House of Bamboo
Encyclopedia
House of Bamboo is an American
color film noir
shot in CinemaScope
format. The film was directed by Samuel Fuller
.
The film is a loose remake of The Street with No Name
(1948), by the same screenwriter
(Harry Kleiner) and cinematographer
(Joseph MacDonald) as in the original.
Three weeks later, Eddie arrives in Tokyo and finds Mariko, who is initially afraid that he is one of the men responsible for her husband's death. Eddie gains Mariko's trust with a photograph of himself and Webber, then warns her to keep quiet about her marriage so that she will not be in danger from Webber's killers. Later, Eddie goes to a pachinko parlor, in which patrons gamble on intricate machines similar to pinball machines. There, Eddie attempts to sell "protection" to the manager, but when he tries the same tactic at another such parlor, he is beaten and warned to leave by racketeer Sandy Dawson and his henchmen, Griff, Charlie, Willy and Phil. Intrigued by Eddie's presence in Japan, Sandy arranges for him to be arrested, and Sandy's secret informer, who is connected to the police department, obtains Eddie's rap sheet. Convinced of Eddie's aptitude for crime, Sandy invites him to join his gang, which consists of former American servicemen who have been dishonorably discharged. After his acceptance into the gang, Eddie secretly meets with Kita and Hanson, for whom he is working undercover. Needing help from someone he can trust, Eddie asks Mariko to live with him as his "kimono girl," although he does not reveal his identity as a military police investigator. Hoping to discover who killed her husband, Mariko resides with Eddie despite being ostracized by her neighbors, who do not know that her relationship with the foreigner is platonic. As time passes, Sandy grows to trust Eddie, although Eddie is shocked during a robbery when a wounded gang member is killed by Griff to prevent him from talking. Eddie is also wounded, but Sandy makes an exception to his rule of killing fallen men and saves him.
Eddie finally informs the worried Mariko that his real name is Sgt. Kenner, and that he is investigating Sandy. Meanwhile, Griff, Sandy's "ichiban" or "number one boy," becomes jealous of Sandy's reliance upon Eddie, and Sandy relieves the hot-headed Griff of his duties. The next day, Mariko, who has fallen in love with Eddie, notifies Kita and Hanson about a planned robbery, but Sandy's informant, reporter Ceram, warns him that the police are poised to capture him. After the robbery is aborted, Sandy kills Griff, whom he mistakenly assumes tipped off the police. Ceram informs Sandy of his mistake, and Sandy retaliates by setting Eddie up to be killed by the Japanese police during a robbery of a pearl broker. When the plan fails, Sandy is chased by the police up to a rooftop amusement park, but after an intense gunfight, Eddie succeeds in shooting and killing Sandy. Later, wearing his military uniform, Eddie walks with Mariko in a Tokyo park.
, Yokohama
, and the Japanese countryside. At movie's end, an acknowledgments credit thanks "the Military Police of the U.S. Army Forces Far East and the Eighth Army, as well as the Government of Japan and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department" for their cooperation with the film's production.
magazine wrote of the film, "Novelty of scene and a warm, believable performance by Japanese star Shirley Yamaguchi are two of the better values in the production. Had story treatment and direction been on the same level of excellence, House would have been an allround good show. Pictorially, the film is beautiful to see; the talk's mostly in the terse, tough idiom of yesteryear mob pix."
Film critic Keith Uhlich believes the film is an excellent example of wide-screen photography. He wrote in a review, "Quite simply, House of Bamboo has some of the most stunning examples of widescreen photography in the history of cinema. Traveling to Japan on 20th Century Fox's dime, Fuller captured a country divided, trapped between past traditions and progressive attitudes while lingering in the devastating aftereffects of an all-too-recent World War. His visual schema represents the societal fractures through a series of deep-focus, Non-theatrical tableaus, a succession of silhouettes, screens, and stylized color photography that melds the heady insanity of a Douglas Sirk melodrama (see, as an especial point of comparison, Sirk's 1956 Korea-set war film Battle Hymn
) with the philosophical inquiry of the best noirs."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
color film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
shot in CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
format. The film was directed by Samuel Fuller
Samuel Fuller
Samuel Michael Fuller was an American screenwriter, novelist, and film director known for low-budget genre movies with controversial themes.-Personal life:...
.
The film is a loose remake of The Street with No Name
The Street with No Name
The Street with No Name is a black-and-white film noir. The movie, a follow up to The House on 92nd Street , tells the story of an undercover FBI agent, Gene Cordell , who infiltrates a deadly crime gang. Cordell's superior, FBI Inspector George A. Briggs also appears in The House on 92nd Street...
(1948), by the same screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
(Harry Kleiner) and cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
(Joseph MacDonald) as in the original.
