House of Bamboo (Fox Film Noir) - Classic Crime Drama Movie for Film Enthusiasts | Perfect for Movie Nights & Noir Collections

"I hate it!" "Its so so." "It was great!" Sure, no great films could satisfy everybody's taste, but no other film is so controversial as Sam Fuller's HOUSE OF BAMBOO. Its a gang story. Its a melodrama. Its an action film. But was Fuller really needed to go to Japan to film all this? Could he just wrapp this thing up in the Fox studio at Hollywood? Truth is we are so grateful that Fuller went to a real location to shoot this. Because of that, the film is full of genuine dynamism due to the authenticity of cultural settings. From this film, we actually can sense fresh air of post war Japan in face to face.More importantly, ever graceful Japan is menacingly challenged by the brutal act of foreigners, in this case foreigners are the gang of ex-G.I. led by a crime lord Sandy Dawson, played by Robert Ryan. This conflict, beauty versus brutality, is heart of the cinema, and it is quite effectively presented. A strict code of honor and harshness of the manhood are sharply contrasted with the peaceful romance between Eddie Kenner, played by Robert Stack, and local girl Mariko, played by Shirley Yamaguch. This sociological contrast added considerble amount of poetic depth which is the hallmark of Fuller's major works.Moreover, wide screen color image is breathtakingly beautiful, so we cannot look away from the screen even for a second. Every scene is carefully composed and stylized. This powerful aspect of HOUSE OF BAMBOO is all doing of director Sam Fuller. He is brutal, greedy, active, and also quite romantic. Many fans would much prefer better received films such as PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET or FORTY GUNS but I prefer HOUSE OF BAMBOO to these films, because it is simply beautiful and dramatically stylish. This is the real Samuel Fuller's film.