House of Bamboo (1955)

After viewing Pickup On South Street, Mr Pinky has been on high alert for other Sam Fuller films. One such flick House Of Bamboo was always high on his must see list mainly due to one evocative still he spied in a film noir book featuring the movie's main characters shooting it out atop a Japanese rooftop funpark.

Set in Tokyo during the mid 1950’s, this colorful Cinescope noir tells a tale of corrupt Americans running rackets and bank heists. Into this scenario arrives Eddie Spanier (Robert Stack) an undercover army cop whose mission is to infiltrate and dismantle a gang led by the cool yet murderous Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan).

I love Sam Fuller's no holds barred approach to filmmaking. He had a terrific ability to fill the frame with beautifully constructed shots that constantly hold one's attention. Most directors when confronted with the 50’s fad of cinemascope balked at the ultra widescreen challenge. I read that Fritz Lang once said that cinemascope's extreme width was "only good for filming snakes". Well, Fuller proved that wrong. Every scene is shot with style and at times an amazing dexterity.

Filming on location in Japan, Fuller was able to depict a realism seldom seen in Hollywood studio bound films. I think that is what appealed to me most about House of Bamboo. It looks totally amazing! As is the attention to detail. The Tokyo docks and gaming houses are full of vibrant colorful imagery. The streets echo with the percussive sounds of Japanese ladies wooden footwear. Groups of children abound everywhere being entertained by curbside entertainers while traditionally garbed citizens shop in the busy downtown marketplaces.

In complete contrast to this are the cocky and arrogant gunslinging Americans creating havoc and shedding blood wherever they go. One scene involving the death of an informer in a bathhouse is quite amazing in its brevity and violence. I don’t think many people know of this flick but it’s well worth discovering. Just as 1950’s American audiences must have been amazed by this peek into Japanese culture, House of Bamboo leaves this viewer from 2008 just as impressed.

Jacques Tourner is mostly remembered for "Cat People' and "I Walked With A Zombie", his low budget yet ingeniously thrilling suspense films. His venture into noir resulted in "Out Of the Past" one of my faves from 1947. It's a bleak dreamlike account of lives sent into a downward spiral when ol' sleepy eyes Robert Mitchum playing a detective is hired by mobster Kirk Douglas to keep an eye on a double crossing girlfriend Jane Greer. With a performance from Mitchum that most likely helped to solidify the archetype he became this is a movie that features not only one of the best femme fatales in cinema but memorable dialogue aplenty.

Pickup on South Street

Man, what a movie! With the death of Richard Widmark last week (he was in his 90s!) I was reminded of this knockout of a noir flick from 1953. Viewing it again I was still amazed by director Sam Fuller's ability to cram so much into a movie that clocks in at just under 80 minutes. It's a hard boiled tale of pickpockets and communist espionage with characters whose alliances are easily swayed by the lure of cold hard cash. Widmark may have been the star but Thelma Ritter's portrayal of Moe, an ageing necktie seller and police informant, is both poignant and delightful. They sure don't make actors like her anymore. Nor do they make films like this. Fuller's use of black and white cinematography on the backstreets of New York lend this film a grimy and downbeat look that only adds to the film's cynical and dank atmosphere. A must see!