Plot
In 1954, a military train guarded by American soldiers and Japanese police is attacked as it travels between Kyoto and Tokyo. During the raid, which is carried out with great precision, an American sergeant is killed, and the train's cargo of guns and ammunition is stolen. The crime is investigated by Capt. Hanson, an American, and Japanese police inspector Kita, who, five weeks later, are concerned when a thief named Webber is shot with some of the stolen bullets. As Webber lies dying in a Tokyo hospital, he is questioned by Hanson and Kita, and although Webber was left for dead by his gang during a thwarted robbery, he refuses to implicate his cohorts, who presumably are responsible for the earlier crime. Webber, who is also an American, does reveal, however, that he is secretly married to a Japanese woman named Mariko. Among Webber's possessions is a letter from an American named Eddie Spanier, who wants to join Webber in Japan after his release from a U.S. prison.Three weeks later, Eddie arrives in Tokyo and finds Mariko, who is initially afraid that he is one of the men responsible for her husband's death. Eddie gains Mariko's trust with a photograph of himself and Webber, then warns her to keep quiet about her marriage so that she will not be in danger from Webber's killers. Later, Eddie goes to a pachinko parlor, in which patrons gamble on intricate machines similar to pinball machines. There, Eddie attempts to sell "protection" to the manager, but when he tries the same tactic at another such parlor, he is beaten and warned to leave by racketeer Sandy Dawson and his henchmen, Griff, Charlie, Willy and Phil. Intrigued by Eddie's presence in Japan, Sandy arranges for him to be arrested, and Sandy's secret informer, who is connected to the police department, obtains Eddie's rap sheet. Convinced of Eddie's aptitude for crime, Sandy invites him to join his gang, which consists of former American servicemen who have been dishonorably discharged. After his acceptance into the gang, Eddie secretly meets with Kita and Hanson, for whom he is working undercover. Needing help from someone he can trust, Eddie asks Mariko to live with him as his "kimono girl," although he does not reveal his identity as a military police investigator. Hoping to discover who killed her husband, Mariko resides with Eddie despite being ostracized by her neighbors, who do not know that her relationship with the foreigner is platonic. As time passes, Sandy grows to trust Eddie, although Eddie is shocked during a robbery when a wounded gang member is killed by Griff to prevent him from talking. Eddie is also wounded, but Sandy makes an exception to his rule of killing fallen men and saves him.
Eddie finally informs the worried Mariko that his real name is Sgt. Kenner, and that he is investigating Sandy. Meanwhile, Griff, Sandy's "ichiban" or "number one boy," becomes jealous of Sandy's reliance upon Eddie, and Sandy relieves the hot-headed Griff of his duties. The next day, Mariko, who has fallen in love with Eddie, notifies Kita and Hanson about a planned robbery, but Sandy's informant, reporter Ceram, warns him that the police are poised to capture him. After the robbery is aborted, Sandy kills Griff, whom he mistakenly assumes tipped off the police. Ceram informs Sandy of his mistake, and Sandy retaliates by setting Eddie up to be killed by the Japanese police during a robbery of a pearl broker. When the plan fails, Sandy is chased by the police up to a rooftop amusement park, but after an intense gunfight, Eddie succeeds in shooting and killing Sandy. Later, wearing his military uniform, Eddie walks with Mariko in a Tokyo park.
Cast
- Robert RyanRobert RyanRobert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
as Sandy Dawson - Robert StackRobert StackRobert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...
as Eddie Kenner - Shirley Yamaguchi as Mariko
- Cameron MitchellCameron Mitchell (actor)Cameron Mitchell was an American film, television and Broadway actor with close ties to one of Canada's most successful families, and considered, by Lee Strasberg, to be one of the founding members of The Actor's Studio in New York City.-Early life and career:Born Cameron MacDowell Mitzel in...
as Griff - Brad DexterBrad DexterBrad Dexter , was an American actor.-Life and career:Dexter was born Boris Malanovich , in Goldfield, Nevada, of Serbian parentage. He spoke Serbian as his first language. Burly, dark and handsome, Brad Dexter was usually given supporting roles of a rugged character...
as Capt. Hanson - Sessue HayakawaSessue Hayakawawas a Japanese and American Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States as well as Europe. Between the mid-1910s and the late 1920s, he was as well known as actors...
as Inspector Kito - DeForest KelleyDeForest KelleyJackson DeForest Kelley was an American actor known for his iconic roles in Westerns and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek.-Early life:...
as Charlie - Biff Elliot as Webber
- Sandro Giglio as Ceram
- Elko Hanabusa as Japanese Screaming Woman
Background
The narration at the film's beginning tells the viewer that the film was photographed entirely on location in TokyoTokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, and the Japanese countryside. At movie's end, an acknowledgments credit thanks "the Military Police of the U.S. Army Forces Far East and the Eighth Army, as well as the Government of Japan and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department" for their cooperation with the film's production.
Critical review
The staff of VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine wrote of the film, "Novelty of scene and a warm, believable performance by Japanese star Shirley Yamaguchi are two of the better values in the production. Had story treatment and direction been on the same level of excellence, House would have been an allround good show. Pictorially, the film is beautiful to see; the talk's mostly in the terse, tough idiom of yesteryear mob pix."
Film critic Keith Uhlich believes the film is an excellent example of wide-screen photography. He wrote in a review, "Quite simply, House of Bamboo has some of the most stunning examples of widescreen photography in the history of cinema. Traveling to Japan on 20th Century Fox's dime, Fuller captured a country divided, trapped between past traditions and progressive attitudes while lingering in the devastating aftereffects of an all-too-recent World War. His visual schema represents the societal fractures through a series of deep-focus, Non-theatrical tableaus, a succession of silhouettes, screens, and stylized color photography that melds the heady insanity of a Douglas Sirk melodrama (see, as an especial point of comparison, Sirk's 1956 Korea-set war film Battle Hymn
Battle Hymn (film)
Battle Hymn is a Universal Studios feature film starring Rock Hudson as Colonel Dean E. Hess, a real-life United States Air Force fighter pilot in the Korean War. Hess's autobiography of the same name was published concurrently with the release of the film. He donated his profits from the film and...
) with the philosophical inquiry of the best noirs."
Controversy
An August 1955 "Hollywood Citizen-News" article reported that the film was ill-received in Japan, where a leading newspaper denounced the film's representation of the leading lady and Japanese customs, dress and settings. The reviewer dismissed House of Bamboo as "strictly a commercial item trying to sell exoticism to an American audience using Japan as a stage and a Japanese actress....Its manner of completely ignoring Japanese habits, geography and sentiment makes us feel quite awkward."External links
- House of Bamboo trailer at You Tube