House of Bamboo

1955

Action / Crime / Drama / Film-Noir

6
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh85%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled57%
IMDb Rating6.8103725

japanpost war japan

Plot summary


Uploaded by: FREEMAN

Top cast

DeForest Kelley Photo
DeForest Kelley as Charlie
Robert Stack Photo
Robert Stack as Eddie Kenner
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
943.04 MB
1280*502
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
P/S 0 / 2
1.89 GB
1920*752
English 5.1
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
P/S 0 / 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by bmacv8 / 10

Noir meets Noh: Fuller's remake of Street With No Name

In the mid-1950s, using the same screenwriter (Harry Kleiner) and cinematographer (Joe MacDonald) as in the original, the unpredictable Samuel Fuller remade 1948's The Street With No Name as House of Bamboo. For starters, he set in not in anonymous Center City but in post-war Japan -- the first American movie filmed there since the Second World War.

Even in color, Fuller's Tokyo has a grey, slummy look to it, punctuated only by women in blood-red kimonos shuffling through the Ginza. It's an open city where vice flourishes and where ex-G.I. Robert Ryan runs a string of pachinko parlors as a cover for a crime ring. Military investigators and Japanese police tumble to these activities when a U.S. guard dies during a train robbery. And thus enters Robert Stack, sent by the army to infiltrate the gang and solve the murder.

Fuller deals his cards from a deck shuffled differently from his predecessor, William Keighley (who directed Street). It's not clear at the outset who Stack is, keeping us off-balance for a while; there's also a cross-cultural love affair between Stack and Shirley Yamaguchi, the widow of a slain gang member -- Ryan's standing orders are to leave no wounded to tell tales. A twisted erotic charge links Ryan to his pursuer; hinted at in the original, here it deepens the dynamic of Ryan's jealous obsession with his "ichiban," or favorite lieutenants.(There are enough sliding rice-paper screens to fill all of Douglas Sirk's movies with metaphorical barriers, too.)

Far from merely capitalizing on the 50s fad for shooting on locations around the newly opened globe, Fuller seems to construct another metaphor -- for the Occupation of Japan as exploitative, parasitic. Luckily he doesn't press this too far, and House of Bamboo stands as an offbeat, deftly made crime thriller from late in the noir cycle -- albeit with Mount Fujiyama squatting serenely in the background.

Reviewed by Nazi_Fighter_David6 / 10

The Chicago mob who comes in to take over Tokyo!

After World War II, Hollywood saw the Far East as simply a new background for familiar heroics... "House of Bamboo" was in fact a remake of a 1948 gangster melodrama called "The Street With No Name" with Richard Widmark...

An army cop (Robert Stack) with a charming widow (Shirley Yamaguchi) moves into undercover action in collaboration with the Japanese security authorities against Tokyo gangsters, and their leader Robert Ryan, an intellect mastermind racketeer, head of an impressive organization engaged in robberies, fraudulent businesses, and murder whose plots challenge the magnificent effort of the international police..

With fascinating Japanese locations and photographed in CinemaScope and Technicolor, the film depicted the wonders of Fujiyama, the extraordinary city of Tokyo and its back streets in water ways invoking mystery and intrigue...

Reviewed by gordonl567 / 10

Robert Ryan is one nasty thug

HOUSE OF BAMBOO 1955

This 20th Century Fox film, shot in Cinemascope is a loose remake of the same studios 1948 production, THE STREET WITH NO NAME. The cast includes, Robert Ryan, Robert Stack, Cameron Mitchell, Shirley Yamaguchi, Brad Dexter, Sessue Hayakawa and Deforest Kelly. The film is set in Japan and was shot on location.

This one starts with a slick bit of robbery. An American military supply train travelling between Kyoto and Tokyo is held up and a supply of heavy machine guns and ammo lifted. The train's engine crew, and the military guards are killed. The Japanese Police and American MP's are called in to solve the case. Police Inspector, Hayakawa, and MP officer, Dexter, get nowhere fast trying to close the case.

Several weeks later, a man, Biff Elliot, is brought in suffering from several bullet wounds. The bullets match those from the train robbery. Elliot had been left for dead by his gang during a thwarted robbery. The Police and the MP's question the man but he refuses to spill any info on the gang. He does however let slip that he is secretly married to Japanese woman, Shirley Yamaguchi.

Next we have Robert Stack show up from the States. The man hunts up Yamaguchi and shows her a photo of her now dead husband and himself. He tells the woman that he is a longtime pal of the deceased hubby. (The photo is a faked up job) The whole thing is ploy by US Army Intelligence to get to the bottom of the arms robbery. Stack is undercover as a hood out to make some easy cash doing a protection racket bit. This soon draws the attention of just the people he is after. Robert Ryan and his group are making a fortune pulling robberies etc throughout Tokyo and surrounding area.

Stack is soon asked to join said enterprise by Ryan. Cameron Mitchell and Deforest Kelly are the main members of the criminal crew. Mitchell takes an immediate dislike to Stack, which soon has the two coming to blows. Ryan has Stack doing collection and other easy jobs before having him join in a real heist.

They hit a payroll office at a dockside factory. Guns are pulled, and several guards go down of severe lead poisoning, as does one of the gang. The gang has a rule about killing any gang member who gets wounded on a job. There is to be no one left behind to talk to the Police. Stack picks up a bullet but Ryan decides to break his own rule and grabs Stack up.

Now the film becomes a game of cat and mouse as Stack uses Yamaguchi to help hide the fact that he is really a MP. Yamaguchi is seen passing info to Army MP, Dexter by gang member, Kelly. The gang though just thinks that the woman is having a bit on the side. When a robbery goes wrong, Ryan is sure there is a rat in the house. He wrongly picks Cameron Mitchell as the duplicitous rodent, and ventilates him.

Ryan is soon put right by his newspaper reporter contact as to his error. Ryan now plans on mending his mistake, so he takes Stack and Kelly out on a robbery of a pearl seller. Once there, he lets Kelly in on Stack being an undercover man. They render Stack less than vertical, then, set him up with a gun and a pocket full of pearls. Ryan calls the Police and tells them there is a man with a gun at the shop. Ryan figures that the Police will show, see Stack with a gun and take care of Stack for him.

The idea goes sideways when Stack regains his senses early. Then the Police show up quicker than Ryan had expected. Shots are fired and Ryan slips out a side door. The Police though are all over the building and Ryan is pursued to the roof. The roof is covered with an amusement park. A brisk chase over various rides etc is needed before Ryan is cornered. Ryan, handy with a gun, manages to drop several of the Police before Stack puts him down for the count.

This one has some nice action scenes, particularly the opening train robbery. But, there are also several dead spots throughout the film. The colour Cinemascope vistas are nice, but work against any sort of gritty, film noir look. Some of the scenes come across as a bit too much travelogue like.

Director Sam Fuller did better work on his earlier films like, THE STEEL HELMET, FIXED BAYONETS and in particular, PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET. Fuller, a personal favourite was a triple threat working as a writer and producer on some of his films. This is not a bad film, but it could have been better.

The film was lensed by the talented Joe MacDonald. The 3 time Oscar nominated MacDonald was the cinematographer on, THE DARK CORNER, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, THE STREET WITH NO NAME, YELLOW SKY, NIAGARA, WARLOCK, THE YOUNG LIONS, THE CARPETBAGGERS and THE SAND PEBBLES.

The acting is quite good with Ryan in particular shining as the villain. Look close and you will see John Ford regular, Harry Carey Jr in a small unbilled part.

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