House of Bamboo

House of Bamboo, from 1955, is a lavish film shot in CinemaScope by Samuel Fuller. This was a mistake. The film's noir overtones are completely overwhelmed by the vivid Japanese scenery. This film should have been shot in black and white.

The film starts with a train robbery in Japan (the entire film was shot on location, something of a novelty for the time). Later, a man is shot during a bank robbery by his own men. He declines to talk, but the authorities find out he has a Japanese wife (Shirley Yamaguchi). He dies without giving away his confederates.

Sometime later, an associate of the dead man (Robert Stack) shows up looking for Yamaguchi. She tells him her husband is dead. He decides to try to throw his muscle around, selling protection to local businessmen. This runs afoul of the local crime boss, Robert Ryan, who admires his pluck, and hires him into his gang.

Of course, with Robert Stack in the part you know he's not a crook--he's an undercover army cop, worming his way into Ryan's gang. Yamaguchi acts the part of his kimona, which by context I figure must be a word meaning a Japanese girlfriend of a white man. She is interested in helping Stack catch her husband's killer.

Fuller, who is a favorite of today's filmmakers, seems hamstrung by dealing with CinemaScope. The vivid colors and Japanese locations recall a film that would come along two years later, Sayonora, which was more melodramatic and suited to the technique. This story wants to lurk in shadows, but instead is sun-splashed with color.

I also found the script to be a bit limp in depicting Ryan and his gang. They seem like a bunch of bunglers, and I wonder if mob bosses really plan bank robberies by using toy cars and pool cues. The film really only came alive for me in the final minutes, when Stack and Ryan shoot out on a rooftop amusement park, with Ryan taking refuge in a large, revolving globe.

House of Bamboo is not a bad picture, but it is one that is at odds with itself.