House of Bamboo (1955)

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writers:

Harry Kleiner (written by)
Samuel Fuller (additional dialogue)

Release Date:

1 July 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Planted in a Tokyo crime syndicate, a U.S. Army Investigator attempts to probe the coinciding death of a fellow Army official.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Gay Gangster | Pachinko | Japan | Racial

Cast

Robert Ryan	...	Sandy Dawson
Robert Stack	...	Eddie Kenner aka Spanier
Shirley Yamaguchi	...	Mariko
Cameron Mitchell	...	Griff
Brad Dexter	...	Captain Hanson
Sessue Hayakawa	...	Inspector Kito
Biff Elliot	...	Webber
Sandro Giglio	...	Ceram
Elko Hanabusa	...	Japanese Screaming Woman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Clifford Arashiro	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Sandy Azeka	...	Charlie's Girl at Party (uncredited)
Harry Carey Jr.	...	John (uncredited)
Barry Coe	...	Captain Hanson's Aide (uncredited)
Fred Dale	...	Man (uncredited)
John Doucette	...	Skipper (uncredited)
Fuji	...	Pachinko Manager (uncredited)
Samuel Fuller	...	Japanese policeman (uncredited)
Peter Gray	...	Willy (uncredited)
Reiko Hayakawa	...	Mariko's Girl Friend (uncredited)
Robert Hosai	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Kazue Ikeda	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Kinuko Ann Ito	...	Servant (uncredited)
Frank Jumagai	...	Pachinko Manager (uncredited)
DeForest Kelley	...	Charlie (uncredited)
Robert Kino	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Frank Kwanaga	...	File Clerk (uncredited)
Richard Loo	...	Inspector Kito's Voice (voice) (uncredited)
Jack Maeshiro	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Harris Matsushige	...	Office Clerk (uncredited)
Joanna Mitchell	...	Mother Superior (uncredited)
Rollin Moriyama	...	Pearl Man (uncredited)
Neyle Morrow	...	Cpl. Davis (uncredited)
Bob Okazaki	...	Mr Hommaru (uncredited)
Robert Quarry	...	Phil (uncredited)
Reiko Sato	...	Charlie's Girl (uncredited)
Teru Shimada	...	Nagaya (uncredited)
May Takasugi	...	Bath Attendant (uncredited)
Barbara Uchiyamada	...	Japanese Girl (uncredited)

Directed by
Samuel Fuller

Writing credits
Harry Kleiner		(written by)
Samuel Fuller		(additional dialogue)

Produced by
Buddy Adler	....	producer

Original Music by
Leigh Harline

Cinematography by
Joseph MacDonald		(as Joe MacDonald)

Film Editing by
James B. Clark

Art Direction by
Addison Hehr
Lyle R. Wheeler

Set Decoration by
Stuart A. Reiss
Walter M. Scott

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist
Helen Turpin	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Saul Wurtzel	....	unit production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
David Silver	....	assistant director

Art Department
Don B. Greenwood	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound
John D. Stack	....	sound

Special Effects by
Ray Kellogg	....	special photographic effects
Fred Etcheverry	....	special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Frank Cory	....	key grip (uncredited)
Hugh Crawford	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Les Everson	....	head electrician (uncredited)
Frank V. Phillips	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	wardrobe director
Dick James	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Leonard Doss	....	color consultant

Music Department
Lionel Newman	....	conductor
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator
Ken Darby	....	vocal supervisor (uncredited)

Other crew
Teresa Brachetto	....	script supervisor (uncredited)
John Campbell	....	publicity director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1961) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1964) (USA) (TV)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Intrada  score album released by (Special Collection)

Also Known As:

"Maison de bambou" - Belgium (French title), France
"Bambushuset" - Denmark
"Bambuszház" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Casa de Bambu" - Brazil
"Het bamboehuis" - Belgium (Flemish title)
"I gymni geisa" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"La casa de bambú" - Spain
"La casa di bambù" - Italy
"La maison de bambou" - France (imdb display title)
"O Mistério da Casa de Bambú" - Portugal (imdb display title)
"Opération Tokyo" - France (reissue title)
"Terror i Tokyo" - Sweden
"Tokio- Story" - Austria (imdb display title)
"Tokio-Story" - West Germany
"Tokion alamaailma" - Finland
"Tokyo Gangsterleri" - Turkey (Turkish title) (imdb display title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #17450) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Sessue Hayakawa's dialogue was overdubbed by the US-born actor Richard Loo.

Quotes:

Sandy Dawson:Who are you working for?
Eddie Kenner:[posing as Eddie Spanier] Spanier.
Sandy Dawson:Who's Spanier?
Eddie Kenner:Me.
Sandy Dawson:Who else you working for?
Eddie Kenner:Eddie.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in L.A. Noire (2011) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Serenade in Blue

Very well worth watching

This movie has similarities to THE THIRD MAN in that both involve someone (an American) living comfortably in an alien culture as a parasitic gangster in a war ravaged country just after WW2 with a good guy (another American) in pursuit. In narrow cinematic terms, in terms of the story as other reviewers point out, its not a great movie. There is though very much more of interest to it than that.

In historical terms we see Tokyo as it then was in 1954. We see the Japanese as officials, as policemen, as gangsters, the good, the bad, in their natural habitat rather than simply as massed cruel soldiery or suicidal pilots. It has elements of a travelogue with a fascinating glimpse behind the rice paper screen. The movie, which has really handsome colour photography, starts with the curious beauty of a snow covered landscape with Mount Fuji in the background and a murderous attack on a military supply train in the foreground. The ending too shares the same deliberate disjunction - dark violent justice dealt out in a sunny family setting - Top of the World, Ma?

Robert Stack here very much pre-figures his role as Eliot Ness in THE UNTOUCHABLES - dogged and brave in the fight against organised crime. Robert Ryan, tall impeccably elegant and seemingly entirely at ease as a violent mobster in a very foreign land.

Much criticism seems carping and misses the point. As was said of the dog that could walk upright - the question was not so much that he couldn't do it perfectly but that he could do it at all. This was a unique bold movie embedded in post WW2 underworld Japan really striving for authenticity. Not the customary montage of tourist sites and hotel interiors with a cast looking as if they'd gone no further than that themselves.

Were there American gangsters in this way in post war Japan? Presumably so if CATCH 22 is any guide. In this movie however the morality is old-fashioned, certain and unambiguous. By 1970 CATCH 22 served up satire and moral ambiguity to the Hippy generation.

A fascinating little bit of history as well as being a very watchable movie