House of Bamboo

Set in post-WW2 Tokyo, Sam Fuller’s tense detective thriller wastes no time: when a military train guarded by US-soldiers and Japanese police is robbed of its explosive cargo, a chain of events is set in motion that sees an undercover agent infiltrate a ruthless racketeer.

Several weeks after the audacious robbery a thief named Webber (Biff Elliott) lies dying in a clinic, shot by the same pistol that already killed a US-Sergeant during said robbery. Although Webber refuses to grass up his gang members to the investigating cops he does reveal that he is secretly married to a Japanese woman called Mariko (Shirley Yamaguchi). Shortly later he dies and the police find a letter from an American named Eddie Spanier (Robert Stack) among his possessions – stating he wishes to join Webber in Japan after his release from an US prison. However, Spanier is not a prisoner but an undercover agent trying to infiltrate Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan) and his gang of racketeers. Having managed to gain the trust of Mariko who at first has no idea about Spanier’s real identity he even gets her to live with him as his ‘kimono girl’ – thus solidifying his cover further.

By living this fake existence Spanier hopes to put a stop to the Dawson Gang’s next heist before they can carry it out. Well, that’s the plan anyway but this is also a film noir… meaning things are supposed to go pear-shaped and they do when Mariko (who has since been informed by Spanier of his real mission) is spotted meeting with an American Army officer. The minute Dawson gets wind of the meeting he puts two and two together and calls off the heist, however, things take a turn for the worse when he is furthermore informed that the law is on to him and that Spanier is in fact an undercover guy. When Dawson tries to lure Spanier into a deadly trap his plan backfires, leading to the film’s breath-taking climax played out on the rotating rooftop of an amusement park. Vertigo sufferers, you have been warned!

HOUSE OF BAMBOO makes for a fascinating concoction because it is an American film noir set in the Far East – made all the more interesting by the fact that it captures a divided country trapped between past traditions and modern thinking. Joseph McDonald’s cinematography does everything more than justice while the film’s American stars Robert Ryan and Robert Stack are competently supported by Japanese stars Shirley Yamaguchi and Sessue Hayakawa as Inspector Kitz.

Sam Fuller’s sharp detective thriller is presented on Blu-ray from a 2K restoration and as a limited edition release (1000 copies only). Bonus features include audio commentary, trailer, collector’s booklet and David Cairn’s insightful video essay ‘Fuller at Fox’.