripping to me and far too predictable; the earlier version is better as are quite a number of similar-themed films from the past few years. Worth seeing for Fuller completists, and one of his few color 'scope films, but don't expect anything on the level of Park Row or Pickup on South Street. DVD rental.