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).
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).